DITA Specialization: Tools for Visual Support
- 1. Experts in Information Management Solutions and ServicesDITA Specialization: Tools for Visual SupportJune, 2010
- 2. Webinar overviewGoals:Demonstrate how typical difficulties in doing DITA Specialization can be overcome by using visual tooling
- 3. Concentrate on basic tasks related to DITA SpecializationAudience:People having basic knowledge about possibilities of DITA Specialization and willing to try it
- 4. People experienced with traditional ways of doing DITA Specialization willing to make this process more efficient
- 5. Understanding of DITA specialization principles is expectedQuestions:Questions can be asked using webex chat. They will be gathered and answered at the end of webinar.2
- 6. AgendaTraditional approach of doing Specializations
- 8. Traditional vs. Visual Specialization
- 10. Q&A3
- 11. Traditional approach of doing DITA specializations4
- 12. Traditional way: Bottom-up approachStandard DITAText filescontaining:Definitionsofnewstructuralelements
- 14. DefinitionsofattributesShell DTD1Structural module 1Structural module 3Structural module 2Domain module 1…5
- 15. Traditional way: Bottom-up approachIISpecialized ModelShell DTD AStructural module ADomain module AStandard DITAStructural module 1Structural module 3Shell DTD1Structural module 2Domain module 1Domain module 2…Shell DTD26
- 16. Main challenges people face when doing DITA Specializations7
- 17. Challenge 1:Understanding possibilities and limitations of DITA SpecializationProblem:People often do not understand main rules of DITA specialization and related implicationsPossible solution:Initial education about possibilities and limitations of DITA Specialization8
- 18. Challenge 2:Difficulties with initial setup of specialization infrastructureProblems:Making changes in source files of original DITA model
- 19. Problems in setup of proper “empty” Shell DTD infrastructure
- 20. Making errors in integration process (wrong sequence of component integration, missing some declarations etc.)Possible solution:Simplify this process by having a wizard-like process for guiding the users
- 21. Automated DTD creation in the background9
- 22. Challenge 3: Errors in specialization processProblems:Insufficient overview of available elements and resulting XML structure
- 23. Violating rules of DITA specialization*. Some examples:
- 24. Uniqueness of element names: Usage of same infotype or element names as in base DITA models
- 25. Structural elements without parent
- 26. Wrong element content model
- 27. Mixing domain and structural elements (DITA 1.1 specific) Possible solution:Provide sufficient overview: model elements, changes etc.
- 28. Automatic validation of specialization rules
- 29. Disable operations that will lead to invalid model10* see: http://support.ditaworks.com/problems_and_solutions/errors-in-dita-specializations-modeling/
- 30. Challenge 4:Integrating specialization into authoring environmentProblems:Not all DITA-aware tools support specialized models out-of-the-boxPossible solution:Use tools that are able to integrate specializations out-of-the box
- 31. Useintegrated tooling: no need for additional integration11
- 33. Visual way: Top-down or Bottom-up?Visual toolingInternal representation:Definitionsofnewstructuralelements
- 34. DefinitionsofattributesVisual Infotype editorShell DTD1Visual editors for modules and domainsStructural module 1Structural module 3Domain module 1Structural module 2…Internal representation:Definitionsofnewdomainelements
- 36. Visual way: Top-down presentationAdvantages:Resulting XML structure is presented in tree-like way (kind of WYSIWYG)
- 37. Most specialization functions are accessible from this presentationvia context menu
- 38. Changes made on current level of specialization are marked using color codes and icons:
- 39. Blue – changed/specialized element
- 40. Bold – changed cardinality
- 41. Red cross icon – removed elements 14
- 42. Example15
- 43. Example overview: Earthquake notification messageGoals:Create a sample DITA model based on one of the existing public modelsTask definition:Define a DITA topic describing earthquake notification with following fields:
- 48. Actions taken
- 49. Responses for operators for different cases (2 different cases for simplicity)
- 50. Way to define references to other earthquake messagesTool:DITAworks DITA Visual Specialization Manager (DVSM)16
- 51. Example: Steps involved Step 1: Plan your specialization
- 52. Step 2: Create main infrastructure components
- 53. Step 3: Perform structural specialization
- 54. Test results
- 55. Step 4: Perform domain specialization
- 56. Test results
- 57. Step 5: Consume model or Export17
- 58. DITAworks: specific terminology..Standard DITADITAworksInfotypeShell DTDDomain moduleDomain moduleStructural moduleStructural module18
- 59. Example: Tooling overviewMain UI elements of DITAworks DVSM:Modeling perspective
- 60. Modeling views:
- 61. Project explorer
- 62. Modules view
- 63. Domains view
- 65. Infotype editor
- 67. Domain editor19
- 68. Step 1: Plan your specialization I1.1 Decide about required infotypes:In our case, we will create 1 new infotype for Earthquake message: eqMessage1.2 Write down main elements that will be your new infotypes:20
- 69. Step 1: Plan your specialization II1.3 Browse existing models and find good candidates for parent types to specialize from:In our case, as a parent infotype, we will use msgref from Message Reference DITA model1.4 Inside of parent type, find elements that you will specialize from. Map your elements to parent elements. Check their content models. 21
- 70. Step 2: Creating infrastructure componentsCreating new DITA model:Create new Model project using “New/Model project”
- 71. Use Message Reference model as the parent or dependent model
- 72. Choose model public IdCreating new Infotype:Create new Infotype “eqMessage” using “New/Infotype”
- 73. Provide publicId
- 74. Create new structural module “eqMessage.stdmodule”
- 76. Step 3: Doing structural specializationDefine new elements based on parent elements:Specialize elements using tree presentation
- 77. Alternatively, specialize elements using Structural module editor
- 78. Edit content model of elements using visual actions or DTD expressionsTest your infotype:Use “Create XML” action for that23
- 79. Step 4: Doing domain specializationCreate new domain:Create new domain using “New/DITA Domain module”Define new domain elements:Using domain editor, define new elements based on existing DITA elementsIntegrate new domain into infotype:Use “Modules” tab in Infotype Editor for thisTest your infotype:Use “Create XML” action for that24
- 80. Step 5: Consume model or ExportUse new model inside of DITAworks:Create a content project based on the model
- 81. Use new infotype from “New topic” wizardExport model:As DTD
- 82. As DITA Open toolkit plugin
- 83. As XML Schema (optional)25
- 84. Q & A Session26
- 85. New Ideas in Information ManagementSophienstr. 17D-70178 Stuttgartphone: +49 (0) 711 - 99 33 85 90fax: +49 (0) 711 - 99 33 85 99e-mail: info@instinctools.cominternet: www.instinctools.com27
- 86. DITAworks Integrated toolset Core AreasAuthoringProcessPublishing & ExportModelingProvides meta information for all DITAworks tooling and enables efficient use of specialization. Import of existing specializations from DTD and XML Schema
- 87. Export of managed specializations to DTD and XML Schema
- 88. Visual editors for DITA base model: Specialization editing
- 90. Extended model:
- 91. Settings for editorial tools
- 95. etc.Provides a set of integrated editorial model-driven tools for efficient content authoring. Content Import
- 96. Infrastructural project rules
- 97. Visual editors for DITA topics and maps
- 98. Link management
- 100. Content refactoring (e.g. rename, move, content extraction etc.)
- 101. Reuse block management
- 102. Tag management
- 103. Versioning
- 104. CollaborationProvides means for delivery to end-user based on improved and enhanced OT. Integrated OT with some important improvements.
- 105. Publishing configurations including settings for variables, conditional processing etc.
- 106. Extended support of Eclipse help
- 107. Export of content (full or partial)
- 108. Publishing server for running headless transformations.28