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DITA Map Author Mode Actions

A variety of actions are available for DITA map documents that can be found in DITA menu, toolbar, contextual menu, and the Content Completion Assistant.

DITA Map Toolbar and Menu Actions

When a DITA map is opened in Author mode, the following default actions are available on the DITA Map toolbar (by default, they are also available in the DITA menu and in various submenus of the contextual menu):

Insert New DITA Resource: Opens a New DITA file dialog box where you can choose the type of DITA document to create and inserts a reference to it at the current position within the map.
Insert Topic Reference: Opens the Insert Reference dialog box where you can configure a topic reference and inserts it at the current position within the map.
Insert Key Definition with Keyword: Opens a dialog box where you can choose the name of a key and its keyword value and inserts the key definition at the current position within the map.
Reuse Content: Opens the Reuse Content dialog box that allows you to insert and configure a content reference (@conref), or a content key reference (@conkeyref) at the cursor position.
Insert Topic Heading: Opens the Insert Reference dialog box that allows you to insert a topic heading at the cursor position.
Insert Topic Group: Opens the Insert Reference dialog box that allows you to insert a topic group at the cursor position.
Insert Relationship Table: Opens a dialog box that allows you to configure the relationship table to be inserted. The dialog box allows you to configure the number of rows and columns of the relationship table, if the header will be generated and if the title will be added.
Relationship Table Properties: Allows you to change the properties of rows in relationship tables.
Insert Relationship Row: Inserts a new table row with empty cells. The action is available when the cursor position is inside a table.
Insert Relationship Column: Inserts a new table column with empty cells after the current column. The action is available when the cursor position is inside a table.
Delete Relationship Column: Deletes the table column where the cursor is located.
Delete Relationship Row: Deletes the table row where the cursor is located.
Move Up: Moves the selected node up one position on its same level.
Move Down: Moves the selected node down one position on its same level.
Promote: Moves the selected node up one level to the level of its parent node.
Demote: Moves the selected node down one level to the level of its child nodes.

DITA Map Contextual Menu Actions

The following actions are available in the contextual menu when editing in Author mode (most of them are also available in the DITA menu at the top of the interface):

Edit Properties

Opens the Edit Properties dialog box that allows you to configure the properties of a selected node. For more details about this dialog box, see Edit Properties Dialog Box.

Cut (Ctrl + X (Command + X on macOS))

Removes the currently selected content from the document and places it in the clipboard.

Copy (Ctrl + C (Command + C on macOS))

Places a copy of the currently selected content in the clipboard.

Paste (Ctrl + V (Command + V on macOS))

Inserts the current clipboard content into the document at the cursor position.

Paste special submenu

This submenu includes the following special paste actions that are specific to the DITA framework:

Paste as content reference

Inserts a content reference (a DITA element with a @conref attribute) to the DITA XML element from the clipboard. An entire DITA XML element with an ID attribute must be present in the clipboard when the action is invoked. The conref attribute will point to this ID value.

Paste as content key reference

Allows you to indirectly reference content using the @conkeyref attribute. When the DITA content is processed, the key references are resolved using key definitions from DITA maps. To use this action, you must first do the following:

Make sure the DITA element that contains the copied content has an ID attribute assigned to it.
In the DITA Maps Manager view, make sure that the Context combo box points to the correct map that stores the keys.
Make sure the topic that contains the content you want to reference has a key assigned to it. To assign a key, right-click the topic with its parent map opened in the DITA Maps Manager, select Edit Properties, and enter a value in the Keys field.

Paste as link

Looks for the first element with an ID value in the clipboard and inserts an <xref> that points to that element. If no elements with an ID value are found, a message will appear that informs you that to use this action, the clipboard contents must include at least one element with a declared ID.

Paste as link (keyref)

Inserts a link to the element that you want to reference. To use this action, you must first do the following:

Make sure the DITA element that contains the copied content has an ID attribute assigned to it.
In the DITA Maps Manager view, make sure that the Context combo box points to the correct map that stores the keys.
Make sure the topic that contains the content you want to reference has a key assigned to it. To assign a key, right-click the topic with its parent map opened in the DITA Maps Manager, select Edit Properties, and enter a value in the Keys field.

Insert submenu

This submenu includes the following insert actions that are specific to the DITA Map framework:

Insert New DITA Resource

Opens a New DITA file dialog box where you can choose the type of DITA document to create and inserts a reference to it at the current position within the map.

Insert Topic Reference

Opens the Insert Reference dialog box where you can configure a topic reference and inserts it at the current position within the map.

Insert Key Definition with Keyword

Opens a dialog box where you can choose the name of a key and its keyword value and inserts the key definition at the current position within the map.

Reuse Content

Opens the Reuse Content dialog box that allows you to insert and configure a content reference (@conref), or a content key reference (@conkeyref) at the cursor position.

Insert Topic Heading

Opens the Insert Reference dialog box that allows you to insert a topic heading at the cursor position.

Insert Topic Group

Opens the Insert Reference dialog box that allows you to insert a topic group at the cursor position.

Insert Entity

Allows you to insert a predefined entity or character entity. Surrogate character entities (range #x10000 to #x10FFFF) are also accepted. Character entities can be entered in one of the following forms:

#<decimal value> - e.g. #65
&#<decimal value> - e.g. &#65
#x<hexadecimal value> - e.g. #x41
&#x<hexadecimal value> - e.g. &#x41

Relationship Table > Insert Relationship Table

Opens a dialog box that allows you to configure the relationship table to be inserted. The dialog box allows you to configure the number of rows and columns of the relationship table, if the header will be generated and if the title will be added.

Generate IDs

Oxygen XML Author Eclipse plugin generates unique IDs for the current element (or elements), depending on how the action is invoked:

When invoked on a single selection, an ID is generated for the selected element at the cursor position.
When invoked on a block of selected content, IDs are generated for all top-level elements and elements listed in the ID Options dialog box that are found in the current selection.

Note: The Generate IDs action does not overwrite existing ID values. It only affects elements that do not already have an @id attribute.

Search References

Finds the references to the @href or @keys attribute value of the topic/map reference element at the current cursor position, in all the topics from the current DITA map (opened in the DITA Maps Manager view). The current topic/map reference element must have an @href or @keys attribute defined to complete the search.

Show Key Definition

Available for elements that have a @conkeyref or @keyref attribute set (or elements with an ancestor element that has a @conkeyref or @keyref attribute). It computes the key name and opens the DITA map that contains the definition of the key with the element that defines that key selected.

Select submenu

This submenu allows you to select the following:

Element: Selects the entire element at the current cursor position.
Content: Selects the entire content of the element at the current cursor position, excluding the start and end tag. Performing this action repeatedly will result in the selection of the content of the ancestor of the currently selected element content.
Parent: Selects the entire parent element at the current cursor position.

Text submenu

This submenu contains the following actions:

To Lower Case

Converts the selected content to lower case characters.

To Upper Case

Converts the selected content to upper case characters.

Capitalize Sentences

Converts to upper case the first character of every selected sentence.

Capitalize Words

Converts to upper case the first character of every selected word.

Count Words

Counts the number of words and characters (no spaces) in the entire document or in the selection for regular content and read-only content.

Note: The content marked as deleted with change tracking is ignored when counting words.

Convert Hexadecimal Sequence to Character (Ctrl + Shift + H (Command + Shift + H on macOS))

Converts a sequence of hexadecimal characters to the corresponding Unicode character. The action can be invoked if there is a selection containing a valid hexadecimal sequence or if the cursor is placed at the right side of a valid hexadecimal sequence. A valid hexadecimal sequence can be composed of 2 to 4 hexadecimal characters and may or may not be preceded by the 0x or 0X prefix. Examples of valid sequences and the characters they will be converted to:

0x0045 will be converted to E
0X0125 to ĥ
265 to ɥ
2190 to ←
Note: For more information about finding the hexadecimal value of a character, see Finding the Decimal, Hexadecimal, or Character Entity Equivalent.

Refactoring submenu

Contains a series of actions designed to alter the XML structure of the document:

Toggle Comment

Encloses the currently selected text in a comment, or removes the comment if it is commented.

Move Up (Alt + UpArrow (Option + UpArrow on macOS))

Moves the current node or selected nodes in front of the previous node.

Move Down (Alt + DownArrow (Option + DownArrow on macOS))

Moves the current node or selected nodes after the subsequent node.

Split Element

Splits the content of the closest element that contains the position of the cursor. Thus, if the cursor is positioned at the beginning or at the end of the element, the newly created sibling will be empty.

Join Elements

Joins two adjacent block elements that have the same name. The action is available only when the cursor position is between the two adjacent block elements. Also, joining two block elements can be done by pressing the Delete or Backspace keys and the cursor is positioned between the boundaries of these two elements.

Surround with Tags (Alt + Shift + E)

Allows you to choose a tag to enclose a selected portion of content. If there is no selection, the start and end tags are inserted at the cursor position.

If the Position cursor between tags option is selected in the Content Completion preferences page, the cursor is placed between the start and end tag.
If the Position cursor between tags option is not selected in the Content Completion preferences page, the cursor is placed at the end of the start tag, in an insert-attribute position.

Surround with '[tag]' (Alt + Shift + ForwardSlash)

Surround the selected content with the last tag used.

Rename Element

The element from the cursor position, and any elements with the same name, can be renamed according with the options from the Rename dialog box.

Delete Element Tags

Deletes the tags of the closest element that contains the position of the cursor. This operation is also executed if the start or end tags of an element are deleted by pressing the Delete or Backspace keys.

Remove All Markup

Removes all the XML markup inside the selected block of content and keeps only the text content.

Remove Text

Removes the text content of the selected block of content and keeps the markup intact with empty elements.

Attributes Refactoring Actions

Contains built-in XML refactoring operations that pertain to attributes with some of the information preconfigured based upon the current context.

Add/Change attribute: Allows you to change the value of an attribute or insert a new one.
Convert attribute to element: Allows you to change an attribute into an element.
Delete attribute: Allows you to remove one or more attributes.
Rename attribute: Allows you to rename an attribute.
Replace in attribute value: Allows you to search for a text fragment inside an attribute value and change the fragment to a new value.

Comments Refactoring Actions

Contains built-in XML refactoring operations that pertain to comments with some of the information preconfigured based upon the current context.

Delete comments: Allows you to delete comments found inside one or more elements.

Elements Refactoring Actions

Contains built-in XML refactoring operations that pertain to elements with some of the information preconfigured based upon the current context.

Delete element: Allows you to delete elements.
Delete element content: Allows you to delete the content of elements.
Insert element: Allows you to insert new elements.
Rename element: Allows you to rename elements.
Unwrap element: Allows you to remove the surrounding tags of elements, while keeping the content unchanged.
Wrap element: Allows you to surround elements with element tags.
Wrap element content: Allows you to surround the content of elements with element tags.

Fragments Refactoring Actions

Contains built-in XML refactoring operations that pertain to XML fragments with some of the information preconfigured based upon the current context.

Insert XML fragment: Allows you to insert an XML fragment.
Replace element content with XML fragment: Allows you to replace the content of elements with an XML fragment.
Replace element with XML fragment: Allows you to replace elements with an XML fragment.

Review submenu

This submenu includes the following actions:

Track Changes: Enables or disables the Track Changes support for the current document.
Accept Change(s) and Move to Next: Accepts the Tracked Change located at the cursor position or all of the changes in a selection and then moves to the next change. If you select a part of a deletion or insertion change, only the selected content is accepted.
Accept All Changes: Accepts all Tracked Changes in the current document.
Reject Change(s) and Move to Next: Rejects the Tracked Change located at the cursor position or all of the changes in a selection and then moves to the next change. If you select a part of a deletion or insertion change, only the selected content is rejected.
Reject All Changes: Rejects all Tracked Changes in the current document.
Comment Change: Opens a dialog box that allows you to add a comment to an existing Tracked Change. The comment will appear in a callout and a tooltip when hovering over the change. If the action is selected on an existing commented change, the dialog box will allow you to edit the comment.
Highlight: Enables the highlighting tool that allows you to mark text in your document.
Colors: Allows you to select the color for highlighting text.
Stop highlighting: Use this action to deactivate the highlighting tool.
Remove highlight(s): Use this action to remove highlighting from the document.
Add Comment: Inserts a comment at the cursor position. The comment appears in a callout box and a tooltip (when hovering over the change).
Show/Edit Comment: Opens a dialog box that displays the discussion thread and allows the current user to edit comments that do not have replies. If you are not the author who inserted the original comment, the dialog box just displays the comment without the possibility of editing it.
Remove Comment: Removes a selected comment. If you remove a comment that contains replies, all of the replies will also be removed.
Manage Reviews: Opens the Review view.

Folding submenu

This submenu includes the following actions:

Toggle Fold: Toggles the state of the current fold.
Collapse Other Folds: Folds all the elements except the current element.
Collapse Child Folds: Folds the elements indented with one level inside the current element.
Expand Child Folds (Ctrl + NumPad+ (Command + NumPad+ on macOS)): Unfolds all child elements of the currently selected element.
Expand All: Unfolds all elements in the current document.

About Element > Go to Definition

Moves the cursor to the definition of the current element.

Inspect Styles

Opens the CSS Inspector view that allows you to examine the CSS rules that match the currently selected element.

Options

Opens the Author mode preferences page where you can configure various options with regard to the Author editing mode.

Floating Contextual Toolbar for DITA

Oxygen XML Author Eclipse plugin includes a dynamic feature where certain editing contexts will trigger a floating toolbar with common actions that are available in the current editing context.

The floating contextual toolbar is automatically displayed when editing DITA map documents when a <topicref> element is selected and it includes actions for moving the topic reference node up or down (or promoting/demoting the node).

DITA Map Drag/Drop Actions

Dragging a file from the Project Explorer view or DITA Maps Manager view and dropping it into a DITA map document that is edited in Author mode creates a link to the dragged file (a <topicref> element, <chapter>, <part>, etc.) at the drop location.

Opening a Topic from a DITA Map in Author Mode

If a DITA map is open in the Author visual editing mode, you can open a referenced topic by clicking the icon to the left of the particular topic. The source topic is opened in a new tab in the main editor.

Tip: For information about customizing Author mode actions for a particular framework (document type), see the Customizing the Author Mode Editing Experience for a Framework section.