DITA Topic Author Mode Actions
A variety of actions are available for DITA documents that can be found in DITA menu, toolbar, contextual menu, and the Content Completion Assistant.
DITA Toolbar Actions
The following default actions are available on the DITA toolbar when editing in Author mode (by default, most of them are also available in the DITA menu and in various submenus of the contextual menu):
- Bold
- Surrounds the selected text with a
<b>
tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections. - Italic
- Surrounds the selected text with an
<i>
tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections. - Underline
- Surrounds the selected text with a
<u>
tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections. - Link Actions Drop-Down Menu
-
The following link actions are available from this menu:
- Cross Reference
- Opens the Cross Reference (xref) dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target DITA resource at the current location within a document. The target resource can be the location of a file or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. Once the target resource has been selected, you can also target specific elements within that resource. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.
- File Reference
- Opens the File Reference dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target non-DITA file resource at the current location within a document. The target resource can be the location of a file or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.
- Web Link
- Opens the Web Link dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target web-related resource at the current location within a document. The target resource can be a URL or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.
- Related Link to Topic
- Opens the Cross Reference (xref) dialog box that
allows you to insert a link to a target DITA resource in a related links
section at the bottom of the current document. The target resource can be the
location of a file or a key that is already defined in your DITA
map structure. Once the target resource has been selected, you can
also target specific elements within that resource. If a related links section
does not already exist, this action creates one. For more information, see
Linking in DITA Topics.Tip: You can use the Find Similar Topics action (available in the contextual menu or DITA menu) to quickly find related topics that can be added as related links. It opens the Open/Find Resource view and performs a search using text content from the
<title>
,<shortdesc>
,<keyword>
, and<indexterm>
elements. - Related Link to File
- Opens the File Reference dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target non-DITA file resource in a related links section at the bottom of the current document. The target resource can be the location of a file or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. If a related links section does not already exist, this action creates one. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.
- Related Link to Web Page
- Opens the Web Link dialog box that allows you to insert a link to a target web-related resource in a related links section at the bottom of the current document. The target resource can be a URL or a key that is already defined in your DITA map structure. If a related links section does not already exist, this action creates one. For more information, see Linking in DITA Topics.
- Insert Image
- Opens the Insert Image dialog box that allows you to configure the properties of an image to be inserted into a DITA document at the cursor position.
- Insert Media Resource
- Opens the Insert
Media dialog box that allows you to select and configure the
properties of a media object to be inserted into a DITA document at the cursor
position. The result will be that a reference to the specified video, audio, or
embedded HTML frame is inserted in an
<object>
element and it is rendered in Author mode so that it can be played directly from there. - Insert Section Drop-Down Menu
-
The following insert actions are available from this menu:
- Insert Section
- Inserts a new
<section>
element in the document, depending on the current context. - Insert Concept
- Inserts a new
<concept>
element, depending on the current context. Concepts provide background information that users must know before they can successfully work with a product or interface. - Insert Task
- Inserts a new
<task>
element, depending on the current context. Tasks are the main building blocks for task-oriented user assistance. They generally provide step-by-step instructions that will help a user to perform a task. - Insert Topic
- Inserts a new
<topic>
element, depending on the current context. Topics are the basic units of DITA content and are usually organized around a single subject. - Insert Reference
- Inserts a new
<reference>
element, depending on the current context. A reference is a top-level container for a reference topic. - Insert Note
- Inserts a new
<note>
element, depending on the current context. - Insert Codeblock
- Inserts a new
<codeblock>
element, depending on the current context.
- Insert Intent Question
- Inserts a new special
<data>
element that contains a question or intent. The intent can be used to generate Google Structured data content in WebHelp Responsive output.
- Insert Paragraph
- Inserts a new paragraph at current cursor position.
- Reuse Content
-
This action provides a mechanism for reusing content fragments. It opens the Reuse Content dialog box that allows you to insert several types of references to reusable content at the cursor position. The types of references that you can insert using this dialog box include content references (
@conref
), content key references (@conkeyref
), or key references to metadata (@keyref
). - Insert step or list item
- Inserts a new list or step item in the current list type.
- Insert Unordered List
- Inserts an unordered list at the cursor position. A child list item is also automatically inserted by default. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs or other types of lists to an unordered list.
- Insert Ordered List
- Inserts an ordered list at the cursor position. A child list item is also automatically inserted by default. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs or other types of lists to an ordered list.
- Sort
- Sorts cells or list items in a table.
- Insert Table
- Opens a dialog box that allows you to configure and insert a table. You can generate a
header and footer, set the number of rows and columns of the table and decide how the
table is framed. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs, lists, and
inline content (mixed content, text plus markup, that is rendered inside a block element) into a table,
with the selected content inserted in the first column, starting from the first row
after the header (if a header is inserted).Note: If the selection contains a mixture of elements that cannot be converted, you will receive an error message saying that Only lists, paragraphs, or inline content can be converted to tables.
- Insert Row
- Inserts a new table row with empty cells below the current row. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.
- Delete Row(s)
- Deletes the table row located at the cursor position or multiple rows in a selection.
- Insert Column
- Inserts a new table column with empty cells after the current column. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.
- Delete Column(s)
- Deletes the table column located at the cursor position or multiple columns in a selection.
- Table Properties
- Opens the Table properties dialog box that allows you to configure properties of a table (such as frame borders).
- Join Cells
- Joins the content of the selected cells (both horizontally and vertically).
- Split Cell
- Splits the cell at the cursor location. If Oxygen XML Editor detects more than one option to split the cell, a dialog box will be displayed that allows you to select the number of rows or columns to split the cell into.
Floating Contextual Toolbar for DITA
Oxygen XML Editor includes a dynamic feature where certain editing contexts will trigger a floating toolbar with common actions that are available in the current editing context.
- When a
<p>
,<li>
, or<shortdesc>
element has a selection inside, the floating toolbar includes actions such as Bold, Italic, Underline, a Link submenu, and more. - When an
<image>
or<xref>
element is selected:- If the element has an
@href
attribute, the floating toolbar includes a URL chooser where you can select the appropriate target. - If the element has a
@keyref
attribute, the floating toolbar includes a drop-down control where you can select the appropriate target key reference.
- If the element has an
- When an
<object>
element is selected:- If the element has a
@data
attribute, the floating toolbar includes a URL chooser where you can select the appropriate target. - If the element has a
@datakeyref
attribute, the floating toolbar includes a drop-down control where you can select the appropriate target key reference.
- If the element has a
- When an element with a
@conref
attribute is selected, the floating toolbar includes actions for editing, removing, or replacing content references. - When a
<codeblock>
element is selected, the floating toolbar includes a drop-down control where you can select the value of the@outputclass
attribute. - When a
<ul>
element is selected, the floating toolbar includes actions for converting it to an ordered list or sorting the list. - When an
<ol>
element is selected, the floating toolbar includes actions for converting it to an unordered list or sorting the list. - When an
<li>
or<step>
element is selected, the floating toolbar includes actions for moving the item up or down in the list/procedure. - When a
<row>
or<strow>
element is selected in a table, the floating toolbar includes various table-related actions (such as actions for editing table properties, inserting rows, or deleting rows). - When an
<entry>
or<stentry>
element is selected in a table, the floating toolbar includes various table-related actions (such as actions for editing table properties, inserting/deleting rows, or inserting/deleting columns). - When a
<table>
or<simpletable>
element is selected, the floating toolbar includes actions for editing table properties or sorting the table.
DITA Drag/Drop (or Copy/Paste) Actions
Dragging a file from the Project view or DITA Maps Manager view
and dropping it into a DITA document that is edited in Author mode,
creates a link to the dragged file (the <xref>
DITA element with the
@href
attribute) at the drop location. Copy and paste actions work the
same.
You can also drag images or media files from your system explorer or the Project view and drop
them into a DITA document (or copy and paste). This will insert the appropriate element at
the drop or paste location (for example, dropping/pasting an image will insert the DITA
<image>
element with an @href
attribute).