data

The <data> element represents a property within a DITA topic or map. While the <data> element can be used directly to capture properties, it is particularly useful as a basis for specialization. Default processing treats the property values as an unknown kind of metadata, but custom processing can match the name attribute or specialized element to format properties as sidebars or other adornments or to harvest properties for automated processing.

The subject of the property is ordinarily the container of the <data> element. In the content model for the <prolog> and <metadata> elements, the property applies to the topic as a whole. In the <topicmeta> element, the property applies to the referenced topic. You can use the <data-about> element to identify the subject of the property with an explicit reference.

The name attribute names the property for processes. You can use a <title> subelement to provide a label for the property. You can use the datatype attribute to identify the type for the value. The value of the property can be any of the following:

A simple text value expressed with the value attribute or textual content.
A reference to either DITA content or a non-DITA resource expressed with the href attribute.
An image or other non-textual object.
A brief unit of descriptive text that isn't part of the body text flow.
A complex structure composed with nested <data> elements.

CAUTION:

The <data> element should only be used for properties and not to embed text for formatting as part of the flow of the topic body.

Example

The structure identifies the library and version demonstrated by a code sample:

<codeblock><data name="exampleOf">
                  <data name="library" href="ajaxLibrary.js"/>
                  <data name="version" value="2006-6-19"/>
              </data>
          ...
      </codeblock>

Contains

Doctype	Content model
ditabase, topic, task, reference, concept	( text data or keyword or option or parmname or apiname or cmdname or msgnum or varname or wintitle or term or data or data-about or foreign or unknown or image or object or ph or codeph or synph or filepath or msgph or userinput or systemoutput or b or u or i or tt or sup or sub or uicontrol or menucascade or title) (any number)
map, bookmap	( text data or keyword or term or data or data-about or foreign or unknown or image or object or ph or title) (any number)

Contained by

Doctype	Parents
bookmap	data-about, data-about, data, title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, fig, pre, lines, ph, alt, stentry, draft-comment, fn, indexterm, index-base, cite, xref, entry, author, source, publisher, copyrholder, category, prodname, brand, series, platform, prognum, featnum, component, map, topicref, relcell, topicmeta, linktext, searchtitle, bookmeta, publisherinformation, person, organization, summary, printlocation, published, reviewed, edited, tested, approved, bookevent, bookpartno, booknumber, maintainer, topichead, topicgroup, index-see, index-see-also, index-sort-as, organizationname, otherinfo, addressdetails, locality, localityname, administrativearea, thoroughfare, emailaddress, url
map	data-about, data-about, data, title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, fig, pre, lines, ph, alt, stentry, draft-comment, fn, indexterm, index-base, cite, xref, entry, author, source, publisher, copyrholder, category, prodname, brand, series, platform, prognum, featnum, component, map, topicref, relcell, topicmeta, linktext, searchtitle, topichead, topicgroup, index-see, index-see-also, index-sort-as
ditabase	data-about, data-about, data, title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, fig, pre, lines, ph, alt, stentry, draft-comment, fn, indexterm, index-base, cite, xref, entry, author, source, publisher, copyrholder, category, prodname, brand, series, platform, prognum, featnum, component, navtitle, searchtitle, abstract, body, section, example, prolog, metadata, linktext, linkinfo, conbody, prereq, context, cmd, info, tutorialinfo, stepxmp, choice, choptionhd, chdeschd, choption, chdesc, stepresult, result, postreq, refbody, refsyn, proptypehd, propvaluehd, propdeschd, proptype, propvalue, propdesc, glossterm, glossdef, uicontrol, screen, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, codeph, codeblock, var, oper, delim, sep, pt, pd, fragref, repsep, msgph, msgblock, filepath, userinput, systemoutput, coords, index-see, index-see-also, index-sort-as
topic	data-about, data-about, data, title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, fig, pre, lines, ph, alt, stentry, draft-comment, fn, indexterm, index-base, cite, xref, entry, author, source, publisher, copyrholder, category, prodname, brand, series, platform, prognum, featnum, component, navtitle, searchtitle, abstract, body, section, example, prolog, metadata, linktext, linkinfo, uicontrol, screen, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, codeph, codeblock, var, oper, delim, sep, pt, pd, fragref, repsep, msgph, msgblock, filepath, userinput, systemoutput, coords, index-see, index-see-also, index-sort-as
task	data-about, data-about, data, title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, fig, pre, lines, ph, alt, stentry, draft-comment, fn, indexterm, index-base, cite, xref, entry, author, source, publisher, copyrholder, category, prodname, brand, series, platform, prognum, featnum, component, navtitle, searchtitle, abstract, body, section, example, prolog, metadata, linktext, linkinfo, prereq, context, cmd, info, tutorialinfo, stepxmp, choice, choptionhd, chdeschd, choption, chdesc, stepresult, result, postreq, uicontrol, screen, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, codeph, codeblock, var, oper, delim, sep, pt, pd, fragref, repsep, msgph, msgblock, filepath, userinput, systemoutput, coords, index-see, index-see-also, index-sort-as
concept	data-about, data-about, data, title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, fig, pre, lines, ph, alt, stentry, draft-comment, fn, indexterm, index-base, cite, xref, entry, author, source, publisher, copyrholder, category, prodname, brand, series, platform, prognum, featnum, component, navtitle, searchtitle, abstract, body, section, example, prolog, metadata, linktext, linkinfo, conbody, uicontrol, screen, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, codeph, codeblock, var, oper, delim, sep, pt, pd, fragref, repsep, msgph, msgblock, filepath, userinput, systemoutput, coords, index-see, index-see-also, index-sort-as
reference	data-about, data-about, data, title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, fig, pre, lines, ph, alt, stentry, draft-comment, fn, indexterm, index-base, cite, xref, entry, author, source, publisher, copyrholder, category, prodname, brand, series, platform, prognum, featnum, component, navtitle, searchtitle, abstract, body, section, example, prolog, metadata, linktext, linkinfo, refbody, refsyn, proptypehd, propvaluehd, propdeschd, proptype, propvalue, propdesc, uicontrol, screen, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, codeph, codeblock, var, oper, delim, sep, pt, pd, fragref, repsep, msgph, msgblock, filepath, userinput, systemoutput, coords, index-see, index-see-also, index-sort-as
glossary	data-about, data-about, data, title, shortdesc, desc, p, note, lq, q, sli, li, itemgroup, dthd, ddhd, dt, dd, fig, pre, lines, ph, alt, stentry, draft-comment, fn, indexterm, index-base, cite, xref, entry, author, source, publisher, copyrholder, category, prodname, brand, series, platform, prognum, featnum, component, navtitle, searchtitle, abstract, body, section, example, prolog, metadata, linktext, linkinfo, conbody, glossterm, glossdef, uicontrol, screen, b, u, i, tt, sup, sub, codeph, codeblock, var, oper, delim, sep, pt, pd, fragref, repsep, msgph, msgblock, filepath, userinput, systemoutput, coords, index-see, index-see-also, index-sort-as

Inheritance:

- topic/data

Attributes

Name	Description	Data Type	Default Value	Required?
name	Defines a unique name for the object.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
datatype	Describes the type of data contained in the value attribute or within the data element. A typical use of datatype will be the identifying URI for an XML Schema datatype.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
value	Specifies the value of a run-time parameter specified by the name attribute.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
href	A hyperlink to an external Web page (URL) or other non-DITA resource, or to another DITA topic in the same file or in another file. The format attribute identifies the format of the target. Non-DITA targets use standard URL syntax. DITA topics are targetted as follows: Target elsewhere in the same file: href="#topicid" First topic in different file: href="filename.dita" Specific topic in different file: href="filename.dita#topicid" If the URL contains an ampersand character, the ampersand symbol (&) should be used to indicate that character	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
format	The format attribute identifies the format of the resource being cross referenced. See The format attribute for details on supported values.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
type	Describes the target of a cross-reference. See The type attribute for detailed information on supported values and processing implications.	CDATA	#IMPLIED (Processed as if the target were of type "topic", or inherited from an ancestor)	No
scope	The scope attribute identifies the closeness of the relationship between the current document and the target resource. Set scope to `local` when the resource is part of the current set of content. Set scope to `peer` when the resource is part of the current set of content but is not accessible at build time. Set scope to `external` when the resource is not part of the current information set and should open in a new browser window. See Using the -dita-use-conref-target value for more information on -dita-use-conref-target. The processing default is `local`. If no value is specified, but the attribute is specified on an ancestor within a map or within the related-links section, the value will inherit from the closest ancestor.	(local \| peer \| external \| -dita-use-conref-target)	#IMPLIED	No
%univ-atts; (%select-atts;, %id-atts;, %localization-atts;)	A set of related attributes, described at %univ-atts;	parameter entity	PE not applicable	Not applicable
%global-atts; (xtrf, xtrc)	A set of related attributes, described at %global-atts;	parameter entity	PE not applicable	Not applicable
class, outputclass	Common attributes described in Other common DITA attributes.