reference

The <reference> element defines a top-level container for a reference topic. Reference topics document programming constructs or facts about a product. Examples of reference topics include language elements, class descriptions, commands, functions, statements, protocols, types, declarators, operands, and API information, which provide quick access to facts, but no explanation of concepts or procedures. Reference topics have the same high-level structure as any other topic type, with a title, short description, and body. Within the body, reference topics are typically organized into one or more sections, property lists, and tables. The reference topic type provides general rules that apply to all kinds of reference information, using elements like <refsyn> for syntax or signatures, and <properties> for lists of properties and values.

Example

<reference id="refexample">
 <title>A reference topic/title>
 <refbody>
  <refsyn>Describe command or api syntax here, possibly
  using &lt;synph> or &lt;syntax> markup for explicit 
  definition of syntax or prototype construction.
  </refsyn>
  <section>
   <title>Some section title</title>
  </section>
  <properties>
   <property>
    <proptype>type</proptype>
    <propvalue>value</propvalue>
    <propdesc>description</propdesc>
   </property>
  </properties>
 </refbody>
</reference>

Contains

Doctype	Content model
ditabase	( ( title) then ( titlealts) (optional) then ( shortdesc or abstract) (optional) then ( prolog) (optional) then ( refbody) (optional) then ( related-links) (optional) then ( topic or concept or task or reference or glossentry) (any number) )
reference	( ( title) then ( titlealts) (optional) then ( shortdesc or abstract) (optional) then ( prolog) (optional) then ( refbody) (optional) then ( related-links) (optional) then ( reference) (any number) )

Contained by

Doctype	Parents
ditabase	dita, topic, concept, task, reference
reference	reference

Inheritance:

- topic/topic reference/reference

Attributes

Name	Description	Data Type	Default Value	Required?
id	This ID enables topics to be referenced uniquely by topicrefs in DITA maps.	ID		Yes
conref	This attribute is used to reference an ID on a topic that can be reused. See The conref attribute for examples and details about the syntax.	CDATA	#IMPLIED	No
xmlns:ditaarch	Declares the default DITA namespace.	CDATA	#FIXED http://dita.oasis-open.org/architecture/2005/
DITAArchVersion	Designates the version of the architecture that is in use.	CDATA	"1.1" (version dependent; will increase)	No
domains	Indicates the specialized domains that are included in the DTD or Schema.	CDATA	(topic ui-d) (topic hi-d) (topic pr-d) (topic sw-d) (topic ut-d) (topic indexing-d)	No
%select-atts; (props, base, platform, product, audience, otherprops, importance, rev, status)	A set of related attributes, described at %select-atts;	parameter entity	PE not applicable	Not applicable
%localization-atts; (translate, xml:lang, dir)	A set of related attributes, described at %localization-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.