data-about

The <data-about> element identifies the subject of a property when the subject isn't associated with the context in which the property is specified. The property itself is expressed by the <data> element. The <data-about> element handles exception cases where a property must be expressed somewhere other than inside the actual subject of the property. The <data-about> element is particularly useful as a basis for specialization in combination with the <data> element.

Important: Do not use the <data-about> element to identify the object of a property. The href attribute of the <data> element serves that purpose.

Example

The full properties of a cited book can be maintained conveniently in the prolog:

<topic id="questions">
    <title>Questions and answers</title>
    <prolog>
        <data-about name="book" href="urn:isbn:0156983508">
            <data name="title">The World Doesn't End</data>
            <data name="author">
                <data name="firstname">Charles</data>
                <data name="lastname">Simic</data>
            </data>
            <data name="published" datatype="year">1989</data>
            ...
        </data-about>
        ...
    </prolog>
    <body>
        ...
       <lq href="urn:isbn:0156983508">In a forest of question marks ...
       </lq>
       ...
    </body>
</topic>

Contains

Doctype Content model
ditabase, topic, task, reference, concept, glossary, map, bookmap ( ( data) then ( data or data-about) (any number) )

Contained by

Doctype Parents
bookmap 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, person, organization, summary, printlocation, bookpartno, booknumber, topichead, topicgroup, index-see, index-see-also, index-sort-as, organizationname, otherinfo, addressdetails, locality, localityname, administrativearea, thoroughfare, emailaddress, url
map 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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-about

Attributes

Name Description Data Type Default Value Required?
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 (&amp;) 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      

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OASIS DITA Language Specification v1.1 -- Committee Draft 02, 8 May 2007
Copyright © OASIS Open 2005, 2007. All Rights Reserved.