The <step> element represents an action that a user must follow to accomplish a task. Each step in a task must contain a command <cmd> element which describes the particular action the user must do to accomplish the overall task. Beginning with DITA 1.2, it is possible to place a <note> element before the command in order to notify the user of dangers or other important information about the step. The <step> element can also contain additional optional information about the step, such as substeps, a list of choices, or result information.
| Doctype | Content model |
|---|---|
| ditabase, task, machineryTask | ( (note or hazardstatement) (any number) then cmd then (choices or choicetable or info or itemgroup or stepxmp or substeps or tutorialinfo) (any number) then (stepresult) (optional) ) |
| learningContent | ( (note or lcInstructornote) (any number) then cmd then (choices or choicetable or info or itemgroup or stepxmp or substeps or tutorialinfo) (any number) then (stepresult) (optional) ) |
| Doctype | Content model |
|---|---|
| ditabase, task (strict), task (general), machineryTask, learningContent | steps, steps-unordered |
<task id="sqlj"> <title>Creating an SQLJ file</title> <taskbody> <context>Once you have set up SQLJ, you need to create a new SQLJ file. </context> <steps> <step> <cmd>Select <menucascade><uicontrol>File</uicontrol><uicontrol>New</uicontrol></menucascade>.</cmd> <info>New files are created with default values based on a standard template.</info> </step> </steps> </taskbody> </task>
| Name | Description | Data Type | Default Value | Required? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| importance | Describes whether the current step or substep is optional or required. Output processors may (but need not) highlight steps that are optional or required. | optional | required | -dita-use-conref-target | #IMPLIED | No |
| props | Root attribute from which new metadata attributes can be specialized. This is a property attribute which supports conditional processing for filtering or flagging. 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 cascade from the closest ancestor. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values. However, when acting as a container for generalized attributes, the content model will be more complex; see Attribute generalization for more details. | CDATA | #IMPLIED | No |
| base | A generic attribute that has no specific purpose. It is intended to act as a base for specialized attributes that have a simple value syntax like the conditional processing attributes (one or more alphanumeric values separated by whitespace), but is not itself a filtering or flagging attribute. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values. However, when acting as a container for generalized attributes, the content model will be more complex; see Attribute generalization for more details. | CDATA | #IMPLIED | No |
| platform | Indicates operating system and hardware. This is a property attribute which supports conditional processing for filtering or flagging. 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 cascade from the closest ancestor. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values. | CDATA | #IMPLIED | No |
| product | Contains the name of the product to which the element applies. This is a property attribute which supports conditional processing for filtering or flagging. 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 cascade from the closest ancestor. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values. | CDATA | #IMPLIED | No |
| audience | Indicates the intended audience for the element. This is a property attribute which supports conditional processing for filtering or flagging. 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 cascade from the closest ancestor. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values. | CDATA | #IMPLIED | No |
| otherprops | This attribute can be used for any other properties that might be needed to describe an audience, or to provide selection criteria for the element. Alternatively, the props attribute may be specialized to provide a new metadata attribute instead of using the general otherprops attribute. This is a property attribute which supports conditional processing for filtering or flagging. 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 cascade from the closest ancestor. The attribute takes a space-delimited set of values. | CDATA | #IMPLIED | No |
| rev | Indicates a revision level of an element that identifies when the element was added or modified. It may be used to flag outputs when it matches a run-time parameter. It is not sufficient to be used for full version control, such as single-sourcing multiple product variants based on version level, as it only represents one aspect of the revision level. 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 cascade from the closest ancestor. | CDATA | #IMPLIED | No |
| status | The modification status of the current element. | new | changed | deleted | unchanged | -dita-use-conref-target | #IMPLIED | No |
| id-atts attribute group (id, conref, conrefend, conaction, conkeyref) | A set of related attributes, described in id-atts attribute group | |||
| localization-atts attribute group (translate, xml:lang, dir) | A set of related attributes, described in localization-atts attribute group. | |||
| global-atts attribute group (xtrf, xtrc) | A set of related attributes, described in global-atts attribute group | |||
| class, outputclass | Common attributes described in Other common DITA attributes |
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DITA v1.2 CD 03
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