Table of contents

Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) Version 1.3 Part 1: Base Edition

Document
Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) Version 1.3 Part 1: Base Edition
Version
1.3
Author
OASIS DITA Technical Committee

Processors can generate a table of contents (TOC) based on the hierarchy of the elements in a DITA map. By default, each topicref element in a map represents a node in the TOC. These topic references define a navigation tree.

When a map contains a topic reference to a map (often called a map reference), processors should integrate the navigation tree of the referenced map with the navigation tree of the referencing map at the point of reference. In this way, a deliverable can be compiled from multiple DITA maps.

Note: If a topicref element that references a map contains child topicref elements, the processing behavior regarding the child topicref elements is undefined.

The effective navigation title is used for the value of the TOC node. A TOC node is generated for every topicref element that references a topic or specifies a navigation title, except in the following cases:

  • The processing-role attribute that is specified on the topicref element or an ancestor element is set to "resource-only".
  • Conditional processing is used to filter out the node or an ancestor node.
  • The print attribute is specified on the topicref element or an ancestor element, and the current processing does not match the value set by the print attribute. For example, print="printonly" and the output format is XHTML-based, or print="no" and the output format is PDF. (Note that the print attribute is deprecated in DITA 1.3; it is replaced by the deliveryTarget attribute.)
  • There is no information from which a TOC entry can be constructed; there is no referenced resource or navigation title.
  • The node is a topicgroup element, even if it specifies a navigation title.

To suppress a topicref element from appearing in the TOC, set the toc attribute to "no". The value of the toc attribute cascades to child topicref elements, so if toc is set to "no" on a particular topicref, all children of the topicref element are also excluded from the TOC. If a child topicref overrides the cascading operation by specifying toc="yes", then the node that specifies toc="yes" appears in the TOC (minus the intermediate nodes that set toc to "no").