Pls help! Document created using customized DTD not showing properly in XMETAL

[avenkatesan]

I have a customized dtd which is based on concept.dtd/task.dtd/reference.dtd

when i create a document using this DTD, I get the following issues:

-The tags are bunched together. We need the spacing, line breaks, and alignment
to work like they do with the out of the box DTDs
-The auto-numbering for steps and substeps is not working
-The replaceable text font size is way too small and font color and background
-The double- click functionality from the image, linktext, and xref tags is not
working. We need a window to appear that allows us to browse to files and use
drop-downs to select attributes

What css and ctm files and any other files do I need for this. and where do I put these files?

Thanks!
-arvind

[Derek Read]

It sounds like you have not followed the instructions in the following Help topic:

Working with DITA > DITA Specializations > Configure XMetaL

If you follow those instructions all of the files needed for authoring to your specialized DITA DTD will be created automatically in a folder here (except XML templates which you must create yourself):

C:\Program Files\XMetaL 6.0\Author\DITA\XACs

Various other settings that configure catalog settings for authoring to your DTD will also be made automatically.

[mag3737]

Most of those issues will be automatically fixed with a "proper" specialization. The one thing I would like to call out is font size/style for replaceable text. This is something that you can modify by adding your own custom CSS to XMetaL.

The following presentation includes (among other info) a few slides about how to edit the CSS used with DITA in XMetaL:
Slides only: http://www.slideshare.net/XMetaL/finetuning-the-dita-customization
Presentation with audio and demos: https://justsystems.webex.com/justsystems/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=EC&rID=51477417&rKey=77ceff15f487ae4c

In addition, changing styles for replaceable text requires you to know one more thing -- this XMetaL-specific bit of CSS:

Code:

$PROCINS[xm-pi-target="xm-replace_text"]
{
     color: #373737;
     background-color: #cccccc;
}

[avenkatesan]

Tom,
I am not able to open the weblink (firewalled). Pls send it to my email address.
Thanks.
-arvind

[mag3737]

Done. :-)

[avenkatesan]

Derek, Tom,
 Thanks for the links to documentation. I followed the steps (based on the topic suggested by Derek) and I can now see all the files under XAC folder. 
  However - when I create a blank document and point it to the dtd I still don't see the customizations.

Pls help.
Thanks.
-arvind

[Derek Read]

[This issue has been taken over by XMetaL Support and Professional Services. The following is primarily for the benefit of other readers of this thread]

A custom DTD that defines similar elements to DITA was being used here and not a specialized DITA DTD (as outlined in the DITA Architectural Specification). This is why DITA authoring functionality was not fully enabled (or in other words, mostly broken). Any functionality that was working was essentially working by accident (or coincidence) due to the similarity in element names and the partial integration of portions of the DITA customization into the set of customization files configured for this DTD.

Using "custom" DTDs (vs properly specialized DITA DTDs) is unsupported, and it doesn't really make sense to do this anyway (at least in my opinion) because specialization is clearly outlined, and many DITA-aware tools support it, including the DITA Open Toolkit. Even if all the work needed to customize XMetaL to provide a nice authoring experience for this DTD was done (one similar to what we already provide for DITA and specialized DTD), additional customization work would also likely need to be done to make this work with any other tools, possibly including the DITA OT. That seems to be a waste of effort to me. It would also lock your content more tightly to one vendor (us). Although I'm sure most people reading this use XMetaL, leaving your choices for both DITA authoring and processing tools open is always a good thing to do.