Reply To: WebHelp Missing Parent Child Topic Links

[Derek Read]

It looks like the DITA OT project broke a parameter that used to default to 'no' in previous versions (and according to the documentation should still default to 'no'). This parameter tells the DITA OT whether or not to include parent links in outputs that support them. This is a setting on the XHTML transtype (which we expose as our “Multiple HTML files” deliverable), but many other deliverables use XHTML as part of the transformation (since at their core they use HTML files), this includes CHM, WebHelp, and the Java and Eclipse outputs.

The problem parameter is an ANT parameter named “args.hide.parent.link” and is described here:
http://dita-ot.sourceforge.net/1.5.4/readme/dita-ot_ant_properties.html

Note that despite the fact that those docs say it defaults to 'no' (meaning that these links should not be hidden, meaning that they should actually be visible) the value seems to be defaulting to 'yes'.

Forcibly setting this parameter to 'no' fixes the issue in my testing. You can do that for WebHelp as follows:

1. On the Tools menu select Configure Output.
2. Select “WebHelp” from the list then click Edit.
3. In the dialog that appears (Edit Deliverable Type) click the second tab (Advanced).
4. In the text area (Other output parameters) add the following to tell XMetaL to pass this parameter through to the DITA OT (via ANT):
ANT_PARAM_args.hide.parent.link = no
5. Click OK to dismiss all the dialogs.
6. Generate output using the “WebHelp” deliverable.

If you need to set it for any other output format you would select the corresponding deliverable in step 2.

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