Reply To: Branch filtering, DITA 1.3

[mag3737]

We don't include a proper XMetaL customization for editing DITAVAL files, so the out-of-box editing approach would be to accept XMetaL's default-generated customization. This would mean no special visual styling, no custom forms, toolbars, or menus. But you would have Normal/TagsOn views, the Element List and Attribute Inspector windows available, which are technically all you need.

If you have an existing DITAVAL file to edit, you can use File>Open to select it. You will almost certainly be prompted to browse for the DTD. In XMetaL Author Enterprise 11 (32-bit installation), the ditaval.dtd from DITA 1.3 is located here:
C:Program Files (x86)XMetaL 11.0AuthorDITADITA_1.3_DTDditavaldtd

If you want to work from a template, you can create a DITAVAL template by copying any DITAVAL file and placing it into any subfolder here (or you can also make a new subfolder):
C:Program Files (x86)XMetaL 11.0AuthorTemplate
Then if you do File>New, you will see your DITAVAL template included among all the others. Once again, you will probably need to browse for the DTD after opening the file.

A third option, to open a new, one-time-only blank DITAVAL file, is to use File>New, then select the template called “Blank XML Document” (from the “General” tab), and then select the DITAVAL DTD from the subsequent browse dialog.

The very first time you open a DITAVAL file, by whichever of the above methods, you will see a message about XMetaL automatically generating some configuration files. Those could serve as the beginning of a “proper customization”, if desired.

If you wish to avoid the “browse for a DTD” prompt every time, you must (1) ensure that the DITAVAL file or template you are opening includes a DOCTYPE declaration that references a DTD and (2) ensure that the DTD is in a location where XMetaL can find it by resolving the information in the DOCTYPE.

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