Customizing DITA ID Generation
Arbortext Editor provides the capability of generating IDs for elements in DITA documents. These IDs are generated based on the title, text, and element information from the current document. By default, an eight digit hexadecimal number is appended to the initial ID based on the current date and time (for example, DITAAuthoringOverview-030963B9). These generated IDs are very likely to be unique across a set of DITA documents. DITA IDs are generated using the generate_id function. If enabled in the document type configuration (.dcf) file for the document type, you can also enter IDs manually.
You can generate DITA IDs in the following ways:
• Select >
• Select the Generate ID toolbar button
• Select the Generate ID button in the Modify Attributes dialog box, Document Map attribute display, the Column view modify attributes column, or the Column view ID column
• Create a new DITA topic from the Resource Manager's New Topic tab
• Save a DITA topic that was created from one of the DITA document types' template files
In this case, Arbortext Editor automatically generates an ID for the topic when the document is first saved.
By default, IDs are not displayed in the Column view columns or in the Resource Manager. IDs are displayed in the Edit view and the Modify Attributes dialog box.
You can modify an existing ID in the following places:
• Modify Attributes dialog box
• Document Map attribute display
• Column view modify attributes column
• Column view ID column
You can enter an updated ID manually or use the Generate ID button to generate a new ID. If you attempt to change an existing ID using the Generate ID button, you are prompted to confirm that you want to replace the existing ID. If you enter a new ID manually, you do not receive this prompt.
You can customize the default DITA document ID generation behavior in the following ways:
• Set the ditahideids option to off.
This enables the display of IDs in the Resource Manager browser and displays the ID option in the Resource Manager's New Topic tab.
• Set the generateuniqueid option to off.
This shortens the default IDs by removing the hexadecimal string that is appended to the ID.
• In the document type configuration file (.dcf) for a DITA document type, set the dialogHidden or screenHidden attribute on the AttributeOptions element to true for the DITA id attribute.
This hides the id attribute in the Arbortext Editor dialog boxes and views.
• In the .dcf file, set the assignId attribute on the Options element to no.
This prevents users from modifying the automatically generated IDs.
• In the Columns category of the Preferences dialog box, check the box for the ID column.
This displays the ID column in Column view for a DITA map. You can also change the order in which the ID column is displayed in this dialog box.