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The -dita-use-conref-target attribute value
A special attribute value of -dita-use-conref-target can be used to force the attribute value of the source of a conref to be used in the referencing element.

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Cross-references are a means of binding individual topics into a coherent and navigable document.
Content re-use
- Content re-use definition
  Content re-use is a means of improving efficiency by eliminating repetition of phrases, blocks of text, topics, and even collections of topics.
- Re-use and the DITA Maturity Model
  Content re-use is one of the features that you should adopt early in your move from style-based authoring to structured authoring with DITA.
- The content reference (conref) attribute
  The conref feature allows DITA content to be used in any number of different places in a collection. The conref attribute in a referencing topic specifies the source topic and the element within that topic to re-use.
- Re-use practices
  - Writing for re-use
    You should embrace a style or method of writing that produces content suitable for re-use. This method includes an aim to minimise context.
  - Re-use guidelines
    Re-use guidelines can help simplify the practice of writing for re-use.
  - Valid referencing elements
    When using a conref in a topic to transclude text from another topic, the referencing element must be valid DITA XML.
  - The -dita-use-conref-target attribute value
    A special attribute value of -dita-use-conref-target can be used to force the attribute value of the source of a conref to be used in the referencing element.
  - Re-using content from different elements
    When re-using content through the conref feature, the referenced element type must match the referencing element type.
  - Nested content references
    Content references can be nested inside other content references.
- Variables
- Organising re-use topics and elements
- Embedded topics and ditamaps
  The ditamap is a powerful tool for re-using topics in different output publications. Topics can also be re-used using ditabase topics, but you should avoid this technique.
- Advanced conref principles
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The DITA documentation process
DITA authoring concepts
Moving from style-based authoring to a structured authoring methodology such as DITA requires a radically different approach to writing.

The -dita-use-conref-target attribute value

A special attribute value of -dita-use-conref-target can be used to force the attribute value of the source of a conref to be used in the referencing element.

The attributes on some DITA elements are mandatory, such as the trademark type (tmtype) attribute of a trademark (tm) element. When you conref such an element, the source element's attributes are not ascribed to the referencing element. The referencing conref element is therefore invalid, because it lacks the mandatory attribute.

For example, the trademark element:

<tm id="tm_hyperwrite" tmtype="reg">HyperWrite</tm>

would logically be referenced using conref as:

<tm conref="#about_company/tm_hyperwrite"/>

However, because that referencing tm element does not include a tmtype attribute, it is invalid.

To circumvent the invalidity, you could also include the attribute in the referencing element, as:

<tm conref="#about_company/tm_hyperwrite" tmtype="reg"/>

However, this involves repeating the same information, which goes against the ideal of re-using rather than copying.

DITA elements that have mandatory attributes, or that have enumerated values (that is, a fixed choice of valid values), also have a -dita-use-conref-target value. This value forces the attribute value of the conref source (the referenced element) being used in the referencing element.

A conref to a trademark could therefore be coded as:

<tm conref="#about_company/tm_hyperwrite" tmtype="-dita-use-conref-target"/>