DITA bookmap to xml and back

[jspychka]

Hello,

Using oXygen, is there a way to transform a bookmap and all its topics into a single xml file and back? We want to send our bookmaps off to our translation vendor but the topic files are scattered around in hundreds of directories.

Thanks,

John

[Radu]

Hi John,

I know no such way.
Or more exactly you could merge everything in a single file using the DITA to PDF transformation which merges all topics in a single temporary XML file before processing it to XSL-FO but I don't think there is a way back.
Actually the DITA modularity has always been considered as beneficial to the translation process (the ability to send only the small modified topics to the translators).
You should try asking this question on the DITA Users list. They definitely have people more experienced in translation matters.

Regards,
Radu

[jspychka]

Thanks for your reply, Radu. I did check the yahoo dita-users group before but found nothing. So, maybe I will ask the question there.

Also, I will post this to the Oxygen new feature request forum. I know this would be no easy implementation, but an out-of-the-box, bookmap-to-single-xml-file-and-back transformation scenario would be pretty darn cool! I find that you are close with the "Open map in editor with resolved topics" feature in the DITA Maps Manager. Saving this from the editor as a single xml file would be great.

John