Problem using DITAVAL file to exclude content from PDF outpu

[mlimtiaco]

Hello! I'm evaluating oXygen 15 as a tool for DITA topic-based publishing. I've gotten to the point where I can create good PDF from a ditamap and associated DITA topics.

I'm also using a DITAVAL file to exclude certain attributes from the output, and that part works fine. However, the DITAVAL file also specifies that all <shortdesc> elements should be excluded from the PDF output, and the <shortdesc> elements are still appearing in the output.

I'm sure I have the DITAVAL file correctly specified in my PDF transformation scenario (Filters tab, right?), since certain values for @product and @platform are correctly being excluded from the PDF output. But I can't figure out why the short descriptions are still in the output.

I've also tried specifying the attribute name/value pair (name = class, value = topic/shortdesc) in the Filters tab, but that had no effect on the output.

FWIW, all our DITA topics, maps, and the DITAVAL file were created in Structured FrameMaker with the DITA-FMx plug-in, and I'm running all of this on Win7.

So...where am I going wrong with my DITAVAL file? Thanks in advance for any solutions!
Matso Limtiaco
Everett WA

[Radu]

Hi Matso,

Here's what I tested:

In one of my DITA topics I had this shortdesc element:

Code: Select all

<shortdesc product="shortdesc">SHORT DESC TEXT</shortdesc>

Then in the DITAVAL filter file I added:

Code: Select all

<val>

.....

    <prop action="exclude" att="product" val="shortdesc" />

.....

</val>

Then I edited the transformation scenario and in the Filters tab I selected Use DITAVAL file and chose the DITAVAL.

It worked for me, the shortdesc was filtered both in the PDF and XHTML outputs.

More answers below:

I've also tried specifying the attribute name/value pair (name = class, value = topic/shortdesc) in the Filters tab, but that had no effect on the output.

This is indeed another way to filter but you are not using it properly.
The section is called:

Exclude from output all elements with any of the following attributes

attributes in this context is meant to signify profiling attributes, we'll try to make the label more clear, it does not work for any attribute.
So for my small example I showed you above you would need to add product=>shortdesc.

This alternative way of filtering actually automatically creates a DITAVAL so it has the same limitations for filtering as the DITAVAL file, it can filter only for certain attributes.

FWIW, all our DITA topics, maps, and the DITAVAL file were created in Structured FrameMaker with the DITA-FMx plug-in, and I'm running all of this on Win7.

If you have any issue with Oxygen or any improvement request, please let us know.

Regards,
Radu