Show unhandled profiling attributes (DOTJ031I) in "Transformation problems" summary

[chrispitude]

When a profiling attribute is encountered that has no DITAVAL filtering rule applied to it, the DITA-OT issues a DOTJ031I information message as follows:

Code: Select all

[exec]    [filter] [DOTJ031I][INFO] No specified rule for 'audience=internal' was found in the ditaval file. This value will use the default action, or a parent prop action if specified. To remove this message, you can specify a rule for 'props=hide' in the ditaval file.

For us, this is a fairly serious issue because internal or wrong-product content could appear in production output.

This becomes especially important in large online help collections containing books from many writers with topic reuse, as the branch filtering must be precisely correct in the top-level map to ensure correct output.

Currently, Oxygen includes some information messages in the "Transformation problems" summary pane, but it does not include DOTJ031I information messages for unhandled profiling conditions:

image.png

Could Oxygen be enhanced to include DOTJ031I in the "Transformation problems" list, possibly in the next maintenance release of v24.1? We are starting to assemble WebHelp maps from our books, and getting our branch filtering correct will be an important piece of the puzzle.

Testcase:

oxygen_missing_info_message.zip

Thanks!

[Radu]

Hi Chris,

I added an internal issue:

EXM-50732 DITA OT publishing does not report specific info message

and we'll try to find some time to look into this.

Regards,
Radu

[Radu]

Hi,

As an update, this should be fixed in Oxygen 25.

Regards,
Radu

[chrispitude]

Thanks Radu! This will help us avoid incorrect content getting published when writers do not know that branch filtering is needed for a book in a help collection.

[ckabstein]

Hi Radu,
Sorry if I need to bring this topic up again, but why does this info message also appear if in Oxygen, we use the profiling settings instead of a DITAVAL file (For automatic builds, we use the ditaval files)? In the profiling settings, there is no explicit "exclude" option that I could set to avoid this - which is possible with the DITAVAL files. How could I achieve the following DITAVAL configuration in the Oxygen profiling settings:

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<val>
	<prop action="exclude" att="product" val="product_a"/>
	<prop action="exclude" att="product" val="product_b"/>
	<prop action="exclude" att="product" val="product_c"/>
	<prop action="exclude" att="product" val="product_d"/>
	<prop action="exclude" att="product" val="product_e"/>
	<prop action="exclude" att="product" val="product_f"/>
	<prop action="include" att="product" val="product_g"/>
</val>

For our automatic builds, we normally exclude everything else and only include one product, as follows:

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<val>
	<prop action="exclude"/>
	<prop action="include" att="product" val="product_g"/>
</val>

If the Oxygen profiling settings produce properly filtered results, we can normally ignore the info messages in the automatic builds. Setting a default exclusion option is so much easier to handle than to investigate time into which products must be excluded specifically.
At the moment, the only chance that I see to avoid the info messages in Oxygen would be to use the ditaval files from now on and change them accordingly.

Best regards,
Christina

[Radu]

Hi Christina,
When you use profiling settings to include certain values in the Oxygen transformation scenario, we automatically create before publishing a DITAVAL with the content very similar to what you described:

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<val>
	<prop action="exclude"/>
	<prop action="include" att="product" val="product_g"/>
</val>

I added an internal issue to somehow avoid issuing this message from the DITA OT in such cases when the DITAVAL has a global exclude action.

EXM-51850 Info message DOTJ031I appears even when there is no problem with DITAVAL file

If we manage to fix this in a future version we'll let you know. In the meantime please ignore the received info message. You can also inhibit showing DITA OT information messages from the "DITA / Logging" preferences page.

Regards,
Radu

[chrispitude]

Hi Christina, Radu,

Our reason for asking that Oxygen include DOTJ031I messages in the summary was to avoid profiled content not covered by any DITAVAL rule from accidentally being published to customers. Depending on the content, this could be serious. And with complex content reuse, this is difficult to catch manually.

However, now that Oxygen includes DOTJ031I messages in the summary, we are also realizing that some aspects of the DOTJ031I check could be improved. And ironically, it is because Oxygen makes DOTJ031I more visible that we are realizing this. (And this is not necessary a bad thing - this is an important thing to check and report properly!)

I will file a DITA-OT issue to improve the accuracy of the DOTJ031I check. Christina, if having this check work properly is useful to you, it would be great if you could add your support for the issue when it is filed.

[chrispitude]

Hi everyone,

I filed the following DITA-OT issue:

#4048: Warn about profiled DITA content that is not affected by any DITAVAL filtering rule

[ckabstein]

Hi Radu and Chris,
@Radu Thanks for explaining what happens with the profiling settings in Oxygen. I could imagine that solving this by ignoring global exlude actions could work.
I don't think we should turn off DITA OT info messages though. Some messages could still have use for us. I will just tell the authors to ignore this message for the time being.
@Chris I understand that your request is extremely important and I see it the same way as you. Of course, I will support the filed issue.
Best,
Christina

[chrispitude]

Hi Christina,

Thank you for your support!

Hi Radu,

I did not realize the limitations of DOTJ031I when I asked for it to be included in the "Transformation problems" summary. I wonder if it should be un-included again until it is a more reliable indicator?

[Radu]

Hi Chris,

I kind of suspected we might run into problems when I decided to show again this information message. But showing all info messages coming from the DITA OT is the correct thing to do, I will probably try to patch the DITA OT bundled with Oxygen to remove this message when it is not the case for it to appear (when you have global excludes). Maybe also add a pull request. If I manage to fix this in a future version I'll update this thread.

Regards,
Radu

[Radu]

Hi,
As an update on this thread, we released Oxygen 25.1 and its bundled DITA OT publishing engine no longer shows this particular information message when publishing.
Regards,
Radu