Maps manager for Docbook assembly

[xchaotic]

Hi.

Do you plan to support Docbook Assemblies soon?
On the dev side it's not a problem - I can configure a transfomation scenario and it all works fine, but for the end users - editors etc, I'd really want to see an equivalent of DITA Maps manager soon.
Where does it sit on your roadmap?

[Radu]

Hi,

Actually this is the first request we have for Docbook Assemblies.

Oxygen does not yet ship with Docbook v5.1 which is in a beta stage.
So the first stage would be that Docbook 5.1 becomes stable and Oxygen would come bundled with the Docbook 5.1 schemas.

Then the second stage would be to offer support for the new Docbook 5.1 features.

For now I scheduled support for Docbook Assembly for Oxygen 15 (which will probably be released in a year or so). But it depends on many things, more feedback from Docbook users requesting it will also help.

Do you use Docbook Assemblies in production?
How do you link between various Docbook files which make up the assembly?

Regards,
Radu

[xchaotic]

Hi.

We're not using it not production just yet as it is in beta indeed, but we are in Proof of Concept stage.
I think I got what I really wanted - a confirmation from you that the feature is on the roadmap - we need tools support.

As far as referencing, I'm watching how it develops, but I would prefer the least verbose, Docbook specific option.
There is a very recent descussion on Docbook list on this very issue.
Currently, for PoC I don't need the indirection, but in Production I would needs sth like Olinks or Xlink to have a maintainable, single place for resource locations.

One last things is, if we had resources on our side, is there a way for us to have similar functionality to maps managers by customizing the the Document Type Association in Oxygen?

[Radu]

Hi,

Creating a document type association for Docbook Assembly would be a good place to start because it would at least provide you with content completion and validation.
You could also try to create a CSS for styling a Docbook Assembly in the Author page. Such a CSS could also be used to mark certain references as links and to allow navigation when they are clicked.
But the Assembly would be opened in the main editor in the Author page and not in a specialized view which can be docked with the other side views.

The DITA Maps Manager tree structure is strictly built for DITA and is not provided as an extension by the DITA document type, it is built-in.
So such a view cannot be reused to show an outline of the assembly.

Regards,
Radu

[Radu]

One more thing,

If you produce a good document type for Docbook Assembly (with a CSS to render it pleasantly in the Author page) you can also share it with us

Regards,
Radu

[DeniseNCR]

It's been awhile since this the original post --

Is a Docbook Assembly Manager (like the DITA Maps Manager) something that will be developed any time in the future (near or far)? It's something I am definitely interested in.

Has anyone created to correctly render the Docbook assemblies for the Oxygen Author view?

[Radu]

Hi Denise,

Probably we'll consider adding support for editing Docbook Assemblies when there will be an official Docbook 5.1 release which supports this (both by adding the vocabulary for it and by adding the publishing support for it).
Adding such a feature takes weeks of development effort so we need some stable Docbook release which supports this as well.

Regards,
Radu

[DeniseNCR]

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, Radu!

Looks like the Docbook folk are looking to finalise it this autumn:http://markmail.org/message/wavhnlbdoek ... te:results
(Here's hoping they do!)

Cheers,
Denise

[Radu]

Hi Denise,

Thanks, I'm also registered on the Docbook Users List and I saw your post the other day

Regards,
Radu

[Radu]

Hi,

Just to update this thread, Oxygen 17.1 has some experimental support for creating, editing and validating Docbook 5.1 documents (including assemblies). But this does not yet include support for publishing.

Regards,
Radu