Highlight active topic in the ditamap

[Carl]

I have a very common problem, but haven't figured out if there is a feature to help me out. If not, this is a good feature request.

It's very simple: I open my user manual with resolved topics in the editor. The manual could be 100 pages or more. I scroll through the editor, reviewing the resolved topics. I find a topic that should be deleted. But I cannot delete from the editor view--I have to do it from its associated ditamap. However there is no easy way to open the parent ditamap from the topic. I must manually eyeball the list of topics in the Maps Manager, locate and open its ditamap, then delete my topic.

It would be nice if the active topic in the editor is highlighted in the Maps Manager (switching between active topics changes the highlight). That would save me a lot of extra work and improve the OxygenXML user experience.

[Radu]

Hi Carl,

The DITA Maps Manager does have a "Link with editor" toolbar action. If this is checked (and it is by default) and you move the caret through the DITA Map opened with resolved topics, the DITA Maps Manager selection should change accordingly. Once a topicref is selected in the DITA Maps Manager you can right click it and choose "Open parent DITA Map".

Regards,
Radu

[Carl]

Thank you, Radu! It turns out that my "Link with editor" button was turned off. This is exactly what I wanted. I even figured out how to change the colour of the highlight in the ditamap to make it more obvious.

On a related note, why are all the topics within a ditamap (in the Maps Manager) highlighted light grey by default? It makes it difficult to see the active topic, which is highlighted in only a slightly darker grey.

[Radu]

Hi Carl,

I'm glad things started to work, about the color choice, when you have topics referenced in subtopics referenced in a DITA Map, we use a gray background on those reference to show the content is read only, that it can only be edited if you open the submap in a separate editing area.
And this gray background makes the selection background indeed to be less visible when content in submaps is selected.
I'll add an internal issue to look into this.

Regards,
Radu

[Carl]

Thanks, Radu. I tried changing the colour of this grey background in the preferences, but gave up after several tries. It appears to be uneditable?

[Radu]

Hi Carl,

Looking in our code, indeed right now the color seems to be not editable.
If we manage to improve on this I will update this forum thread, sorry for the inconvenience.

Regards,
Radu