This document describes the package content, change history, and some release notes for the package called "dita132.zip" on developerWorks.
Related links
Introduction to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture
Specializing topic types in DITA
Specializing domain types in DITA
DITA Frequently Asked Questions
DITA Forum jump page
Download the latest DITA DTDs, style sheets, and sample documents
The DITA package has the following directory structure:
See files.txt in the root directory.
Use an unzip tool to extract the package into a location of your choice. The root directory has the same name as the package, therefore these files will not overlay previous toolkit versions on your system.
c:\pkg\dita132\doc>java org.apache.xalan.xslt.Process -in DITA-readme.xml -xsl ..\xsl\topic2html.xsl -out DITA-readme.html
c:\pkg\dita132\doc>testXSLT -in DITA-readme.xml -xsl ..\xsl\topic2html.xsl -out DITA-readme.html
c:\pkg\dita132\doc>saxon DITA-readme.xml ..\xsl\topic2html.xsl > DITA-readme.html
c:\pkg\dita132\doc>xt DITA-readme.xml ..\xsl\topic2html.xsl > DITA-readme.html
Following the initial public distribution of DITA in March 2000, IBM's "XML Workgroup" has been using the tools in several significant prototypes. Based on feedback both from external forums and these prototype activities, the Workgroup provided some updates to the DITA tools in an October 2001 package called dita01.zip.
Release 1.0 (dita10.zip) was the result of a series of reviews and usability studies that led to a number of new or better understood design features, including domain specialization. The most succinct description of these features is in the Introduction to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture article, under the heading "Main features of the DITA architecture."
Revision 1.1 was an unpublished intermediate fix level.
Revision 1.2 (dita12.zip) incorporated additional DTD fixes (including an expected change to the former <ifcond> model in task.dtd) and added 3 new elements (<sl>, <sli>, and <screen>).
In addition, this revision provided a new map information type to define hierarchical lists of topics. The hierarchy can be used as a navigation hierarchy for a help system or to aggregate topics as nested sections for a book. Thus, for books, the map is parallel with the table of contents generated by the book.
In addition, Revision 1.2 included an implementation of the topic architecture in XML Schema. The DITA schema depends on advanced features of XML Schema. In our testing, most tools do not provide a complete implementation of XML Schema and, as a result, may not be able to process documents with the DITA schema. The DTDs are still the canonical representation of DITA.
Starting with minor update 1.3.1, changes will be logged in the file "changes.txt" in the root directory of the installed package.
The wisdom in the IBM Darwin Information Typing Architecture Specification Agreement included with this package is very important. The DITA design has progressed greatly, but it is still evolutionary. It is possible that documents created with the current version of these DTDs will need to be modified to work with future versions of the DTDs. The DITA toolkit team encourages you to use the dtds and tools and to help us advance the design, with the understanding that this package is supported only informally, via the Yahoo group, dita-users. As with any new technology, always do an appropriate risk assessment and ensure that you have a backup plan.
Now, specialize away!
Don Day dond@us.ibm.com IBM Corporation, Austin, Texas