Working with DITA 1.0.1 in XMLBlueprint XML Editor

Creating a New DITA Concept

To create a new DITA Concept:

  1. Choose File > New > XML Document from DTD or Schema and copy/paste the DITA 1.0.1 DTD (http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.0.1/dtd/concept.dtd) into the dialog.
  2. Press the Next > button, choose "concept" as root element and press Finish.

That's it, you now have a minimal DITA 1.0.1 Concept.

Instead of the DTD, you can also use the XML Schema (http://docs.oasis-open.org/dita/v1.0.1/schema/concept.xsd). XMLBlueprint supports them both.

TIP -- If you work with DITA regurlarly, you may wish to create a template. To do this, create a new Concept, choose File > Add to Templates..., name the template "DITA 1.0.1 Concept.xml" and press the Save button. Close "DITA 1.0.1 Concept.xml". To start with the template, choose File > New from Templates and select "DITA 1.0.1 Concept".

Editing a DITA Concept

When you open a DITA Concept, XMLBlueprint will scan the associated schema to initialize the XML Completion assistant. By pressing <, the assistant displays a list containing all the elements that can be inserted at that point in the document. Press the first few characters of the element you wish to insert and then press ENTER, SPACE, or TAB to insert the selected element in the document. The closing bracket is automatically set, as well as any required attributes or child elements.

Validating a DITA Concept

At any time during the editing process, you can click the validate icon or hit F8 to validate your DITA Concept. XMLBlueprint reports any errors in the output window below the editor. Clicking the red error message jumps to the error, even if the error is in another file.