dita-topic

dita-topic is a custom converter for Asciidoctor that converts a single AsciiDoc file to a corresponding DITA 1.3 topic.

In combination with asciidoctor-dita-vale and dita-convert, this project can be used to rapidly convert AsciiDoc content to DITA:

Identify incompatible markup in the AsciiDoc source file:
```
$ vale source_file.adoc
```

Convert the AsciiDoc file to a generic DITA topic:

$ asciidoctor -r dita-topic -b dita-topic source_file.adoc

Convert the generic DITA topic to a specialized DITA concept, reference, or task:
```
$ dita-convert -gt task source_file.dita
```

Installation

Install the asciidoctor-dita-topic Ruby gem:

$ gem install asciidoctor-dita-topic

Usage

To use the custom converter on the command line, load it with the -r dita-topic option and then select dita-topic as the backend output format with -b dita-topic:

$ asciidoctor -r dita-topic -b dita-topic your_file.adoc

This creates a new file, your_file.dita, in the same directory as your_file.adoc. You can also convert multiple files at the same time:

$ asciidoctor -r dita-topic -b dita-topic *.adoc

Important

dita-topic does not validate the converted content. If you have DITA Open Toolkit installed, you can check that the converted file can be built as follows:

$ dita -i converted_file.dita -f xhtml

To produce slightly more readable errors, you can also use xmlstarlet:

$ xmlstarlet val -e -s path_to_dita-ot_directory/plugins/org.oasis-open.dita.v1_3/schema-url/technicalContent/xsd/topic.xsd converted_file.dita

Supplying attribute definitions

If your AsciiDoc files use attributes that are defined outside of these files, you can supply the attribute definitions on the command line with the -a attribute=value option:

$ asciidoctor -r dita-topic -b dita-topic -a attribute=value your_file.adoc

You can provide multiple -a attribute=value options at the same time. Providing relevant attribute definitions is especially important if your document contains conditional content.

Example 1. Providing a product version to resolve ifeval conditions

Your AsciiDoc files include a number of ifeval statements that provide different content for different versions of the product you are documenting:

ifeval::["{ProductNumber}" == "1"]
...
endif::[]
ifeval::["{ProductNumber}" == "2"]
...
endif::[]

To ensure that the converted DITA files include all content for version 2 of your product, run:

$ asciidoctor -r dita-topic -b dita-topic -a ProductNumber=2 *.adoc

Enabling author lines

AsciiDoc topics are expected to be included in other files and therefore should not contain author line definitions. In most cases, lines that directly follow the topic title are intended as first paragraphs. For this reason, author lines are disabled by default. To avoid losing content during conversion, as a workaround, the dita-topic converter interprets the raw content of the author line as a paragraph and issues a warning.

To enable processing of author lines as metadata, set the value of the dita-topic-authors to on:

$ asciidoctor -r dita-topic -b dita-topic -a dita-topic-authors=on your_file.adoc

Disabling floating titles

Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not support floating titles and only allows titles to be assigned to a limited number of elements. To avoid losing content during conversion, as a workaround, the dita-topic converter uses the following markup by default:

<p outputclass="title"><b>Floating title</b></p>

To disable this behavior, set the value of the dita-topic-titles to off:

$ asciidoctor -r dita-topic -b dita-topic -a dita-topic-titles=off your_file.adoc

Disabling callouts

Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not support callouts as a method to add annotations to specific lines in verbatim blocks. To avoid losing content during conversion, as a workaround, the dita-topic converter uses XML entities for circled numbers.

To disable this behavior, set the value of the dita-topic-callouts to off:

$ asciidoctor -r dita-topic -b dita-topic -a dita-topic-callouts=off your_file.adoc

Disabling include directives

By default, Asciidoctor resolves all include directives before converting the file. To only convert the contents of the selected file, specify the -S secure option:

$ asciidoctor -r dita-topic -b dita-topic -S secure your_file.adoc

Adding short descriptions

DITA provides the <shortdesc> element which allows the user to describe the purpose of the topic and is often used as preview text in search results. To replicate this behavior, the dita-topic converter recognizes a paragraph preceded by the [role="_abstract"] attribute list and adds the outputclass="abstract" attribute to it. The dita-convert Python package transforms such a paragraph to <shortdesc> during conversion to a specialized DITA concept, reference, or task.

For example, to designate a paragraph as a short description, use the following AsciiDoc markup:

[id="topic-id"]
= Procedure title

[role="_abstract"]
A short description of the procedure module and what it helps the
user accomplish.

An introductory paragraph.

Adding semantic markup

Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA provides a number of semantic elements for software components such as file names, commands, or command-line options. To replicate this behavior, the dita-topic converter recognizes the following roles assigned to monospace (`) inline text:

AsciiDoc Role	DITA Element
command	`<cmdname>`
directory	`<filepath>`
filename	`<filepath>`
option	`<option>`
variable	`<varname>`

For example, to describe a file name, use the following AsciiDoc markup:

Read the [filename]`/etc/passwd` file to see the complete list of
available user accounts.

Warnings

Despite aspiring to avoid losing content during conversion and produce a valid DITA output, there are limitations to what is possible because of the differences between the two markup languages. When the dita-topic converter encounters a possible problem, it prints a warning to standard error output in the following format:

asciidoctor: WARNING: dita-topic: The warning message

This possible warning messages are as follows:

Admonition titles not supported in DITA	AsciiDoc allows you to add a custom title to any admonition by including `.Admonition title` on the line above it. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not allow titles for admonitions. `dita-topic` issues this warning whenever an admonition has a title defined in the converted AsciiDoc file.
Author lines not enabled for topics	AsciiDoc interprets the first line that directly follows the document title as an author line. Because topics are not expected to have author lines, `dita-topic` issues this warning when an author line is present in the converted AsciiDoc file.
Block titles not supported in DITA	AsciiDoc allows you to include `.Block title` on the line above most of the block elements to assign a custom title to them. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA only allows titles to be assigned to a limited number of elements. `dita-topic` issues this warning when the `-a dita-topic-titles=off` option is specified and a block title is present in the converted AsciiDoc file.
Callouts not supported in DITA	AsciiDoc allows you to use `<1>`, `<2>`, `<3>` and so on in verbatim blocks to add annotations to the specific lines. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not provide a direct equivalent for this functionality. `dita-topic` issues this warning when the `-a dita-topic-callouts=off` option is specified and these annotations are present in the converted AsciiDoc file.
Examples not supported within object in DITA	AsciiDoc allows you to use an example block anywhere in the document. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA only allows examples to appear directly in the topic body. `dita-topic` issues a warning whenever an example is nested in another AsciiDoc element.
Floating titles not supported in DITA	AsciiDoc allows you to use floating titles anywhere in the document. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not support floating titles. `dita-topic` issues this warning when the `-a dita-topic-titles=off` option is specified and a floating title is present in the converted AsciiDoc file.
Inline breaks not supported in DITA	AsciiDoc provides multiple ways to insert line breaks in paragraphs, such as inserting `+` at the end of the line or specifying `[%hardbreaks]` on the line preceding the paragraph. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not provide direct equivalent for this functionality. `dita-topic` issues this warning whenever an inline line break is present in the converted AsciiDoc file and places the `<!-- break -->` comment in the output file to mark its place.
Nesting of sections not supported in DITA	AsciiDoc allows you to nest sections up to 5 levels deep. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not allow the `<section>` elements to be nested. `dita-topic` issues a warning whenever nested sections are present in the converted AsciiDoc file.
Page breaks not supported in DITA	AsciiDoc allows you to use `<<<` on a separate line to enforce a page break in output formats that support it. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not support page breaks. `dita-topic` issues this warning whenever a page break is present in the converted AsciiDoc file and places the `<p outputclass="page-break"></p>` in the output file to mark its place.
Possible invalid reference: reference	AsciiDoc allows you to cross reference by using an ID no matter if this ID is defined within or outside of the converted document. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA requires both the target ID and the ID of the target topic to be included in the cross reference if the reference leads outside of the current file. As `dita-topic` is meant to be run on individual AsciiDoc files, it does not have access to information from referenced files during conversion. `dita-topic` issues this warning whenever the cross reference target is not present in the converted AsciiDoc file.
Sidebars not supported in DITA	AsciiDoc allows you to assign any block the `[sidebar]` block style or enclose it between a pair of `****` to create a delimited sidebar block. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not support sidebar blocks. `dita-topic` issues this warning when the `-a dita-topic-sidebars=off` option is specified and a sidebar block is present in the converted AsciiDoc file.
STEM support not implemented	AsciiDoc provides multiple ways to insert Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) expressions in the document, including the `stem:[formula]` inline macro and the `[stem]` delimited block. `dita-topic` does not implement this feature and issues this warning whenever such an expression is present in the converted AsciiDoc file.
Table footers not supported in DITA	AsciiDoc allows you to set the `footer` option to mark the last table row as a table footer. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not support table footers. `dita-topic` issues this warning whenever a table footer is present in the converted AsciiDoc file.
Thematic breaks not supported in DITA	Asciidoc allows you to use `'''`, `---`, or `***` (the last two with possible optional spaces in between the characters) to insert a thematic break in between two blocks, most commonly represented by a horizontal line. Unlike AsciiDoc, DITA does not support thematic breaks. `dita-topic` issues this warning whenever a thematic break is present in the converted AsciiDoc file.

Copyright

This program is free software, released under the terms of the MIT license. It is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

asciidoctor-dita-topic

Development

Runtime