Some of the attributes and metadata in a map can be inherited based
on the structures in the map.
Inheritance is additive except where this would cause a conflict. When
there is a conflict, the value defined closest (most specifically) to the
topicref takes effect. In a relationship table, row-level metadata is considered
more specific than column-level metadata, as shown in the following containment
hierarchy:
- map (most general)
- topichead/topicgroup/topicref container (more specific)
- reltable (more specific)
- relcolspec (more specific)
- relrow (more specific)
- topichead/topicgroup/topicref container (more specific)
The following attributes and metadata elements are inheritable:
- Attributes
- audience, platform, product, otherprops, rev
- props and any attribute specialized from props
- linking, toc, print, search
- format, scope, type
- xml:lang, dir, translate
- Elements
- author, source, publisher, copyright, critdates, permissions
- audience, category, prodinfo, othermeta
Attributes and metadata can be defined at the root level (attributes on
the map element itself, topicmeta as a direct child of the map element) to
apply them to the entire map. They can also be applied at any point in a hierarchy,
group, or table. Tables can be particularly useful for attribute and metadata
management, since they can be applied to entire columns or rows as well as
individual cells.
While the chunk attribute no longer inherits a value from containers (new
with DITA 1.1), specifying a value for the chunk attribute on the map or map
specialization element establishes a default value for chunking that applies
to the entire map unless overridden by more specific chunk attribute settings
elsewhere within the document.