Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does XMLmind DITA Converter support DITA 1.3?

A: Yes, as of version 3, XMLmind DITA Converter supports DITA 1.3 Technical Content . More information in XMLmind DITA Converter Manual - About DITA support in XMLmind DITA Converter.

Q: I use XMLmind DITA Converter to generate HTML Help. In order to implement contextual help, my application needs to be able to address specific sections in the generated .chm file. How can I do this?

A: We don't know how this can be done in the case of HTML Help. In the case of a multi-page HTML file, a specific section of a file generated by XMLmind DITA Converter is addressed by using a URL having a fragment.

• The filename and contents of a generated HTML page are controlled by specifying the chunk attribute (and optionally, the copy-to attribute) on topicref elements..
• The qualified ID of a descendant element of a topic is transformed as follows: topicID/descendantID becomes topicID__descendantID in the generated content. (The separator string being used comprises two underscore characters.)

  Example: let's suppose a topic having "parameters" as its id attribute, containing a table having "default_values" as its id attribute, has been converted to HTML. The generated HTML page which contains the topic is called userguide.html.

  • URL "userguide.html#parameters" allows to address the topic.
  • URL "userguide.html#parameters__default_values" allows to address the table.

Q: When I open a .chm file generated using ditac, Windows standard HTML Help viewer correctly displays the Table of Contents in its left pane, but displays an error message (Navigation to the webpage was canceled) in its right pane. Please advise.

A: Microsoft has released a security patch which makes it impossible to view .chm files that are stored on a network drive. The simplest workaround is to copy the .chm file to a local drive (e.g. C:) and to open it from there. More information in http://www.helpscribble.com/chmnetwork.html.

Q: The Web Help generated by XMLmind DITA Converter cannot be displayed by Internet Explorer? Is this a known bug?

A: The Web Help generated by XMLmind DITA Converter is displayed just fine by Internet Explorer (IE11 only, not older versions) but for that, this Web Help must be stored on an web server ("http:" or "https:" URLs). That is, it will not work if you use IE to open the local Web Help files ("file:" URLs). This issue is specific to Internet Explorer and to Microsoft Edge. Therefore please use any other browser to test your Web Help.