`<map>`

A DITA map is the mechanism for aggregating topic references and defining a context for those references. It contains references to topics, maps, and other resources. These references are organized into hierarchies, groups, and tables.

Usage information

A map describes the relationships among a set of DITA topics. The following are some types of relationships that can be described in a map:

Hierarchical: Nested topics create a hierarchical relationship. The topic that does the nesting is the parent, and the topics that are nested are the children.
Ordered: Child topics can be labeled as having an ordered relationship, which means they are referenced in a definite sequence.
Family: Child topics can be labeled as having a family relationship, which means they all refer to each other.

In addition, a DITA map can contain relationship tables. Relationship tables can define relationships between resources that are not directly related based on their location in the navigation structure.

The <title> element can be used to provide a title for the map. In some scenarios the title is purely informational and is present only as an aid to the author. In other scenarios, the title might be useful or even required. In a map referenced by another map, the title might be discarded as topics from the submap are aggregated into a larger publication.

Rendering expectations

When rendering a map, processors might make use of the relationships defined in the map to create a table of contents (TOC), aggregate topics into a PDF document, or create links between topics in the output.

Processing expectations

See DITA map processing.

Attributes

The following attributes are available on this element: architectural attributes, common map attributes, universal attributes, @format, @scope, and @type.

Example

The following code sample contains four <topicref> elements. The <topicref> elements are nested and so have a hierarchical relationship. The file widget.dita is the parent topic, and the other topics are its children. The hierarchy could be used to generate a PDF, a navigation pane in a web-based information system, a summary of the topics, or related links between the parent topic and its children.

<map id="widget-setup">
  <title>Widget set up</title>
  <topicref href="widget.dita">
    <topicref href="widget-installation.dita"/>
    <topicref href="widget-configuration.dita"/>
    <topicref href="widget-integration.dita"/>
  </topicref>
</map>