# DITA Best Practices : Attributes view

Created by Todd Stupnik on Dec 12, 2014
The Attributes view presents all the attributes of the current element determined by the schema of the document. It allows you to insert attributes in the current element or change the value of the attributes already inserted. The attributes are rendered differently depending on their state:

- the names of the attributes with a specified value are rendered with a bold font, and their value with a plain font;
  Note: The names of the attributes with an empty string value are also rendered bold.
- default values are rendered with a plain font, painted gray;
- empty values display the text "[empty]", painted gray;
- invalid attributes and values are painted red;

Double-click a cell in the Value column to edit the value of the corresponding attribute. In case the possible values of the attribute are specified as list in the schema of the edited document, the Value column acts as a combo box that allows you to insert the values in the document.
You can sort the attributes table by clicking the Attribute column header. The table contents can be sorted as follows:

- by attribute name in ascending order;
- by attribute name in descending order;
- custom order, where the used attributes are displayed at the beginning of the table sorted in ascending order, followed by the rest of the allowed elements sorted in ascending order.

### The Attributes View

A combo box located in the upper part of the view allows you to edit the attributes of the ancestors of the current element.

The following actions are available in the contextual menu:

- Add - allows you to insert a new attribute. Adding an attribute that is not in the list of all defined attributes is not possible when the Allow only insertion of valid elements and attributes schema aware option is enabled;
- Set empty value - Specifies the current attribute value as empty;
- Remove - Removes the attribute (action available only if the attribute is specified). You can invoke this action by pressing the (Delete) or (Backspace) keys;
- Copy - copies the`attrName="attrValue"`pair to the clipboard. The`attrValue`can be:
  - the value of the attribute;
  - the value of the default attribute, in case the attribute does not appear in the edited document;
  - empty, in case the attribute does not appear in the edited document and has no default value set.
- Paste - this action is available in the contextual menu of the Attributes view, in the Text and Author modes. Depending on the content of the clipboard, the following cases are possible:
  - in case the clipboard contains an attribute and its value, both of them are introduced in the Attributes view. The attribute is selected and its value is changed if they exist in the Attributes view;
  - in case the clipboard contains an attribute name with an empty value, the attribute is introduced in the Attributes view and you can start editing it. The attribute is selected and you can start editing it if it exists in the Attributes view;
  - in case the clipboard only contains text, the value of the selected attribute is modified.

To edit in place the attributes of an element in the editor panel, select the attribute and press Alt + Enter on your keyboard. This shortcut pops up a small window with the same content of the Attributes view. The default form of the pop-up window presents the Name and Value fields, with the list of all the possible attributes collapsed.

Edit attributes in place

The small right arrow button expands the list of possible attributes allowed by the schema of the document as in the Attributes view.

Edit attributes in place - full version

The Name field auto-completes the name of the attribute: the complete name of the attribute is suggested based on the prefix already typed in the field as the user types in the field.