Output

In DITA, you create output by running a transformation on a DITA map. Transformations for various types of output are provided by the DITA Open Toolkit. Oxygen XML Editor provides support for configuring and running transformation using transformation scenarios.

Note: Oxygen XML Editor does not create any output formats itself. Oxygen XML Editor runs externally defined transformations that produce output, and displays the result in the appropriate application, but the output itself is produced by the external transformation, not by Oxygen XML Editor.

Customizing Outputs

You can customize the appearance of any of the output types by customizing the output transformations. There are two ways to do this:

  1. Most transformations are configurable by passing parameters to the transformation script. Oxygen XML Editor allows you to set parameters on a transformation scenario and save the parameters for future use. It can also allow you to prompt for a parameter whenever a transformation scenario is run. You can set up more than one transformation scenario for a given output type, which allows you to maintain several customized transformation scenarios for different types of output configurations.
  2. If you want to customize an output in a way not supported by the customization options, you can create a modified version of the transformation code. Some transformation scripts export specific forms of extension or customization. You should consult the SPFE Open Toolkit for the transformation type that you are interested in to see what customization options it supports. Oxygen XML Editor provides full editing and debugging support from XSLT and CSS stylesheets, which you can use to modify transformation code.

You can also write your own output transformation scripts to produce a type of output not supported by the DITA Open Toolkit. Oxygen XML Editor provides a full development environment for developing such transformations. You can create Oxygen XML Editor transformation scenarios to run these scripts once they are complete.