Creating a Table of Contents in DITA

In DITA, the order and hierarchy of the table of contents of a document is based directly on the DITA map that defines the document. In many media, the creation of a table of contents, based on the map, is automatic. For example, you do not have to do anything special to create a table of contents in WebHelp output.

In other media, you need to tell DITA where the table of contents should occur. For example, in a book you need to tell DITA where to place the table of contents in the structure of the book, and if you want to generate other common content lists, such as a list of figures or tables. You do this by using a bookmap to define your book, and adding the appropriate elements to the frontmatter.

To configure a table of contents and other book lists, follow these steps:

  1. Open your bookmap in the DITA Maps Manager.
  2. Right-click the bookmap and select Append child > Frontmatter. The Insert Reference dialog box appears.
  3. Click Insert and Close to insert the frontmatter element.
  4. Right-click the frontmatter element and create a booklist element using Append child > Book Lists.
  5. Use the same steps to create a toc element and to add other booklist elements, such as tablelist.