DITA - FORMATTING SIMPLE LISTS INTO COLUMNS
Version |
Date |
Changes |
1.0 |
2012-12-09 |
Initial version. |
Description
Source question: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/wwp-users/message/39370
The challenge is to be able to format simple lists into columns based on <sl @outputclass=[some value]> in the DITA topic. However, ePublisher does not nest generated list items within a <sl> tag that can be formatted for the HTML output.
Ben got us part way there by showing us how to wrap the list items in open and close div tags by modifying the default.wwconfig file and the content.xsl file (http://wiki.webworks.com/DevCenter/Projects/Wrap%20DITA%20Simple%20Lists).
The next step is to get ePublisher to format the list items into the number of columns indicated by the @outputclass value in the DITA topic.
I have attached a project that I've been working on, but I do not know enough to complete it.
In my project, I have adapted Ben's suggestion so that the list items are nested in a <div> that has a @class = "simple_list" and @columns with a value determined by the @outputclass value in the DITA topic. So if @outputclass = "2col", then @columns = "2".
Then I tried to format the list items into a table that had the number of columns specified by the value in @columns. I placed that code in the content.xsl file.
While the concept works in isolation (see simple_list_in_isolation.zip), it does not create the required results when it is run through ePublisher. I assume that I have not put the code in the correct file, but I don't know where it should go.
Can this approach work? Or does it have to be implemented some other way?
UPDATE (12.28.2012)
Attached a solution for this problem using an entirely new approach. This approach includes a hook in the Style Designer to write arbitrary markup before or after an instance of a paragraph. It then enlarges upon the existing approach by naming styles according to markup that those styles should emit.
The implementation of this solution is contained in the following zip file: StudyHall_Simple Lists.zip.