DITAVAL editor ditaval-editor
DITAVAL files are used to generate conditional output. In a single topic, you can add conditions using element attributes to conditionalize content. Then, you create a DITAVAL file wherein you specify the conditions that should be picked up to generate content, and which condition should be left out from the final output.
Adobe Experience Manager Guides allows you to easily create and edit DITAVAL files using the DITAVAL editor. The DITAVAL editor retrieves the attributes (or tags) defined in your system, and you can use them to create or edit DITAVAL files. For more details about creating and managing tags in Adobe Experience Manager, view Administering Tags section in Adobe Experience Manager documentation.
The following sections cover the options available for a DITAVAL file in Experience Manager Guides.
Create DITAVAL file
Perform the following steps to create a DITAVAL file:
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In the Repository panel, select the New file icon and then select Topic from the dropdown menu.
You can also access this option from the Experience Manager Guides Home page and the options menu of a folder in the Repository view.
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The New topic dialog box is displayed.
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In the New topic dialog box, provide the following details:
- A Title for the topic.
- (Optional)* The file name for the topic. The file name is auto-suggested based on the topic Title. In case your administrator has enabled automatic file names based on UUID setting, then you will not view the Name field.
- A template on which the topic will be based. For a DITAVAL file, select Ditaval from the dropdown list.
- Path where you want to save the topic file. By default, the path of currently selected folder in the repository is shown in the Path field.
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Select Create.
The topic is created at the specified path. Also, the topic is opened in the Editor for editing.
Edit DITAVAL file
When you create a DITAVAL topic, it opens in the Editor for editing. To edit an existing DITAVAL topic, navigate to the folder or map where the DITAVAL topic is located, and then select Edit from the Options menu.
The DITAVAL editor allows you to perform the following tasks:
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Toggle Left Panel
Toggle the left panel view. If you have opened the DITAVAL file through DITA map, the map and repository are shown in this panel. For more information about opening a file through DITA map, view Edit topics through DITA map.
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Save
Saves the changes you have made in the file. All your changes are saved in the current version of your file.
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Add Prop
Add a single property in your DITAVAL file.
The first drop-down lists the allowed DITA attributes that you can use in the DITAVAL file. There are five attributes that are supported -
audience,platform,product,props, andotherprops.The second drop-down list shows the values configured for the selected attribute. Then, the next drop-down list shows the actions that you can configure on the selected attribute. The allowed values in the action drop-down are -
include,exclude,passthrough, andflag. For more information about these values, view the definition of prop element in OASIS DITA documentation -
Add All Properties
If you want to add all conditional properties or attributes defined in your system with a single click, use the Add All Properties feature.
note note NOTE If all defined conditional properties already exist in the DITAVAL file, you cannot add more properties. You get an error message in this scenario. 
Once you have finished editing your DITAVAL file, select Save.
DITAVAL editor views
Adobe Experience Manager Guides’ DITAVAL editor supports viewing DITAVAL files in two different modes or views:
Author: This is a typical What You See is What You Get (WYSISYG) view of the DITAVAL editor. You can add or remove properties using the simple user interface, which presents the properties, its values, and actions in drop-down list. In the Author view, you have the options to insert an individual property and insert all properties with a single click.
You can also find the version of the DITAVAL file that you are currently working on by hovering your pointer over the filename.
Source: The Source view displays the underlying XML that makes up the DITAVAL file. In addition to making regular text edits in this view, an author can also add or edit properties using the Smart Catalog.
To invoke the Smart Catalog, place the cursor at the end of any property definition and enter “<”. The editor will show a list of all valid XML elements that you can insert at that location.
Working with DITAVAL files in the Assets UI
You can also create a DITAVAL file from the Assets UI. The steps to create a new DITAVAL topic are as follows:
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In the Assets UI, navigate to the location where you want to create the DITAVAL file.
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Select Create > DITA Topic.
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On the Blueprint page, select DITAVAL file template and select Next.
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On the Properties page, specify the Title and Name for the DITAVAL file.
note note NOTE The name is automatically suggested based on the Title of your file. If you want to manually specify the file name, then ensure that the Name does not contain any spaces, apostrophe, or braces and ends with .ditaval. -
Select Create.
The Topic Created message appears.
You can choose to open the DITAVAL file for editing in the DITAVAL editor, or the save the topic file in the Adobe Experience Manager repository.
Perform the following steps to edit an existing DITAVAL file:
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In the Assets UI, navigate to the DITAVAL file that you want to edit.
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To get an exclusive lock on the file, select the file and select Check Out.
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Select the file and select Edit to open the file in Adobe Experience Manager Guides DITAVAL editor.