References in DITA Documents

Referencing is an effective means of content reuse in DITA. Content reuse is available at different levels (elements, topics, maps) by means of different types of references.

Instead of repeating some information, you can reuse it one of these ways with the help of a reference:

Point to a target
To point to a target, use these references:
1. Xref
  
  Xref, or cross-reference, is a link from within the body of a topic to any local or external target.
2. Related links
  
  Related links are the related information links of a topic that are stored in a special section following the body of the topic.
Transclude the content of a target

To transclude the content of a target, use conref .

Conref, or content reference, is an attribute of an element within a topic or a map that pulls the content into the element from another element of the same type. Any topic and element with an ID can be reused by means of a conref.
Include a topic or a map in multiple maps

To include a topic or a map in a map, use topicref .

Topicref, or topic reference, is a reference from within a map to an external topic, DITA document or non-DITA document.

Serna's DITA usability tools greatly simplify different operations with references in DITA documents. Besides, Serna validates references and lets you navigate to the target of a reference.

Important:

All versions of Serna support DITA. However, DITA usability tools, which facilitate the insertion of common DITA constructs, and reference navigation are available in the Enterprise edition and the trial version of Serna only.