DITA Open Toolkit

Ant parameters: All transformations

Certain parameters apply to all transformations that are supported by the DITA Open Toolkit.

Table 1. Ant parameters: All transformations
Parameters Description
args.debug Specifies whether debugging information is included in the log. The allowed values are yes and no; the default value is no.
args.draft Specifies whether the content of <draft-comment> and <required-cleanup> elements is included in the output. The allowed values are yes and no; the default value is no. Corresponds to XSLT parameter DRAFT in most XSLT modules.
Tip: For PDF output, setting the args.draft parameter to yes causes the contents of the <titlealts> element to be rendered below the title.
args.figurelink.style Specifies how cross references to figures are styled in output. The allowed values are NUMBER and TITLE. Specifying NUMBER results in "Figure 5"; specifying TITLE results in the title of the figure. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter FIGURELINK.
Note: This parameter is not available for the PDF transformation.
args.filter Specifies a filter file to be used to include, exclude, or flag content. Filter files must have a .ditaval or .DITAVAL extension.
args.grammar.cache Specifies whether the grammar-caching feature of the XML parser is used. The allowed values are yes and no; the default value is no.
Note: This option dramatically speeds up processing time. However, there is a known problem with using this feature for documents that use XML entities. If your build fails with parser errors about entity resolution, set this parameter to no.
args.input Specifies the master file for your documentation project. Typically this is a DITA map, however it also can be a DITA topic if you want to transform a single DITA file. The path can be absolute, relative to args.input.dir, or relative to the directory where your project's ant build script resides if args.input.dir is not defined.
args.input.dir Specifies the base directory for your documentation project. The default value is the parent directory of the file specified by args.input.
args.logdir Specifies the location where the DITA-OT places log files for your project.
args.tablelink.style Specifies how cross references to tables are styled. Specifying NUMBER results in "Table 5"; specifying TITLE results in the title of the table. Corresponds to the XSLT parameter TABLELINK.
Note: This parameter is not available for the PDF transformation.
clean.temp Specifies whether the DITA-OT deletes the files in the temporary directory after it finishes a build. The allowed values are yes and no; the default value is yes.
dita.dir Specifies where the DITA-OT is installed.
dita.ext Specifies an extension to use for DITA topics; All DITA topics will use this single extension in the temp directory. The default value is .xml. Corresponds to XSLT parameter DITAEXT.
dita.extname Specifies the file extension that the DITA-OT uses for files in the temporary directory. The allowed values are xml and dita; the default value is xml.
Note: This parameter is deprecated in favor of the dita.ext parameter.
dita.temp.dir Specifies the location of the temporary directory. The temporary directory is where the DITA-OT writes temporary files that are generated during the transformation process.
dita.input.valfile Specifies a filter file to be used to include, exclude, or flag content. Filter files must have a .ditaval or .DITAVAL extension.
Note: Deprecated in favor of the args.filter parameter.
generate.copy.outer Specifies whether to generate output files for content that is not located in or beneath the directory containing the DITA map file. The following values are supported:
  • 1 (default) – Do not generate output for content that is located outside the DITA map directory..
  • 2 – Generate output for the content that is located outside the DITA map directory.
  • 3 – Shift the output directory so that it contains all output for the publication.

See generate.outer.copy parameter for more information.
outer.control Specifies how the DITA OT handles content files that are located in or below the directory containing the master DITA map. The following values are supported:
  • fail – Fail quickly if files are going to be generated or copied outside of the directory
  • warn (default) – Complete the operation if files will be generated or copied outside of the directory, but log a warning
  • quiet – Quietly finish with only those files; do not generate warnings or errors.
The gen-list-without-flagging Ant task generates a harmless warning for content that is located outside the map directory; you can suppress these warnings by setting the property to quiet.
Warning: Microsoft HTML Help Compiler cannot produce HTML Help for documentation projects that use outer content. The content files must reside in or below the directory containing the master DITA map file, and the map file cannot specify ".." at the start of the @href attributes for <topicref> elements.
output.dir Specifies the name and location of the output directory. By default, the output is written to DITA-dir\out.
transtype Specifies the output format. You can create plug-ins to add new values for this parameter; by default, the following values are available:
  • docbook
  • eclipsehelp
  • eclipsecontent
  • htmlhelp
  • javahelp
  • legacypdf
  • odt
  • pdf
  • wordrtf
  • troff
  • xhtml
validate Specifies whether the DITA-OT validates the content. The allowed values are true and false; the default value is true.
Parent topic: Ant parameters