`<mapref>`

The <mapref> element is a convenience element that is equivalent to a <topicref> element with the @format attribute set to "ditamap". The hierarchy of the referenced map is merged into the container map at the position of the reference, and the relationship tables of the child map are added to the parent map.

Content models

See appendix for information about this element in OASIS document type shells.

Inheritance

+ map/topicref mapgroup-d/mapref

Example

Figure 1. Sample document lib.ditamap that is reusable in other locations

<map id="lib">
  <topicref href="netlib.dita"/>
  <topicref href="dblib.dita"/>
  <!-- ... -->
</map>

Figure 2. Map that reuses lib.ditamap

<map id="standardlib">
  <topichead navtitle="Developing with standard libraries">
    <mapref href="lib.ditamap"/>
  </topichead>
  <!-- ... -->
</map>

Figure 3. Rendered result

<map id="standardlib">
  <topichead navtitle="Developing with standard libraries">
    <topicref href="netlib.dita"/>
    <topicref href="dblib.dita"/>
    <!-- ... -->
  </topichead>
  <!-- ... -->
</map>

Attributes

The following attributes are available on this element: Universal attribute group, Link relationship attribute group (with narrowed definitions of @href and @format, given below), Attributes common to many map elements, Topicref element attributes group, outputclass, @keyref, and @keys.

@format: On this element the @format attribute sets a default value of "ditamap", because the purpose of the element is to reference a ditamap document. Otherwise, the attribute is the same as described in Link relationship attribute group.
@href: A pointer to the resource represented by the <topicref>. See The href attribute for detailed information on supported values and processing implications. References to DITA content cannot be below the topic level: that is, you cannot reference individual elements inside a topic. References to content other than DITA topics should use the @format attribute to identify the kind of resource being referenced.