Extending an XML catalog file

You can update either the main DITA-OT XML catalog or the XML catalog that is used by the PDF plug-in. This enables DITA-OT to support new specializations and document-type shells.

You can use the dita.specialization.catalog.relative and org.dita.pdf2.catalog.relative extension points to update the DITA-OT catalog files.

Remember: The dita.specialization.catalog extension is deprecated. Use dita.specialization.catalog.relative instead.

1. Using the OASIS catalog format, create an XML catalog file that contains only the new values that you want to add to a DITA-OT catalog file.

2. Create a plugin.xml file that contains the following content:

   <plugin id="*plugin-id*">
     <feature extension="*extension-point*" file="*file*"/>
   </plugin>
   

   where:

   • plugin-id is the plug-in identifier, for example, com.example.catalog.
   • extension-point is either dita.specialization.catalog.relative or org.dita.pdf2.catalog.relative.
   • file is the name of the new catalog file, for example, catalog-dita.xml.

3. Save the new XML catalog file to your plug-in. Be sure that the local file references are relative to the location of the catalog and plug-in.

4. Use the dita install subcommand to install the plug-in.

   Note: For more information, see Installing plug-ins.

The catalog entries inside of the new catalog file are added to the core DITA-OT catalog file.

Example

This example assumes that catalog-dita.xml contains an OASIS catalog for any document-type shells inside this plug-in. The catalog entries in catalog-dita.xml are relative to the catalog itself; when the plug-in is installed, they are added to the core DITA-OT catalog (with the correct path).

<plugin id="com.example.catalog">
  <feature extension="dita.specialization.catalog.relative"
           file="catalog-dita.xml"/>
</plugin>

Related information

General extension points

Installing plug-ins