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Preparing DITA content for conversion and import

Before you run Content Importer, it is advised that you validate your DITA content.

Procedure

  1. Resolve any broken cross references.
  2. Ensure that all topics, maps, or graphics that are referenced are available.
  3. Ensure that DITA topics and maps contain a <title> element: this is used for the FTITLE field in Content Manager.
  4. Run any batch operations that you might want to perform.
  5. Create a copy of your DITA content on the system where Content Importer is installed.
  6. Remove any files that you do not want to upload from the local copy of your DITA content. Be sure to remove any non-DITA XML files. If such files are present when you run Content Importer, they generate errors.

Results

The most common validation issues that generate issues during the conversion process are:
  • Missing files: DITA files to be imported contain references to files that are not in the set of data to be imported. You need to either add the referenced files (at the referenced location) or remove the reference.
  • Non-DITA files: some files don't have the expected extensions. You need to remove them.
  • URI formats not supported: one or several <image> elements have incomplete markup. Either provide a correct markup or remove the image (and the reference to it).
  • URI syntax errors in the @href, @conref and @conrefend attributes: one or several references have a wrong syntax. You need to either fix or remove them. More information on the URI syntax for DITA can be found at: DITA specification - URI-based (direct) addressing.
If you encounter any of these issues, you need to correct the source content and then run the conversion again.