Create a cross-reference (xref) to a file or web site in the oXygen editor

Use the xref element to create a hypertext link to remote systems, FTP sites, or local files outside the repository.

When you are cross-referencing files outside the repository, you may use either absolute or relative pathnames. However, you should keep in mind that setups vary in different machines. When you specify the path for your cross-referenced file, you should make sure that the path makes sense with regard to the machine (and the local network) where the files will be installed.

  1. Open the topic in your XML editor.
  2. In Author mode, highlight a word or phrase where you want to insert the xref.
    Note: The text you highlight must be within an element that allows <xref>s.
  3. Right-click any topic in one of the views, then select Oxygen Editor > Insert as Xref from the menu.
    Note: This inserts an XML cross-reference (xref). You'll need to edit its attributes so that it references the actual file or remote location.
  4. Highlight the newly created <xref>.
  5. Open the oXygen Attributes view.
  6. In the <xref> tag's href attribute, type the location you want to reference.

    The following table shows the types of location accepted by the href attribute and their syntax.

    Location type Syntax
    Web site http://sitename
    Secure web site https://sitename
    FTP site ftp://sitename
    Secure FTP site ftps://sitename
    Local file file://driveletter/filename

    The following screen shot shows an example of an edited href attribute.


    o2 xref attributes
  7. In the <xref> tag's scope attribute, select external.