Data visualization elements in DITA manufacturing documentation are linked to underlying data sources through a systematic process. This linkage ensures that the visualizations are always in sync with the latest data, providing accurate insights for decision-making. Here’s how data visualization elements are connected to their underlying data sources:

Data Source Identification

The first step involves identifying the data sources. These sources could be structured data files in formats like XML or JSON, databases, or real-time data feeds from manufacturing equipment. DITA allows you to specify the location and type of data sources within a topic. For instance, you can define an XML file as the source of production data and describe its location in the DITA topic.

Data Visualization Configuration

Once the data sources are identified, DITA enables the configuration of data visualization elements. This includes specifying the type of visualization, such as charts, graphs, or tables, and defining the parameters that link to the data sources. DITA provides the flexibility to embed code snippets or configuration settings that instruct data visualization tools on how to retrieve and interpret the data. For example, you can include a code snippet within a DITA topic that configures a line chart to pull data from a specific XML file and display daily production numbers.

Example:

Here’s an example of how data visualization elements are linked to underlying data sources in DITA manufacturing documentation:

<topic id="production_dashboard">
  <title>Production Dashboard</title>
  <content>
    <p>The following code snippet configures a bar chart to visualize production data from an XML source:

    <code type="javascript">
    var data = fetchDataFromXML('production_data.xml');
    configureBarChart('chart-container', data);
    </code>
  </content>

In this example, a DITA topic titled “Production Dashboard” includes a code snippet that fetches data from an XML source (“production_data.xml”) and configures a bar chart to display the production metrics.