What is the content reference (conref) push mechanism?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

The content reference (conref) push mechanism is a powerful feature in DITA that allows content creators to manage and update content in a centralized location and “push” those changes to all instances where that content is referenced. This mechanism is especially valuable for maintaining consistency and accuracy in documentation.

Here’s how it works:


<topic id="central_topic">
  <title>Centralized Content</title>
  <body>
    <p>This is the centralized content that can be pushed to other topics.</p>
  </body>
</topic>

<topic id="topic_1">
  <title>Topic 1</title>
  <body>
    <p>Here's some content that references the centralized content:</p>
    <conref push="yes" href="central_topic.dita#central_topic"/>
  </body>
</topic>

In this example, “central_topic.dita” contains centralized content. The “topic_1.dita” topic references this content using the “conref” element with the “push” attribute set to “yes.” When changes are made to “central_topic.dita,” they will automatically propagate to “topic_1.dita” and any other topics that reference the centralized content.

The conref push mechanism simplifies the management of content that appears in multiple places within your documentation, ensuring that updates are consistent and easily maintained across the entire document set.