🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi David...

Yuck.

I think you're looking at some complex XSLT import/export process and/or custom plugin development.

So .. you're trying to insert each "Widget" into a data model of your own that acts as a container for each basic widget description plus a more verbose description. You're not trying to stuff additional data into the base MakeWidget model, right?

I may be too DITA-focused, but I think that with a little (or a lot) of work, you could actually do this with DITA. DITA's specialization feature lets you create a data model that uses the element names of your choosing as long as it falls into a structure that DITA supports. Your MakeWidget model looks pretty basic and should fit into an existing DITA construct.

You could then define a container model for this (using base DITA elements or a specialization), and pull in each Widget as a conref. By doing this you wouldn't need to separate or merge anything .. the conreffed widgets would show up inline within the uber description, while remaining intact within the original MakeWidgets file. You would need to be able to add an "id" attribute to each widget as well as the top level component element .. possible?

Or .. maybe I'm just crazy. :)

...scott

Scott Prentice
Leximation, Inc.
www.leximation.com