XHTML Author Mode Actions
Edit online

A variety of actions are available in the XHTML framework that can be added to the XHTML menu, the Author Custom Actions toolbar, the contextual menu, and the Content Completion Assistant.

XHTML Toolbar Actions

The following default actions are readily available on the XHTML (Author Custom Actions) toolbar when editing in Author mode (by default, they are also available in the XHTML menu and some of them are in various submenus of the contextual menu):

Bold
Changes the style of the selected text to bold by surrounding it with b tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.
Italic
Changes the style of the selected text to italic by surrounding it with i tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.
Underline
Changes the style of the selected text to underline by surrounding it with u tag. You can use this action on multiple non-contiguous selections.
Link
Inserts an a element with an href attribute at the cursor position. You can type the URL of the reference you want to insert or use the browsing actions in the Browse drop-down menu.
Insert Image
Inserts a graphic object at the cursor position. This is done by inserting an img element regardless of the current context. The following graphical formats are supported: GIF, JPG, JPEG, BMP, PNG, SVG.
Insert Media Resource
Opens a Choose Media dialog box that allows you to select the URL of a media object to be inserted into a document at the cursor position. The result will be that a reference to the specified video, audio, or embedded HTML frame is inserted and rendered in Author mode so that it can be played directly from there.
Headings Drop-down Menu
A drop-down menu that includes actions for inserting h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 elements.
Insert Paragraph
Insert a new paragraph element at current cursor position.
Insert Equation
Opens the XML Fragment Editor that allows you to insert and edit MathML notations.
Insert List Item
Inserts a list item in the current list type.
Insert Unordered List
Inserts an unordered list at the cursor position. A child list item is also automatically inserted by default. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs or other types of lists to an unordered list.
Insert Ordered List
Inserts an ordered list at the cursor position. A child list item is also automatically inserted by default. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs or other types of lists to an ordered list.
Insert a definition list at the cursor position
Inserts a definition list (dl element) with one list item (a dt child element and a dd child element). You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs or other types of lists to a definition list.
Sort
Sorts cells or list items in a table.
Insert Table
Opens a dialog box that allows you to configure and insert a table. You can generate a header and footer, set the number of rows and columns of the table and decide how the table is framed. You can also use this action to convert selected paragraphs, lists, and inline content (mixed content — text + markup — that is rendered inside a block element) into a table, with the selected content inserted in the first column, starting from the first row after the header (if a header is inserted).
Note: If the selection contains a mixture of elements that cannot be converted, you will receive an error message saying that Only lists, paragraphs, or inline content can be converted to tables.
Insert Row Below
Inserts a new table row with empty cells below the current row. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.
Insert Row Above
Inserts a new table row with empty cells above the current row. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.
Insert Column After
Inserts a new table column with empty cells after the current column. This action is available when the cursor is positioned inside a table.
Insert Cell
Inserts a new empty cell depending on the current context. If the cursor is positioned between two cells, Oxygen XML Editor plugin a new cell at cursor position. If the cursor is inside a cell, the new cell is created after the current cell.
Delete Column(s)
Deletes the table column located at cursor position or multiple columns in a selection.
Delete Row(s)
Deletes the table row located at cursor position or multiple rows in a selection.
Join Cells
Joins the content of the selected cells (both horizontally and vertically).
Split Cell
Splits the cell at the cursor location. If Oxygen XML Editor plugin detects more than one option to split the cell, a dialog box will be displayed that allows you to select the number of rows or columns to split the cell into.

XHTML Menu Actions

The following additional actions can be found in the XHTML menu when editing in Author mode (some of them are also available in the contextual menu):

Table submenu
In addition to the table actions available on the toolbar, the following actions are available in this submenu:
Insert Rows
Opens a dialog box that allows you to insert any number of rows and specify the position where they will be inserted (Above or Below the current row).
Insert Column Before
Inserts a column before the current one.
Insert Columns
Opens a dialog box that allows you to insert any number of columns and specify the position where they will be inserted (Above or Below the current column).
Refresh References
You can use this action to manually trigger a refresh and update of all referenced resources.
Tags display mode Submenu
Full Tags with Attributes
Displays full tag names with attributes for both block and inline elements.Oxygen XML Editor plugin
Full Tags
Displays full tag names without attributes for both block and inline elements.
Block Tags
Displays full tag names for block elements and simple tags without names for inline elements.
Inline Tags
Displays full tag names for inline elements, while block elements are not displayed.
Partial Tags
Displays simple tags without names for inline elements, while block elements are not displayed.
No Tags
No tags are displayed. This is the most compact mode and is as close as possible to a word-processor view.
Configure Tags Display Mode
Use this option to go to the Author preferences page where you can configure the Tags Display Mode options.
Profiling/Conditional Text Submenu
Edit Profiling Attributes
Allows you to configure the profiling attributes and their values.
Show Profiling Colors and Styles
Select this option to turn on conditional styling.
Show Profiling Attributes
Select this option to turn on conditional text markers. They are displayed at the end of conditional text blocks, as a list of attribute name and their currently set values.
Show Excluded Content
When this option is selected, the content filtered by the currently applied condition set is grayed-out. To show only the content that matches the currently applied condition set, deselect this option.
List of all profiling condition sets that match the current document type
You can click a listed condition set to activate it.
Profiling Settings
Opens the profiling options preferences page, where you can manage profiling attributes and profiling conditions sets. You can also configure the profiling styles and colors options from the colors/styles preferences page and the attributes rendering preferences page.

XHTML Contextual Menu Actions

In addition to many of the XHTML toolbar actions and the general Author mode contextual menu actions, the following XHTML framework-specific actions are also available in the contextual menu when editing in Author mode:

Image Map Editor
This action is available in the contextual menu when it is invoked on an image. This action applies an image map to the current image (if one does not already exist) and opens the Image Map Editor dialog box. This feature allows you to create hyperlinks in specific areas of an image that will link to various destinations.
Table Actions
The following table editing actions are available in the contextual menu when it is invoked on a table:
Insert Rows
Opens a dialog box that allows you to insert any number of rows and specify the position where they will be inserted (Above or Below the current row).
Delete Row(s)
Deletes the table row located at cursor position or multiple rows in a selection.
Insert Columns
Opens a dialog box that allows you to insert any number of columns and specify the position where they will be inserted (Above or Below the current column).
Delete Column(s)
Deletes the table column located at cursor position or multiple columns in a selection.
Join Cells
Joins the content of the selected cells (both horizontally and vertically).
Split Cell
Splits the cell at the cursor location. If Oxygen XML Editor plugin detects more than one option to split the cell, a dialog box will be displayed that allows you to select the number of rows or columns to split the cell into.
Sort
Sorts cells or list items in a table.
Table Properties
Opens the Table properties dialog box that allows you to configure properties of a table (such as frame borders).
Other Actions submenu
This submenu give you access to all the usual contextual menu actions.

XHTML Drag/Drop (or Copy/Paste) Actions

Dragging a file from the Navigator view or DITA Maps Manager view and dropping it into an XHTML document that is edited in Author mode, creates a link to the dragged file (the a element with the href attribute) at the drop location. Copy and paste actions work the same.

You can also drag images or media files from your system explorer or the Navigator view and drop them into an XHTML document (or copy and paste). This will insert the appropriate element at the drop or paste location (for example, dropping/pasting an image will insert the img element with the src attribute).

Tip: For information about customizing Author mode actions for a particular framework (document type), see the Configuring Actions, Menus, Toolbars, Content Completion for a Framework section.