About the Dependencies view

The Dependencies view displays the relationships that a specific document has with other DITA documents in your system.

When you have the Dependencies view open in the workspace it will, by default, be updated to display the relationships of each document that you open. You have the option of disabling this automatic update, if you wish.

In the screen shot below, you can see a topic—"Locate a map, topic or resource"—on one side of the DITA workspace. On the other side, you can see its relationships displayed in the Dependencies view. You can see that it:
  • has 3 Parent Dependencies of three maps.
  • has one Child Dependency, which is an image.

You can also see that it is cross-referenced by one file—including related links and xrefs—and that no topics cross-reference it.

We've used the filter option to screen out the dependencies that weren't of interest. In a busy documentation facility, topics can acquire dozens of references. Filtering lets you concentrate on the references that are currently important.

Drilling down into the Dependencies view

If you double-click one of the related documents in the Dependencies view, then that document will become the focus. For example, if you clicked any of the maps shown below, you'd see all the topics that it referenced, and any maps, in turn, that it was part of.

Similarly, if you double-clicked the "New in this documentation release" topic, you'd be able to see all its dependencies.
Dependencies view