Configure colors for the redline preprocessor

Use redline version to allow users to compare a map with an earlier version of itself. By default, the PDF output file highlights added text in blue and deleted text in red. You can reconfigure it to use other colors.

Note: Features based on track changes functionality depend on the PDF rendering engine you implement. When you use the default Apache FOP engine as the PDF rendering engine, vertical marker in the left margin do not appear like they do for alternate rendering engines, such as RenderX XEP or Antenna House Formatter. See Alternate PDF rendering engines.

The redline.ditaval file is a standard ditaval file with revision property values configured in the <revprop> element.

Note: Unlike the other conditional processing attributes you use for both filtering and flagging, you can use the rev attribute only for flagging. See the DITA language specification.

To configure colors for the redline preprocessor:

Open the redline preprocessor defined at %OutputGenDir%/data/resources/redline.ditaval.

Note: If this is the first time that you are modifying the redline.ditaval file, open the redline.ditaval.orig file and save it as redline.ditaval after you remove the .orig suffix.

Locate the val attribute for the new behavior.

Default configuration

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- This sets the background for deleted text to red and for added text to blue. Used by redline PDF transform -->
<val>
   <!-- the changebar attribute supports the following fields : 
      style:[none | hidden | dotted | dashed | solid | double | groove | ridge | inset | outset]
      width:Xpt
      placement:[start | end | left | right | inside | outside | alternate]
      offset:Xpt
      color: #FFFFFF - color code -->
   <revprop action="flag" val="deltaxml-add" backcolor="#3399CC" changebar="style:solid;width:1pt;offset:5pt;color:#3399CC"/>
   <revprop action="flag" val="deltaxml-delete" backcolor="#CC0000" changebar="style:solid;width:1pt;offset:5pt;color:#CC0000"/>
</val>

Suppose you need to update the highlight flag defined in the val="deltaxml-add" from its default.

<revprop action="flag" val="deltaxml-add" backcolor="#3399CC" changebar="style:solid;width:1pt;offset:5pt;color:#3399CC"/>

Update the property attributes to align with the new behavior.

Table 1. Possible redline attributes for the revision property <revprop> element
Attribute	Valid option	Description and valid values
`action`		Behavior of the flag or highlight
	`flag`	Include and highlight the modified content in the output
	`passthrough`	Include, but do not highlight, the modified content in the output
`val`		Type of action to flag
	`deltaxml-add`	Text added since the last revision
	`deltaxml-delete`	Text removed from the last revision
`backcolor`		Background color of the modified text Note: Enter a six-digit color hex code, such as `CC0000` for red. Note: The preprocessor ignores this attribute if `action` is not set to `flag`.
`changebar`		Characteristics of the change bar Note: The preprocessor ignores this attribute if `action` is not set to `flag`.
	`style`	Style of change bar line, such as type of line and its location to the marked text, with the default as a solid line `[none \| hidden \| dotted \| dashed \| solid \| double \| groove \| ridge \| inset \| outset]`
	`width`	Value in points for width of change bar, with no width points (`Xpt`) as default
	`placement`	Placement of the change bar relative to the marked text `[start \| end \| left \| right \| inside \| outside \| alternate]`
	`offset`	Value in points for width of offset from marked text, with no offset points (`Xpt`) as default
	`color`	Hex value for color, with blue (`#3399CC`) as default

Suppose you want to change the background and change bar color from blue to green and change the change bar itself from a solid line to a dotted line.

<revprop action="flag" val="deltaxml-add" backcolor="#76EE00" changebar="style:dotted;width:1pt;offset:5pt;color:#76EE00"/>

Save and close the custom ditaval file, such as redline-acme.ditaval or redline.ditaval.custom.
Restart the Ixiasoft Output Generator service.