Keys can be used to create or redirect links and cross references. Keys also can be used to address resources such as images or videos. This topic explains how to evaluate key references on links and cross references to determine a link target.
When a key definition is bound to a resource that is addressed by the
@href
or @keyref
attributes, and does not specify
"none" for the @linking
attribute, all references to that key definition
become links to the bound resource. When a key definition is not bound to a resource or
specifies "none" for the @linking
attribute, references to that key
definition do not become links.
When a key definition has no @href
value and no @keyref
value, references to that key will not result in a link, even if they do contain an
@href
attribute of their own. If the key definition also does not
contain a <topicmeta>
subelement, empty elements that refer to
the key (such as <link keyref="a"/>
or <xref keyref="a"
href="fallback.dita"/>
) are ignored.
The <object>
element has additional key-referencing attributes
(@archivekeyrefs
, @classidkeyref
,
@codebasekeyref
, and @datakeyref
). Key names in
these attributes are resolved using the same processing that is described for the normal
@keyref
attribute.