Conditional processing, also known as profiling, is the filtering or flagging of information based on processing-time criteria.
DITA defines attributes that can be used to enable filtering and flagging individual
elements. The @audience, @deliveryTarget,
@otherprops, @platform, and @props
attributes (along with specializations of @props) allow conditions to be
assigned to elements so that the elements can be included, excluded, or flagged during
processing. The @rev flagging attribute allows values to be assigned to
elements so that special formatting can be applied to those elements during processing.
A conditional-processing profile specifies which elements to include, exclude, or flag.
DITA defines a document type called DITAVAL for creating conditional-processing
profiles.
Processors SHOULD be able to perform filtering and
flagging using the attributes listed above. The @props attribute can be
specialized to create new attributes, and processors SHOULD be able to perform conditional processing on specializations of
@props.
Although metadata elements exist with similar names, such as the
<audience> element, processors are not required to perform
conditional processing using metadata elements.