Glossary entries are an essential part of a glossary.
In addition to supporting the basic glossary models, DITA-FMx supports various aspects of key-based referencing of glossary terms. The following image shows a simple glossentry topic that defines only glossterm and glossdef elements.
When including a glossentry in a map, you might reference it with a topicref. If the type attribute is set to “glossentry”, and the keys attribute is set, you can insert references to the glossary term through the Insert Key Element Reference command.
Including a glossBody in your glossentry topic lets you provide additional information about the term. If the term can be represented by “complete” and abbreviated labels, you might consider using the glossSurfaceForm element to define the “full form” (which includes the primary abbreviation in parenthesis). Then one or more glossAlt groups to define the primary and alternate shorter versions.
The glossAlt element contains one of glossAbbreviation, glossAcronym, glossShortForm, or glossSynonym, optionally followed by a glossStatus whose value attribute indicates that the term is preferred, restricted, prohibited, or obsolete.
If the “Glossary Term Swapping” book-build option is enabled, the first instance of a reference to a term in a chapter (generated FM file) will be the content from the glossSurfaceForm element, and later instances will be the first or “preferred” glossAlt entry (or the glossterm if no glossAlt elements are defined).