Cross-references to topics containing <shortdesc> elements with cross-references sometimes get link descriptions of ***

[chrispy-snps]

Expected Behavior

When a cross-reference exists in topic 1 to topic 2, and topic 2's <shortdesc> contains a second-level <xref> to topic 3:

the link description for topic 1's cross-reference should be computed in the usual way by applying templates to topic 2's <xref> element.

Actual Behavior

In topicpullImpl.xsl, if topic 2's <xref> contains a / character, then the <xsl:otherwise> code branch is taken:

  <xsl:template match="*[contains(@class,' topic/xref ')]" mode="copy-shortdesc">
    <xsl:choose>
...omitted...
      <xsl:when test="not(contains(@href,'/'))"><!-- May be DITA, but in the same directory -->
        <xsl:copy>
          <xsl:apply-templates select="@*|text()|*" mode="#current" />
        </xsl:copy>
...omitted...
      <xsl:otherwise>
        <xsl:text>***</xsl:text><!-- go get the target text -->
      </xsl:otherwise>
    </xsl:choose>
  </xsl:template>

and the link text for topic 2's <xref> resolves to *** in topic 1's cross-reference link description, as shown by the following HTML:

<p class="p"><a class="xref" href="topic2.html" title="Topic 2 reference to topic 3: ***">topic2 Title</a></p>

Possible Solution

Reconsider how the <xsl:choose> tests are performed.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Download the following testcase: 4244.zip
2. Run the following command: dita -i map.ditamap -f html5

Here is the instrumented topicpullImpl.xsl I used to debug this: topicpullImpl.xsl.zip

Environment

• DITA-OT version: 4.1
• Operating system and version: Linux (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS)
• How did you run DITA-OT? dita command
• Transformation type: HTML5