The prereq element specifies preliminary requirements, conditions, or activities that must be completed before performing a task.

The prereq element serves these primary purposes:

• Identifying required resources, tools, or permissions needed to complete the task

• Specifying conditions that must be met before starting the procedure

Key characteristics of the prereq element:

• Must appear within taskbody in ony order and any number

• Can contain other block elements

• Often includes links to prerequisite tasks

Content within the prereq element typically follows these output formatting rules:

• Typically displayed with a heading such as Before you begin or Prerequisites

• Usually appears before the main procedure in the rendered output

• Often formatted with distinctive styling to separate it from the main procedure

• When listing multiple prerequisites, often contains unordered list (ul) or ordered list (ol) for easy scanning

Use prereq to:

• Specify required hardware, software, and system configurations

• Identify necessary permissions, access requirements, and preliminary tasks

• Document required environmental conditions and safety precautions

• Provide links to prerequisite resources and knowledge requirements

• Indicate estimated time requirements for planning

<task id="task-6667">
    <title>Signing in to MobileView</title>
    <shortdesc>Sign in to the MobileView application through the ClusterControl server.</shortdesc>
    <prolog>
        <author translate="no" type="creator">Heretto User &lt;user@heretto.com&gt;</author>
    </prolog>
    <taskbody>
        <prereq>
            <p>Ensure you have your username, password, and the name of the server that you want to connect to.</p>
        </prereq>
        <steps>
            <step>
                <cmd>To open MobileView, click <menucascade><uicontrol>Start</uicontrol><uicontrol>All programs</uicontrol></menucascade> Thunderbird MobileView (...)</cmd>
            </step>
        </steps>
    </taskbody>
</task>