We can find no specific documentation on this items, however we believe ...\\ 

The [{$pagename}] will convert the [association-ref] (in conjunction with type="dn") the DNs to IDM format (or omit the DN if the association isn't valid for the specific Driver) 

That the [DirXML Associations] are checked against eDirectory various decisions are made the Outbound Association Reference Processor. 

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[{ReferringPagesPlugin before='*' after='\n' }]