Hi,

FM10 not patched, WinXP SP3

I've bumped into a very serious problem that I am able to replicate, but not solve. When I import (custom) XML, any whitespace following <xref> elements is deleted. I don't know if it exclusive to crossreference elements or any no-content elements... but for sure it is happening with xrefs.

Here is a zip with sample files with which I am able to replicate this. The XML file has two <xref>s separated by "and". When you import the XML (using the DTD, rules, and template provided), the whitespace before the "and" is deleted.

http://www.weststreetconsulting.com/downloads/test.zip

I disabled all my personal plugins and all DITA plugins that I could find, same thing.

I don't know if anyone has the time to look at this, but I'd be very appreciative if anyone could confirm the problem. This has caused a real mess in my source files that I can go fix using non-breaking spaces, but this is really a pain and very much suboptimal.

Thanks,

Russ

Hello all,

A discussion started elsewhere on whether or not formatting should be done inside the EDD. I think that discussion should be held here, as there will be more people who have experience with this on this forum than on the other non-public discussion site. Of course most of the participants in the discussion on the closed forum are on this forum as, well, so we can maybe continue our discussion with a larger group.

On this particular topic, there seem to be two completely opposite views, and I would like to hear from people on this forum what they feel about this.

On one side are those who state that formatting should be done completely in the EDD, as this takes the ability to mess up the formatting away from authors - who should not have any control over formatting as they should just deliver content. If formatting is put in their hands the compatibility with existing standards or earlier revision processes would be breached. One message mentioned an 'enforcable controllable environment' as the goal of working with structured Frame in the first place - if I am getting that point correctly (and of not, there will be reactions from the ones on this forum who belong to that camp).

The other side (which, according to the impression given on the non-public site, is a rare minitory viewpoint) is taking ALL formatting out of the EDD and allowing clients to do their own paragraph and character designer based formatting without having to edit the EDD. In this case, the client is not dependent on the person who created the EDD to change the font, text alignment, hyphenation etc. The EDD assigns paragraph format tags and the client can - if they want to - change those paragraph formats to suit their needs. I am a strong advocate of this position and have been using this strategy for my clients with a lot of success.

I do want to answer to the comments about control, just to clarify that the choice between formatting inside or outside the EDD is not the same as a choice between keeping full control or having no control whatsoever. Control or no control is another matter, in my opinion. I can easily see methods to make the paragraph and character designer unavailable in Frame for those who have no authority to make any changes to the company's style sheerts. This would leave those who are in control of the styling the option to define or redefine paragraph and character styles without having to bring in the expensive consultant who created the EDD for them. Changes to the EDD would for example be required to support another font for a Bulgarian translation.

Frankly, I do not want to make my clients dependent on my services just to change the font to Arial CYR if they happen to sell a machine to Bulgaria. Also, I don't want to build full support for all the formatting quirks my customers might ever need into an EDD that will become an almost unmanageable beast (and require expensive consultants to make any changes that do not bring the system to a screaching halt). My customers can create different templates, using different sets of fonts, paragraph formats, character formats and table formats, without ever changing the underlying structure that is defined by the EDD. It is their responsibility to define the look and feel of their documents, and it is mine to make sure the structure is correct. They pay me to build a structured authoring system, not to define their style guide. And if they do want me to create their style guide as well, I will create a template that contains all the required paragraph, character and table formats separate from the EDD. To ensure that their authors cannot mess around with the formatting I will even give them a little script that makes the designer pods go away and stay away. Plenty control, but not at the cost of putting the formatting in the EDD - where I do not think it belongs in the first place.

OK - that was my first round. Let's hear it from the others on this forum...

Kind regards from drizzly Amsterdam

Jang

I am losing my mind with this one and am hoping someone has a clue to what the problem is.

I do not normally save files to XML but have done a lot of experimenting with the process. Several months ago I had a good workflow that saved my structured documents to XML with no problems. All the elements came out as expected.

Now I am trying to do the same thing but apply an XSL transform as post processing. The idea is to transform my structure into one that satisfies a different DTD. In most cases, the end result is correct, but many errors are generated in the process. Most errors are things like expected an element name and expected enumeration separator or missing parenthesis. The odd thing is that FrameMaker is referencing a tmp file in a particular folder, but I cannot find it. So, it is difficult to see what the problem is. I have even tested the process using a blank template file with just a root element in it and maybe a child inside that. I get the same set of errors at what appears to be the same line numbers. BUT no tmp file. For the record, I have hidden files and folders showing.

In most cases, the result is OK. The ONE exception I have found is related to cross-reference elements. My cross-reference elements appear in the XML without termination, even though the EDD requires that they have no content.

I even tried using a different structure application, one that worked a few months ago, and the results are the same. I checked some XML output that I did a few months ago, and all the cross-reference elements were properly terminated as <XReference/>.

If I can find a way to see those missing tmp files, maybe I could see a solution. There is a need to solve this problem, because we need to export to XML to then import that XML into a CMS system that uses a different DTD.

I am using FrameMaker 9.0p255.

Thanks for any clues that anyone might have,

Van

I am creating an EDD and I have some issues with the way FrameMaker breaks each element instead of leaving it inline. This wouldn't be a problem if I was allowed to format children instead of elements; then I could fix the problems I am having.

Short question is, is there a way to tell FrameMaker to open unformatted elements inline instead of as blocks?

For instance, I have acronym elements within the text that wrap the definition and then wrap the term. When formatting it, it must show up as text and then the acronym after it with parentheses around it. I was able to make that happen by using run-ins, but the acronym element itself is no longer a part of the para. It is broken down to its own paragraph.

Example: <para>Reference will be made to the <acronym><def>Air Force</def><term>AF</term></acronym> serial number.</para>

should look like this:

Reference will be made to the Air Force (AF) serial number.

but instead looks like this:

Reference will be made to the

Air Force (AF) serial number.

because I can't edit the EDD to have any para element with an acronym within it to format as a run-in.

We are a writing team of 4 - two using Windows XP 32-bit, one using Windows 7 32-bit and until recently I was using Windows XP 64-bit.  We are all using TCS3, with FM10.

We developed our desired DITA templates (task, topic, concept, etc.), updated our EDD and edited our structapps file and everything was working perfectly on the XP 32-bit and XP 64-bit systems.  Our fourth colleague joined us, was given the Win 7 32-bit, and tried to set up our templates to use.  They all worked fine, except for the Task template - which will not open a new file, nor allow her to open any existing Task .xml or .fm files.

Then, for other reasons, my OS was switched from XP 64-bit to Win 7 32-bit, and I had to set up the templates again after loading TCS 3 on.  Now, all of the templates are working perfectly, except for Topic. If I choose DITA>New DITA file>New Topic and choose the template, it starts to open the file window and then just shuts down again, no error message, no file, no nothing.  If I try to open an existing topic.xml file I get this error message:

     XML Read Report Log

     November 15, 2012 10:14 am

     Source Document: R:\User_Manuals\baseline\...\Topic\12AJF070H4Y.xml

     XML Read Messages...

     Cannot open the template file ($STRUCTDIR\xml\DITA_1.2\app\technicalContent\template\TemplateMasterTopic.fm)

Which is exactly what happens when my colleague with 7 32-bit tries to open a task file.  Any ideas on what could be happening, that would make one file type unable to access a template, when all the others work exactly as they should be?

If I've missed including any information that would help clarify the situation, please let me know!

I've been using Structured FrameMaker from the beginning, and have designed many EDDs, and about 10 years ago I did some translation of SGML into Structured FrameMaker (7.2) which worked well.

Now, (with FrameMaker 10), I've had to design an EDD to translate XML documents into Structured FrameMaker.

In my EDD I've a CrossReference element called XRef; this has an attribute of ID, which in turn has a value of IDReference and has Special AttributeConrols of ReadOnly.

My target elements in the EDD all have an ID attribute with a value of UniqueID.

My XML document's target xref element has  an attribute of linkend, and in XML this works as I'd expect.

When I pass the XML file through the EDD/Template, everything works except that I get an ID = no value, which, of course, results in no display of the cross-reference data in the document.

Oddly, in structured FrameMaker, my element of link, with an attribute of linkend, works as it should, and displays the data.  It may not be important, but the value for linkend is IDReference not UniqueID, and this displays correctly (I changed this attribute's value to Unique ID in my EDD and it made no difference to the XRef value in my document).

After making all these EDD changes, I've been careful to save the changes, import them to all files in my book and finally update the book.   Everything hangs together - except, of course, that the cross-reference doesn't work.

I'd sincerely appreciate any help or advice other users might have because I'm quite frankly stumped.

I'm converting some projects from Framemaker 9 to Framemaker 11 using Dita 1.1 and the composite template. Initially, I had set up to use Dita 1.2 using the ditabase tempate but am changing them based on advice from the forum  Other than an error regarding an attribute that seemed to have been set for the dita tag in FM9 and not liked in FM11 DITA 1.1, all the files in all 3 projects converted fine to DITA 1.1 and the composite template -- except for 2 files.

For some reason when I try to open these two files in FM11 using DITA 1.1, FM crashes with the following error message:

Internal Error 11004, 23785796, 23786090, 26529493. FrameMaker has detected a serious problem and must quit. It generates a log file that means nothing to me.

I can still open these two files in an XML editor, in FrameMaker 9 and in FrameMaker 11 using DITA 1.2. and I don't see anything wrong with them.  But since all the rest of the files in the projects are using DITA 1.1, I need these files to open in DITA 1.1 too.

Any ideas?

Thanks for the help,

Sharon

While reviewing the existing EDD files, I see several of the Elements with Attributes containing "Control Flags - Hidden - Read-Only".  Could somebody point me to a document that explains the reason and functionality of this?

Hi,

I know there's a solution to this somehow via scripting - problem is, I have no clue so far about FM scripting

We're using the standard XML API for our structure and everything works out fine, except one thing that we stumbled over.

When creating a TOC in FM11 based on XML files within a book, we're receiving good results (pages are referenced correctly). As long as it doesn't come down to jump marks.

FM11 doesn't create the correct jump marks for the TOC entries. After an analysis, this is because the unique IDs for the referenced elements are non-existant (they're required and declared as UniqueID in the DTD and EDD, but not set automatically). Therefor FM11 points his jump marks towards the nearest element with an unique ID.

This behavior points me to two questions:

1. can I get FM11 to create unique IDs upon creation of the TOC (same way it creates the IDs when using XRef)? or

2. what can I do to get FM11 to create unique IDs automatically on insertion of an element, that requires an ID?

Cheers Gorly

Hello,

I am working on DITA topics in structured frame maker 11. Is there any option to insert text in a graphic frame? I don’t think so we can insert a text frame manually, correct me if am wrong.

I need a text frame that should be aligned centre.

Could anyone help me from this issue.

Thank you,

Harsha...

FrameMaker 11.0.2.384

DITA 1.2

We need to have our <note> element so that the first or only paragraph is *not* wrapped in a <p> element. However, we want to add additional <p> elements after the first paragraph when necessary.

Here is what we want:

Here is what we get:

I have defined the following paragraph tags:

Note1Top (includes the frame above with the Note graphic and the rule)

Note1Middle (no rules and no graphic)

Note1Bot (a bottom rule and no graphic)

Note1 (use for scenarios where there are no additional paragraphs)

I have defined the <p> elements in my EDD and they are working correctly. I need to figure out how to define my <note> element in the EDD so that it uses Note1Top when they are child paragraphs or Note1TopBot when there are no child paragraphs.

Currently I have this in my <note> element in the EDD:

Else, if context is: note < (stepxmp | stepresult | info) < step

     1.1.7. If context is: {first}

                    Use paragraph format: Note1Top

               Else, if context is: {only}

                    Use paragraph format: Note1

I think the reason that the {first} and {only} sibling indicators are not working is that there are no siblings.   But what is my alternative?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Marsha

Hi,

I am using FM12, and I can create display equations using "Special->MathML equation" menu. How to generate inline MathML equations? ie., I want to have equation along with text, something like

some text goes here and having inline equation (x+y+z=10)

[Thread moved by moderator from FM General Discussions Forum]

I am trying to publish a ditamap to pdf with FM11. Adobe seems to recommend to save as a FM book with components and then to PDF. Then the hierarchy was lost in the PDF even though it looks very good in the FM book structure.

Almost all topics are rendered as a  chapter;

the exception is when the chapter has a href to a dita file;

all sections are rendered as a section no matter where this section belong to and which layer its parent topic is on;

all the topic title use title.0 para tag, and sections use title.1 para tag, so they are all included in the TOC as chapters and sections, no matter which layer they are on in the ditamap;

the numbering of chapter/section are in a mess.

I have looked into the ditafm-output.ini and didn't find useful settings. Any suggestions or clue? or FrameMaker is only not capable for these issues? or can only publish a flat topic PDF?

Thanks!

Hi guys,

I'm struggling here with some very strange behavior of FM11.

I've got a book (unstructured) with multiple FM binaries (structured).

The first book component is the front cover with some inlay pages including a self generated TOC (out of cross references to the start and end pages).

This book needs to be printed and contains 48 pages total, including the cover as the first and last book component.

Now the first component contains 3 pages and a double sided layout using several self defined master pages (I know there's an issue with deleting surplus pages with no left/right MP).

But that's not exactly my problem.

The problem arises when I try to refresh the book. There's a blank page being created in the first book component, which I got rid of in the first place.

That wouldn't be much of a problem since I can delete that page manually (and it keeps being deleted if I don't refresh anything).

But the real issue is, that the references are updated AFTERWARDS, meaning all page references within the book are one page ahead.

This is unacceptable, as it spans all references in the whole document, which are wrong due to this.

Is there any way I can get FM to not create this surplus blank page?

I'm tight on schedule and cleaning up the mess my boss left me behind with this document,, so quick answers are really appreciated.

-Alex

Pls see the title. There are hundreds of elements/paragraphs.

Here is where my problem occurs: (FM Structured open) File menu > Print Book >  PDF setup > Bookmark > Include Elements. Here inside the Include Elements column, how can I move all the element to Don't Include area? Now I can only move one by one but there are hundreds of elements. However I didn't find a Move All button. It's so strange. Can anyone help?

I am writing a DITA document. I am trying to change the color of the Note element choice "caution" text from black, which is the default, to red. I've tried changing things in the commonelements.mod, but with no luck. I know you can do this. I am not a programmer, so it would be helpful to have it explained in a step-by-step manner.

Thanks

Robert

Here is what I am trying to do:

I have a set of documents in xml fomrat following the docbook standard.  In these documents there are too types of table.  The standard table with its element tag TABLE and an informal table with element tag INFORMALTABLE.

When these are opened and my format file and EDD applied I want the Standard Tables to have a blue shaded header and the Informal Tables to have a grey shaded header.  I have created the appropriate table templates.  I cannot figure a way via the EDD to specify the table format type that works.  When I open an xml and apply the edd and the format all the tables open using the table format that is first in the list.

What can I do to the EDD to achieve my goal?

Thank you in advance

I am converting a large complex unstructured doc set to Structured Frame. I'm starting off with Tom Aldous' webinars. I have many questions. First, I am performing my conversion to DITA (because this is how the webinar guides us). Is this the best format to use? I will have PDF User Guide with multiple role based outputs and Robohelp Webhelp output. Am I better with a DITA or Custom Structure?

I am using TCS 3.