I have an issue with an attribute not being exported to XML from FM8.

Here is the excerpt from the DTD:

<!ELEMENT std.table.header (std.table.row+)>
<!ATTLIST std.table.header
  cols CDATA #REQUIRED
  rowsep CDATA "1"
>

The first issue I had was "cols" not showing up as an attribute in the Structured View. I solved with issue (with the help of MarttiP) by adding it to the EDD as shown below:

Element (Container): std.table.header
General rule: std.table.row+
Attribute list
Name: cols  Integer  Required

Now the issue I am having is on export of the XML, the "cols" attribute is not being exported and I am getting an error "required attribute 'cols' not provided". Any suggestions?

We're moving to Structured FM and DITA. The procedures we write use this hiearchy:

Section 1 >  Part 1 > Step A  >  1. >   a.

In DITA, we'll be limited to two step levels. Do we need to throw out our old hiearchy and adopt a much more simple approach; for example:

Title

     1.

          a.

From the Internet and other resources, I'm reading conflicting advice. Some say to use sections and nesting to get the look you want; others say to avoid these.

Help!

Hello,

I use Framemaker for managing the operational manual of my airline and I have big problem regarding to the compatibilty of FM 9 and 7.2.

Our service provider works on my framemaker files with the version 9.0.

But I work with the version 7.2 and I can't open the files as it has been saved in FM 9.

Is someone have an idea to open this FM 9 files into FM 7.2 ?

Thank you in advance.

Hello,

I am creating a simple conversion table to get our unstructured content into structured. I do not care about the overall validity of the elements within each file, as we are breaking apart bigger files into smaller ones later. I would like to get step numbering to be halfway accurate so entire "grouped steps" can be copied to new DITA topics later.

I have a Numberbody1 paragraph style (for the first step) and Numberbody paragraph style (for subsequent steps) that I am mapping. I am mapping them to the same element (called "cmd" for command). What syntax or qualifier can I use to ensure that the step numbering is retained? This isn't a deal breaker by any stretch, as we will be creating new DITA topics and linking them to an app, edd, template, et al. I just thought that maybe this would be an easy question for someone.

thanks much

Tom

Hello,

Generally, XML entities are resolved when parsed. As a consequence for working with structured FM, you can either apply XSL transformations to the markup on import and export or keep entities as text insets and variables.

I wonder if there is a workaround to keep entities as text insets and variables after applying an XSL transformation with FM? If so, maybe you could share how to set up a  workable solution.

Thanks in advance,

Johannes

Hi ALL,

Does anyone have ideas on how to make element attributes printable in an ATA iSPEC 2200 standard document with

FM9? For example, make FM show the ATA numbering scheme just above each element task and sub-task in a PDF doc.

How would you edit the EDD Text format rules of an element repeated several times after one sibling optional element? For example, you have the following elements, it's children, and their formats:

1. TASK (with Title)
   A. TOPIC (w/ Title)
      (1) SUBTASK (w/ Title)
      (2) SUBTASK (w/ Title)
      (3) SUBTASK (w/ Title)

Now, if the TOPIC Title elelment is not used, I need the Subtasks to appear as follows:

1. TASK (with Title)

    TOPIC (w/o Title) (TOPIC element still present)
        A. SUBTASK (w/ Title)
        B. SUBTASK (w/ Title)
        C. SUBTASK (w/ Title)

How would you write that in the EDD? Which element would I edit? The Subtask? Or, the Title?

I've tried several combinations in the Text format rules and subrules using different context specifications like {notfirst}, {after Title}, {first}, etc., but I can't seem to make it work. Anyone familiar with the ATA iSPEC 2200 will recognize the formatting.

Wes

Hi,

firstly I'm working in FM 7.0 (Win XP) using customer supplied DTD and EDD.

This is my situation. In my document I have a paragraph format called 'Cell:Left' and this is used within table rows. I wasn't happy with the size of the font (10 pt) so I attempted to change it to 8 pt. I went into Paragraph Designer, changed the font size to 8 and then clicked 'Update All'. My problem is this: when I tab into a new cell (of the same table) and start typing, the font size defaults back to 10 pt. I've checked the EDD to look for format overrides in any of the elements concerned and can't find anything (except a text format rule to use 'Cell:Left'); I've deleted the format and recreated it; I've looked at the table format for clues there but can't find anything.

Have I overlooked something? Have I done somethign wrong or misunderstood the process? Why is the format change not being applied globally?

Advice really appreciated.

Cheers

Carl

I am importing an XML file into Structured FrameMaker that contains a table. The table is being imported into a 2-column text box. The table needs to stretch across both columns within the text box. When I import the table it is stretching beyond the text box. How do I format the table so that it imports across both columns, but does not stretch beyond the text box?

I'm using FM8 in Tech Comm Suite 1 on Windows XP.

I sometimes have 15-20 tabs open at a time.  Is there a quick way to scroll through all of these tabs?

Thanks.

On saving my document as xml the table titles are not carried into the xml the file. Tbale head nd body elemets are created in xml but the table title element is created at all.

Any ideas what I have done wrong would be much appreciated.

DTD:

<!ELEMENT Table      (Tgroup) >
<!ATTLIST Table      Position  (Anywhere|TopOfPage)  "Anywhere"
                     Orientation  (Portrait|Rotated)  "Portrait" >

<!--Tgroup: Tgroup. Group of elements that go together to form a table.-->
<!ELEMENT Tgroup     (colspec*, spanspec*, Ttitle?, Thead?, Tbody, Tfoot?) >
<!ATTLIST Tgroup     ID        ID        #IMPLIED
colsep      NMTOKEN   #IMPLIED
   cols        NMTOKEN   #REQUIRED
   colwidth    CDATA     #IMPLIED
   rowsep      NMTOKEN   #IMPLIED
   tabstyle    CDATA   #IMPLIED
>

<!ELEMENT colspec  EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST colspec
   align    (left|center|right|justify|char) #IMPLIED
   char     CDATA     #IMPLIED
   charoff  NMTOKEN   #IMPLIED
   colname  NMTOKEN   #IMPLIED
   colnum   NMTOKEN   #IMPLIED
   colsep   NMTOKEN   #IMPLIED
   colwidth CDATA     #IMPLIED
   rowsep   NMTOKEN   #IMPLIED
>

<!ELEMENT spanspec  EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST spanspec
   align    (left|center|right|justify|char) #IMPLIED
   char     CDATA     #IMPLIED
   charoff  NMTOKEN   #IMPLIED
   colsep   NMTOKEN   #IMPLIED
   nameend  NMTOKEN   #REQUIRED
   namest   NMTOKEN   #REQUIRED
   rowsep   NMTOKEN   #IMPLIED
   spanname NMTOKEN   #REQUIRED
>
<!--Ttitle: TabelTitle. Table title text.-->
<!ELEMENT Ttitle     (#PCDATA | Footnote | Tcont | IndexMarker)* >

<!--Thead: Thead. Heading table row.-->
<!ELEMENT Thead      (colspec*, Tr+) >

<!--Tbody: Tbody. Tbale body composed of rows.-->
<!ELEMENT Tbody      (colspec*, Tr+) >

<!--Tfoot: Tfoot. Tabel footer row.-->
<!ELEMENT Tfoot      (colspec*, Tr+) >

<!--Tr: Tr. Table row composed of table cells-->
<!ELEMENT Tr         (Td+) >

<!--Td: Td. Table cell containing text.-->
<!ELEMENT Td         (#PCDATA | Para | Footnote | XRef | Part |
                              PartNumber | PartDescription | Graphic |
                              IndexMarker)* >
<!ATTLIST Td         VertAlign  (Top|Middle|Bottom)  "Top"
                     HozAlign  (Left|Centre|Right)  "Left" >

<!--Tcont: Tcont. Table continuation.-->
<!ELEMENT Tcont      EMPTY >

EDD:

Element (Container): Table
General rule:  Tgroup
Attribute list
Name: Position  Choice  Optional
Choices: Anywhere, TopOfPage
Default: Anywhere
Name: Orientation  Choice  Optional
Choices: Portrait, Rotated
Default: Portrait
Automatic insertions
Automatically insert child: Tgroup
Text format rules
In all contexts.
Use paragraph format: Table
If context is: [Position = “TopOfPage”]
Pagination properties
Start position: Top of page
Tgroup. Group of elements that go together to form a table.
Element (Table): Tgroup
General rule: Ttitle?, Thead?, Tbody, Tfoot?
Attribute list
Name: ID  Unique ID  Optional
Control flags: Read-only
Initial table format
If context is: Table < RevDetails
Table format: RevisionDetails
Ttitle. Table title text.
Element (Table Title): Ttitle
General rule: (<TEXT> | Footnote | Tcont | IndexMarker)*
Text format rules
In all contexts.
Use paragraph format: TableTitle
Thead. Heading table row.
Element (Table Heading): Thead
General rule: Tr+
Tbody. Tbale body composed of rows.
Element (Table Body): Tbody
General rule: Tr+
Tfoot. Tabel footer row.
Element (Table Footing): Tfoot
General rule: Tr+
Tr. Table row composed of table cells
Element (Table Row): Tr
General rule: Td+
Td. Table cell containing text.
Element (Table Cell): Td
General rule: (<TEXT> | Para | Footnote | XRef | Part | PartNumber | PartDescription | Graphic | IndexMarker)*
Attribute list
Name: VertAlign  Choice  Optional
Choices: Top,Middle,Bottom
Default: Top
Name: HozAlign  Choice  Optional
Choices: Left,Centre,Right
Default: Left
Text format rules
If context is: Tr < Thead
Use paragraph format: CellHeading
Else
Use paragraph format: CellBody
If context is: [VertAlign = “Top”]
Table cell properties
Vertical alignment: Top
Else, if context is: [VertAlign = “Middle”]
Table cell properties
Vertical alignment: Middle
Else, if context is: [VertAlign = “Bottom”]
Table cell properties
Vertical alignment: Bottom
If context is: [HozAlign = “Left”]
Basic properties
Alignment: Left
Else, if context is: [HozAlign = “Centre”]
Basic properties
Alignment: Center
Else, if context is: [HozAlign = “Right”]
Basic properties
Alignment: Right
Tcont. Table continuation.
Element (System Variable): Tcont
System variable format rule
In all contexts.
Use system variable: Table Continuation

Hello,

I have a table layout where I want a different paragraph format in the first column depending on a table attribute value. So I created a Text Format Rule for the cells like this:

If context is: {first} < * < table [class="definition"]

  Use paragraph format: T_FirstColumn

Else

  Use paragraph format: T_Column

This works fine until the user straddles some cells in the first column, like this:

In the first column the three cells are straddled, so the cells in row 2 and 3 "think" they are first and use the bold paragraph format.

Apart from setting additional attributes (through API programming), do you have a solution?

Thanks,

- Michael

I'm building an EDD and I'm wondering if there is any way to format my series label differently from the text in the list.  In other words, I'd like it to look like this:

Step 1: This is the first step.

Step 2: This is the second step.

Step 3: This is the third step.

Etc...

Is this possible?  How would I go about it?

Thanks!

Hello,

I've set up my Structured EDD with some Headings that have Autonumbering.  I'm wondering if there is any way to put a return between the number and the text?

In other words, can I make this:

Chapter 2: This is the Chapter Title

look like this:

Chapter 2:

This is the Chapter Title

As a secondary question, in my search for the answer to this question, I discovered the <r>. <r+>, <R>, etc. "building blocks".  I can't find them mentioned anywhere in the user manual or developing structured application manual.  Can anyone tell me exactly what their function is?

Thanks!

Hello,

I'm switching from word to structured FM and DITA. I know that I could use the lines element to create page breaks where I need them, and also insert manual page breaks at the top of the next available page.

But there must be a better way in the structure somehow, conditional on certain conditions - for example, new topics always on a new page or no separation of images from its immediately preceding reference. Please could somebody expain how I can create such page breaks in the structure.

Hi All,

In the DITA-FMx plugin developed by Leximation, there's a feature called Generate Book from Map. It allows me to create a FrameMaker book from a DITA map or bookmap and then do whatever I can do with any FrameMaker book, including create a PDF.

Is there anything similar in the native Adobe's DITA plugin? How can I get to a book from a DITA map/bookmap?

Thanks in advance!

Now that I'm moving along on the formatting portion of this manual (or so I think - ha), I need to start bringing in the graphics to make sure they are all there, so I can get the illustrator going on that end. I've looked at threads everywhere I could find regarding graphic boardno and using the read/write rules to tell FrameMaker what to do with the graphic, and nothing works. I keep getting an error that says, "type mismatch for the element FrameMaker element (graphic). The type defined by the read/write rules is different from thet defined in the template."

I created this rw file from scratch out of FM 10. I've copied several different iterations that I've found all over the place. Right now my rw file has this:

element "graphic" {

is fm graphic element;

attribute "boardno" {

is fm property entity;

is fm attribute;

}

}

Hi,

  I'm giving a couple of eSeminars on a structured FrameMaker application for editing XSLT that readers of this forum may find interesting. Info is below:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=2076620&loc=en_us

Date: 5 Sep, 10-11AM PST

Topic: Maintaining XSLT code as a structured FrameMaker document

Description:
This webinar describes a structured FrameMaker application for editing XSLT. While the document window appears to show actual XSLT code, the structure of the edited document is an easily-understood variation of that used in the final XML output. Features of this editing structure include:

1) Names of various constructs (variables, templates, modes, and so forth) can be entered once and referenced multiple times as cross-references. To change a name therefore, a user need only change the typed occurrence and update cross-references; there is no need to search for all the individual occurrence.

2) The user can navigate through multiple files with generated lists of elements such as named templates and calls to those templates. Index markers can be used to generate an index into the code.

3) Elements in the structured document spare the user the need to remember details of XSLT syntax such as the names of the different axes and the order of the arguments to various functions. Color is used to visually identify matching parentheses and help prevent some syntax errors.

Once a document is complete, the user saves it as XML using an application that uses XSLT itself to change from the editing structure into actual XSLT code. Furthermore, existing XSLT code can be brought into this environment by opening it using an application that converts XSLT to the editing structure.

In addition to demonstrating a productive environment for maintaining XSLT transforms (or stylesheets), this application illustrates:

1) A practical application of the XSLT features Tom Aldous described in his recent 5-part series of presentations on XSLT in FrameMaker

2) How useful FrameMaker 11 can be for producing XML

3) A situation in which there is more information in a FrameMaker structured document than the corresponding XML

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=2076630&loc=en_us
Date: Oct 2, 10-11AM PST

Title: Debugging XSLT with FrameMaker 11

Description:
In this presentation, Lynne Price of Text Structure Consulting illustrates how a developer can use new FrameMaker 11 features to test and maintain XSLT code. Lynne will use an XSLT advanced run to transform all files in a test suite and examine the results using XPath to find particular structures, make changes, and repeat the process until correct results are produced.

Colleagues,

I'm pulling my hair out a bit over issues with external cross-references in an unstructured>structured conversion. (FrameMaker 11, custom DTD).

First, I've not found a way to automatically convert _external_ cross-references from marker-based to element-based. This is a historical issue, but I thought I would raise it in case any new solutions or approaches have appeared.

If FrameMaker won't convert marker-based external cross-references, I would prefer to do this clean-up in XML. But...FrameMaker unwraps these (marker-based, unresolved) cross-reference elements on save to XML. (FM retains the _text_ of the cross-reference, but removes the cross-reference element).

Is there any way to prevent this unwrapping? The presence of an empty cross-reference element is more important to me than the cross-reference text.

-Alan

Hi all,

I have formatted my <prolog> element to display named images frames from the reference page above and below. The intention is to distinguish this area for the editor.

However, the lower frame is displayed very unreliable. For example, if I insert a <keywords> element with a single <kexword> child element then it is not displayed. As soon as I add another <keyword> child the line appears. But if I delete this second <keyword>, the line stays visible the way it should have been from begin with. After saving and reloading it usually is not visible either, moving the elements in the prolog around a bit makes the lower line visible again.

I could not get this to work reliable, does anybody have a recommendation?

Robert