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convextech67
convextech67
Known Participant
July 6, 2012
Question

Elements default format appear as blocks instead of inline text

  • July 6, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 1355 views

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.

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

R
Russ Ward
Legend
July 9, 2012

Hi,

I'm having trouble understanding exactly what you are asking for. It is a simple EDD rule to make an element render as in-line. There does not need to be any other formatting specified. Here is a rough paste of the EDD setup:

Text format rules

  In all contexts.

    Text range.

Are you saying that you can't edit the EDD because you are not allowed, or that you don't know how? If you cannot edit the EDD, you can't get the in-line formating that you desire, because that's where the rules are. So, adjustment of the EDD is your only option.

Russ

convextech67
convextech67Author
Known Participant
July 9, 2012

I guess "can't" was the wrong choice of word; I meant, the EDD does not allow (as far as I've seen) any way to control a child element, only parents & ancestors. Am I wrong about this?

I also have <acronym> as a text range and it does not appear inline; it is still blocked as a paragraph.

Thank you for your response.

R
Russ Ward
Legend
July 9, 2012

Hi,

I think you are wrong about something, but I'm not entirely sure what it is yet   I don't think it is conceptually accurate to say "control a child element" or even "control parents & ancestors." Every element in an EDD has zero or more rules that control its own formatting, sometimes based on hierarchy (ie, parents and ancestors), but no element format rules control the formatting of any other element. All format rules control the respective element only.

So, I'm not quite clear why you can't just add the "text range" rule to the <acronym> element. It would happily live inline if you did. If it needs to be inline in some cases but not others, you could add context rules (based on ancestry, attribute values, etc) to control that.

I'm still not sure that I'm getting to the root of your question here so please feel free to comment further.

Russ

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