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November 27, 2013
Question

Frame cross-references to DITA

  • November 27, 2013
  • 1 reply
  • 466 views

FrameMaker 11

Vasont CMS

Arbortext editor

In order to comply with our parent company, we are converting all of our FM docs to DITA. We check before conversion to ensure all cross-refs are working.  When the cross-reference comes in to DITA from FM, it looks like this:

xref format=”dita” href=”MSC_c_Introduction.dita” scope=”local” type=”concept”

But these do not work.

When the cross-ref is created in either the CMS or in Arbortext, it looks like this:

xref href=”MSC_c_Introduction#MSC_c_Introduction/MSC_c_Intro” outputclass=”fm:HeadingOnly”

These work properly.

Is there a way to get the cross-refs from FM to have the correct syntax? Or is this not a syntax issue?

We would much rather use FM than Arbortext.

TIA,

Marsha

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1 reply

ScottPrentice
Inspiring
November 27, 2013

Marsha...

Do you have those two xref examples reversed? An xref created in FM will most likely have an outputclass of "fm:<formatname>", while I can't imagine that Arbortext or a CMS would add the "fm:" prefix to the outputclass (or use outputclass at all).

Assuming they are reversed .. I'm not surprised that FM can't handle an xref that just specifies the target filename in the href. It's valid, but is better if it specifies at least "<filename>#<topicid>". If it doesn't work, that's a bug in FM (DITA-FMx is OK with this syntax, BTW). I'm also assuming that in the second example, you accidentally omitted the filename extension, since that won't likely work anywhere.

Try adding the "#<topicid>" to the xref/@href that's not working in FM. It might work. If not, try adding the "/<elemid>" to that. FM might also require that the outputclass be set, but I think it'll default to something if that's not set.

Cheers,

...scott