FrameMaker output to Flex for creation of Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs)

Hi Scott,

I'm very glad you told me. I have been using version 2.20, which was resulting in parsing errors, but I just downloaded the latest version 3.22, and it opened without errors.

I think this will solve a lot of problems! I will start with your suggestions above and go from here.

Thank you for your offer for helping with sample files. I will very likely take you up on it after I've done some experimenting.

Thanks,
Amy

Hi Amy...

I got the DTD from the "library" .. and was able to successfully Open it in FM (no errors). Do you have any sample XML files that are built from this data model? After you Open the DTD and save the resulting file as an EDD (just a FM file), you'll need to change the element definitions of the "inline" elements so they render inline. By default, all elements are block level elements. Also, I'd assume that there are multiple top-level elements .. all I'm seeing so far is "a.statement".

If you've got any sample files, I'll mess with this a bit and see what I can do. Feel free to upload to ..

http://leximation.com/inbox

Cheers,

...scott

Many thanks--you've been tremendous help!

In the meantime, I also took your advice and posted a specific question on the structured FM forum asking if anyone has developed such an app.

Amy

Well .. that's hard to say .. it really depends on the complexity of the DTD. You *should* be able to get something that "works" in a few hours .. but to get all of the formatting set up nicely could take weeks. It really depends on what you want and how well you're able to follow the docs. The concepts in the structure dev guide can be pretty complicated.

Take it one step at a time and post to the list of you've got questions.

...scott

Thanks, Scott. I got the manuals.

If you had to guess, about how long would you say that it might take for a beginner to create a structured app and do the work that you described?

Amy

Nice .. it doesn't look like this was shipped with FM8. In FM7.2 it's called .. Structure_Dev_Guide.pdf .. it looks like you can download it from here ..

http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/framemaker/

Thanks for the pointer to the DTD.

Cheers,

...scott

Hi Scott,

This is encouraging news! I am looking for the Structured App Dev Guide in my C:\Program Files\Adobe\FrameMaker8\Documents folder. There are 13 PDFs, but I don't see that title. I'll poke through them for structured app info.

I downloaded the DTD from the Army SGML/XML Registry & Library (ASRL) here: http://www.asrl.com/. The DTDs are available from the "Constructs" link. You will need to apply for a "library card," but it's a simple process and should be approved within a day or two.

Thanks,
Amy

Hi Amy...

Well .. you should become familiar with the Structure Application Developers Guide (PDF installed in your FM/docs folder) .. this has all of the info you'll need.

You're on the right track .. it sounds like you're doing the right thing. After using Open DTD, you should end up with an EDD (or the start of one). If there are errors in this import process, you'll need to resolve the errors before you can continue. Many times you'll need to make tweaks to the EDD to get certain element types properly set up (tables are often a problem). You'll also need to make adjustments to the EDD so that certain elements are rendered in a useful way (empty elements may need to be a marker). For a complex DTD, there's often a lot of work to make the needed tweaks. This will also involve setting up a read/write rules file, as well as a template. At a minimum the structure application consists of an EDD, rules file, and template.

It's likely that someone else is also working on developing a structure app for this DTD, you might post a query asking specifically about that.

This process of making a structure app from a DTD can be bit of work, but keep in mind that once you're finished and are able to open the XML files in Frame, you're basically ready to print (assuming you've set up your template with meaningful styles). If you use other XML editors, you'll be able to open the files right away and start editing, but in order to print, you've got to do a lot of work. It's basically a tradeoff .. and from what I've seen the FM approach is typically less work in the long run.

BTW .. where does one find this DTD? I made a quick Google search and found the MIL-STD-40051 specification, but no DTD. I'd be interested in checking this out, can you point me at it?

Cheers,

...scott

Scott,<br /><br />I have used the StructureTools > Open DTD command to open the 40051. (The Import DTD command is grayed out.) I browse to the .dtd file, select <No Application> in the Use Structured Application box, and then select XML in the Select Type box. The Open DTD Log shows parser errors.<br /><br />I choose <No Application> because none in the list apply, but if I could create a structured app for 40051, then it should work.... How does one go about creating a structured app? <br /><br />I think this is exactly what we need.<br /><br />Thanks for your help!<br />Amy

FrameMaker can basically support any DTD .. you just need to create a structure application for that DTD. Is there something about the 40051 DTD that can't be supported by FM?

...scott