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Eduardo_GAC
Known Participant
February 2, 2022
Answered

Looks like easy! Frame in Reference Page

  • February 2, 2022
  • 5 replies
  • 821 views

Hello!

 

I would like to create a frame on the reference page with a text and every time I used this frame on the body page I would only bring it via the paragraph designer, until this part it's easy to do. But I would like to be able to change the text of this frame every new use.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Matt-Tech Comm Tools

    Would setting this up as a table format (perhaps called Red Headers work here?

    That woud allow you to change the text in the heading and footing rows as needed, while automatically appling formatting to the rows.

    5 replies

    Matt-Tech Comm Tools
    Community Expert
    Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    February 8, 2022

    Would setting this up as a table format (perhaps called Red Headers work here?

    That woud allow you to change the text in the heading and footing rows as needed, while automatically appling formatting to the rows.

    -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
      4everJang
      4everJang
      Legend
      February 4, 2022

      As is mentioned in the discussion, this is a standard technique for warnings, where the symbol is pulled in from the reference pages and the text is on the body page. I have seen lots of FM users who never figured out how to use the Sidehead. Well, this is exactly what you should be using. The handling is a bit dependent on whether you are still using unstructured FM (which you should really abandon as we live in the 21st century) or structured FM. In the first case, you will have to enter an empty paragraph that brings in the note icon from the reference page (via Frame Below) and the next paragraph is the text for the note. Make all of your regular paragraphs In Column and make the note icon paragraph in Sidehead. With structured FM, you can create a <note> element that automatically puts an <icon> and a <text> element into your document. And you can work via the EDD to make the icon dependent on the type attribute of the <note>. 

      Dave Creamer of IDEAS
      Community Expert
      Dave Creamer of IDEASCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 2, 2022

      Attached are some examples of different techniques.

       

      David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
        E
        Eduardo_GACAuthor
        Known Participant
        February 2, 2022

        Hi Creamer!

         

        Let's say that I would like to change the word WARNING every time but keep the red frame. 

        Bob_Niland
        Community Expert
        Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 2, 2022

        re: Let's say that I would like to change the word WARNING every time but keep the red frame.

        You might want to first investigate what regulatory/liability standards apply to your industry & topic.

        As I recall, in ANSI Z535.1 & IEC 3864, DANGER & WARNING are only used for safety [personal injury] hazards, and not mere economic loss (which might be CAUTION, but is often just NOTICE). Also, ~red is just for Danger. Warning is ~orange. Caution is ~yellow, and Notice is ~blue. The alert symbol [⚠] was also used only for safety hazards. (~indicating that these are not monitor primaries; they have standards-defined colors)

        That's another part of why I used to use 4 different Para tags for these admonishments.

          S
          shalomb61686619
          Inspiring
          February 2, 2022

          This sounds very similar to attaching a Warning/Caution/Note with user-fillable text. Others can explain better than I how to do  it.

            Bob_Niland
            Community Expert
            Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            February 2, 2022

            re: This sounds very similar to attaching a Warning/Caution/Note with user-fillable text.

            Back when I was doing that daily, the alert symbol and generic advisory banner (DANGER | WARNING | CAUTION | NOTICE) would be in a static Reference Frame. The Body page paragraph format (of which there needed to be 4 types) would have a Frame_Above that called in the RF specific to the admonishment. The local details were otherwise ordinary body text typed in for each instance (although frequently-used ones could certainly be auto-populated via Variables or Text_Insets).

             

            A limitation of this legacy technique is that
            Paragraph Designer » Advanced
            only offers FrameAbove and FrameBelow, and not FrameRun-In (L or R)

              S
              shalomb61686619
              Inspiring
              February 2, 2022

              You could make a 2-column 1-row table with one column being the symbol and the other column the text.

                Bob_Niland
                Community Expert
                Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
                Community Expert
                February 2, 2022

                re: But I would like to be able to change the text of this frame every new use.

                With each new document, or have the text vary from page-to-page in the same document?
                I'm guessing the latter, as it's easy to edit the RefPage once for a new document.

                 

                Where do you imagine that you would define/enter the page-specific text?

                 

                My first thought was to use an Anchored Frame, that can be hidden by ColorViews, on the Body page, that would contain the page-unique text, using a Paragraph Format that informs a RunningH/F variable, but it doesn't work, because it appears that RunningH/F vars cannot be used in Text Frames inside a Reference Frame on the RefPage — the Variables catalog is not populated with R-H/F vars when on a RefPage.

                  E
                  Eduardo_GACAuthor
                  Known Participant
                  February 2, 2022

                  Hi Bob! thank you, as always helping everyone

                   

                  What I'm looking for is more closer to shalomb61686619 answer.

                   

                   

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