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J
J_Carlson
Participant
November 22, 2009
Question

Structured Frame and formatting

  • November 22, 2009
  • 1 reply
  • 673 views

Hi Everyone,

In the new year my department has decided to move from using DocBook XML to Structured FrameMaker. So far it looks like I can get by with just importing the DocBook files into FrameMaker (with some additonal cleanup). What I need help with is that I don't understand how to properly use Structured FrameMaker. I can create the xml elements, and I can structure the content using the paragraph & character styles, but I don't understand how to tie the styles with the xml elements. Right now I'm doing two steps: 1. create the xml; 2. go through the document and manually structure all of the text using the paragraph/character styles. It seems like I should be able to tie my styles to the xml elements so that when I create an xml element, they will automatically use their associated style.

So is there a way that I can just create our styles, then let our writers write the documents using xml and the styles will automatically take effect? Even if someone can just point me to some documentation that explains Structured FrameMaker better, I would appreciate that--so far I find that the Adobe documentation is lacking in answering my questions.

I've even experimented opening some of the built-in xml template files and the styles there don't seem to be tied in with the xml elements either. If I have to continue styling everything manually I don't really understand the point of Structured FrameMaker. So far it seems like I'm doing exactly the same work that was required with unstructured FrameMaker, with the additional step of creating the xml markup. This leads me to believe that I'm missing something fairly significant.

Any help you could offer would be appreciated. By the way, we're using FrameMaker 9.

Thanks,

Josh

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Van Kurtz
Van Kurtz
Inspiring
November 23, 2009

Josh,

You do not have to apply styles manually in structured FrameMaker, and you should not.

When you import or open an XML file, you are importing it into a FrameMaker template, so you need to design a template that fits your needs and requirements.

Part of that template is the EDD, which defines the allowed structure for your documents, much like a DTD for your XML files.

The EDD also can apply formatting to elements. It can apply the formatting by specifying what it is, or it can apply the formatting by applying a style that is defined in the template. I prefer the former method because it maintains the formatting inside the EDD, so users cannot change it; this is good when you have to maintain a standard look across a set of documents. There are others who will argue it is better to assign styles.

Adobe DOES provide good documentation for this. There are two documents: the Structured Application Developer's Guide and the Structured Application Developer Reference. Both are available in PDF to download from the Adobe Web site. Try looking under Support then FrameMaker, then documentation. It is best to do some reading in the Guide, because it will answer most if not all of your questions.

Good luck,

Van

J
J_CarlsonAuthor
Participant
November 24, 2009

Thanks Van. I found the documents you mentioned, though they are for FrameMaker 8. I didn't see any for FM 9, though I doubt there's much difference. I had seen these documents before, but didn't give them much thought because of their titles. I've never equated "Application Development" with what I'm trying to do.

As an aside, it seems to me that FrameMaker is really falling behind the curve as far as structured documentation goes. I never figured I would have to read 700 pages of documentation to do something relatively simple. It's much easier to use xml outside of FM using open source tools, and some commercial applications make it trivial to use. I know of some companies (my previous employer, for example) who simply stopped using FrameMaker when they moved to using xml, and I'm beginning to understand why. With FM it's too much like forcing a square peg into a round hole. But it's what my current employer is forcing me to use, so I guess I'll learn to live with it.

At any rate, thanks for your help. I'd better get busy reading.

Thanks,

Wayne

Van Kurtz
Van Kurtz
Inspiring
November 24, 2009

Wayne,

I do not do much with XML outside of FrameMaker, but I am guessing that if one needs printed copy then that would be difficult if not impossible with an XML editor. Think of FrameMaker not so much as an XML editor but as the formatting and printing engine for your XML document. If you do not need to go from FrameMaker back to XML, then once you get everything set up, authoring in FrameMaker will be a breeze.

As far as the Structured Application Developer Guide, you can probably skip or skim through Part I and start with Part 2, Working with an EDD. To me, reading a guide like that is better and more productive than trying to hunt and click and hope to hit the right procedure. It is not all that bad.

Good luck,

Van

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