Participant

Answered

upgrade to FM9? I need to filter attributes.

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
May 25, 2010
3 replies
871 views

Hi all,

I'm currently using FM7.2 with the ABCM plugin and Framescript 4.1. This way we have one source file and filter for different products (Framescript automates the filtering... less important). I thought I saw somewhere that FM9 natively supports conditional text and filtering, but perhaps it is only conditional text. In these forums I heard someone mention that they use FM8 with ABCM.

Is it worth it to upgrade to FM8 from 7.2?

Does FM9 support what I want to do or not?

Thanks!!

Structured

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Russ Ward

Hi,

I'm the author of ABCM/AXCM. I suspect that you will be sadly disappointed with the native implementation of attribute-based filtering. I was hoping maybe I could just ditch the plugin altogether but found that the native feature set is inadequate for any kind of serious condition management. So, AXCM stays around for now.

If you really are using ABCM 1.0, I'd suggest an upgrade to AXCM. It will run on FM 7 and adds the ability to filter and color based on XPath expressions. The API/FrameScript interface is better too. And, it is still free.

Russ

R

Russ WardCorrect answer

Legend

Hi,

I'm the author of ABCM/AXCM. I suspect that you will be sadly disappointed with the native implementation of attribute-based filtering. I was hoping maybe I could just ditch the plugin altogether but found that the native feature set is inadequate for any kind of serious condition management. So, AXCM stays around for now.

If you really are using ABCM 1.0, I'd suggest an upgrade to AXCM. It will run on FM 7 and adds the ability to filter and color based on XPath expressions. The API/FrameScript interface is better too. And, it is still free.

Russ

U

UIspecsAuthor

Participant

Thanks Russ. What I have is actually called Sourcerer, but when I looked around online it looks like it no longer exists, or became ABCM... is that right?

What are the pros and cons of sticking with FM 7.2 versus upgrading to 8 or 9?

R

Russ Ward

Legend

Hi,

Sourcerer did become ABCM, although via a very windy path that is not worth the time to explain. Then, when the XPath side was added, it became AXCM because Attribute-Based Condition Management no longer sufficiently described its functionality.

For your upgrade question, I think the best reason to upgrade is that you are around 5 or 6 years out-of-date, which is a long time for software. If you plan to continue using FrameMaker, you will be forced to upgrade eventually, unless you also plan to use your current operating system forever as well. The longer you wait, the better the likelihood that the conversion of your old files could encounter a few blips.

I think your best bet is to get a hold of the release notes for the two versions and check out the new features yourself. It is too much for me to repeat here. Commonly, I think you'll hear that people like the Unicode support, built-in DITA, the multiple undo/redo, revision tracking, and the new FM9 interface goodies. There is lots more, though... a Google search will bring up plenty of info. Here's one link for FM8:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FrameMaker/8.0/help.html?content=Chap1-Getting-Started_14.html

Russ

Van Kurtz

Inspiring

I just started using AXCM with FrameMaker 9 and like it very much. I tried filtering a book by attribute using the feature in FrameMaker, and FrameMaker crashed.

ScottPrentice

Inspiring

Hi...

Yes .. FM9 does support attribute-based filtering, but the features in ABCM (now called AXCM and available for FM8/9) provides much more functionality than the built-in filtering. FM9 does provide some nice features, but this may not be the reason for you to upgrade.

...scott

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