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stitchsds
Known Participant
March 16, 2022
Question

Using a DITA otherprops attribute in the footer

  • March 16, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 821 views

I'm trying to insert the "otherprops" DITA attribute into the footer of my FrameMaker template master first page. It seems like the format for the variable should be <$attribute[otherprops]>, but that isn't working. 

 

What am I missing? I'm not seeing an example of a DITA attribute format in any discussion or example that I can find.

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    3 replies

    4everJang
    4everJang
    Legend
    March 31, 2022

    Publishing DITA can be done via the DITA-OT that is included in the FM package. In that case, you will need to adapt the processing that is included in that DITA-OT, which is not easy and will involve XSL-FO work - which a lot of developers find very hard to do.

    The other option is to use the FM route to create PDF (publishing via an FM book). In that case, you need to handle any additions to your editing template to the template that is used to create and publish the book. FM uses various templates for various purposes. These are identified in a ditaoutput.ini file that should be present in your AppData space.

    Matt-Tech Comm Tools
    Community Expert
    Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 31, 2022

    So, to summarize what Jang and I have suggested, choose from the following options, based on your ability to customize the output templates used in each:

    • Use the ditamap to create PDF via the Publish panel or Print dialog
    • Use File > Save Ditamap as to save the map as Book 2020, then Publish or Print
    • Use File > Save Ditamap as to save the map as Book 2020 with fm components, then Publish or Print
    • Use Structure > DITA > Generate DITA-OT Output 
    -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
    S
    stitchsdsAuthor
    Known Participant
    March 24, 2022

    Does anyone else have any ideas? How do I specify the otherprops from the map attributes? There are no other topics or objects using "otherprops".

    Matt-Tech Comm Tools
    Community Expert
    Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 24, 2022

    Lots of elements are "using" otherprops, but the attribute value is null. That's ultimately what's being displayed, per the Running H/F variable on the master page. The trick is to get the correct otherprops populated, or modify your content and templates to store (and pull) the info from another location.

    -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
    S
    stitchsdsAuthor
    Known Participant
    March 30, 2022

    I assigned an otherprops value to every topic in my test DITA map and the output in the running footer remained blank, so I don't know where the blank value could be coming from or even if I have the correct format to display it.

     

    I need the PDF output to pull only the otherprops from the map. No other topic in our entire repository is using otherprops.

     

    So far the only way I can think to get a document part number to print out in the PDF is to create a concept that is added to the end of every map that contains that document's part number and revision level. And to insert a manually created barcode for the part number into every document.

    Matt-Tech Comm Tools
    Community Expert
    Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 17, 2022

    Not sure what you're missing. 

    I edited my Running H/F to use that exact <$attribute[otherprops]> string and it worked fine for me in an open reference topic.

    It may be that your definition is actually working...Do you have an ancestor to your element with otherprops that doesn't have any content specified in otherprops?

    -Matt

     

     

     

     

    -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
    S
    stitchsdsAuthor
    Known Participant
    March 17, 2022

    The "otherprops" attribute is assigned in the map level. Does that change how I have to reference it?

    S
    stitchsdsAuthor
    Known Participant
    March 17, 2022

    We're using "otherprops" to hold the document's part number and "rev" to hold the revision. What I'm trying to do next in the outputs and have the document part number print in the footer of the first page of the PDF output in the format of: 123456 Rev. A

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