Ancestoral Context in FrameMaker 2019

[jollydawg]

I am trying to create a context rule that basically says:

If you are inserting a FigureTitle into a Figure that is located in PgblkDESC (Highest-level element), and it is the first FigureTitle in that document, use paragraph format Figure0. If it’s not the first FigureTitle in that document, use paragraph format FigureTitleCont.

Attached is a clip of what I have currently that does not seem to be working. Anyone have any ideas why?

[Russ Ward]

Hi Jolly,

I don't see anything immediately wrong with your rules. Which paragraph format is actually being applied? That would be helpful to know. Also, note that there is a helpful tool under Structure > Show Element Context that may allow you to see exactly how your rules are being interpreted.

Russ

[Ian Proudfoot]

Hi Jollydawg,

The problem with the rules you have defined is due to a FrameMaker limitation.

The context {first} is testing whether the FigureTitle is the first child element of Figure. The other contexts are testing for when Figure is a descendant of either PgblkDESC or PgblkTEST.

The limitation with {first} is that it is only checking if the element is the first in its parent. So if there are other element preceeding it, the test fails. 

At a guess I would say you are working with ATA iSpec 2200 DTDs? In the past I have used scripting or FDK to add the missing context resolution capability to an EDD. Let me know if you want to know more about that.

I hope that helps a little?

Ian

[jollydawg]

Thanks Ian. I see now that I was misinterpreting the {first} context rule to be the first instance of FigureTitle within the Figure element instead of the first instance of ANY element within the Figure element. With the Anchor element already predefined as the first element in the General Rule for Figure, FigureTitle would never pass that test. When I removed the {first} SubRule the other context rules worked perfectly. Thanks for responding!

[jollydawg]

Thanks for responding Russ. Turns out it was the {first} SubRule that was causing the problem. I removed the SubRule and the rest works great.

[jollydawg]

Thanks for responding Russ. Turns out it was the {first} SubRule that was causing the problem. I removed the SubRule and the rest works great.

[Russ Ward]

Ah, and I see that I did miss how you said "the first FigureTitle in that document", so thanks to Ian for catching that.