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waynee45173993
waynee45173993
New Participant
May 12, 2017
Question

Can Framemaker 2017 use MIL-STD 40051-1C/2C?

  • May 12, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 3499 views

Hi all,

I have been a framemaker user for years on and off. I want to use the MIL-STD 40051-1C/2C DTD. How do I configure FM 2017 to use the dtd and stylesheets.

I have downloaded all required files from: https://pubsweb.redstone.army.mil/DTD-FOSI/Webpages-60/ALLDTDs-AMCOM.html I can't import or start using them. I don't even know if FM 2017 can use the mil spec style guide anymore. Can somebody help explain how I would go about using the mil spec structure to write technical manuals? I need work packages. PMCS, operator work packages. Please help! I am using the structures already built into framemaker. I am just not happy with the output. I want more of a military style workpage for maintenance procedures. I have used FM with this mil spec before, but somebody else had already configured FM to use mil spec as a template. So I am at a new company and want to produce nice technical manuals. I have searched the web and have found nothing all day, I tried various methods from other users to no avail. Please help.

Thank you!

Wayne Evans.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

BobWilliamsBristolRI
BobWilliamsBristolRI
New Participant
November 13, 2017

Mebbe a dumb Q - but don't any of these wizard small consulting firms have a set of 40051 templates / structured app fileset available for sale, license copies, et al?

Obviously large outfits with lots of writers may build/maintain these in-house, but it would seem a no-brainer (and a lucrative small biz consulting enterprise) to provide these for sale or license, no?

Any thoughts or POCs to those that might know?

I don't know about any of you folks working with DoD customers, but seems that virtually every new logistics contract requires XML deliverables for military tech manuals. Which means that for those of us with tons of legacy TMs done in Frame, it time to either do XML in Frame, or migrate to other platforms (XMetal, Oxygen, PTC, etc.)  Starting from scratch to home-build the attendant Frame template files / Structured app to do Mil-Std XML TMs in frame and output pretty PDF TMs is not exactly cost effective, n'est pas, mon amis?

So, who's got the list of experts that build/sell/license copies of the rock solid 40051 Frame templates?

Any/all insights greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Bob W, Bristol RI

    Ian Proudfoot
    Ian Proudfoot
    Brainiac
    November 13, 2017

    Bob,

    I have done this very thing for a customer in the past, but not for resale unfortunately.

    I would consider taking this on and supporting it as a commercial venture. I did the same thing many years ago for the ATA iSpec 2200 specification and ASD S1000D. Both implementations bear many similarities with 40051 and are still commercially available, but though another vendor.

    Perhaps we could discuss this offline? Send me a PM if interested.

    Best regards

    Ian

    B
    brianl92799565
    New Participant
    December 11, 2018

    I could sure use some insight to the structured app files for this spec. It seems one can create an EDD from the supplied DTD. I am really struggling with the read write rules file, however.

    Primarily, I am trying to get graphics to display.

    This is how a graphic is coded in the XML data:

    <!ENTITY ja23-0000 SYSTEM "Graphics\ja23-0000.tiff" NDATA TIF>
    ...
    <graphic boardno="ja23-0000"/>

    This is the DTD:

    <!ELEMENT graphic (mapref*)>
    <!ATTLIST graphic
    %graphicatt;
        hplace      (left | right | center | none )  #IMPLIED
        graphsty   NMTOKEN  #IMPLIED
        applicable IDREFS #IMPLIED
        %bodyatt;
    >

    EDD created in FM from above DTD, but an Element (Graphic) cannot have a General rule, mapref* (?):

    Element (Container): graphic
    General rule: mapref*
    Attribute list
    Name: boardno  String  Required
    Name: boardfile  String  Optional
    Name: reprowid  String  Optional
    Name: reprodep  String  Optional
    Name: unitmeasure  Choice  Optional
    Choices: mm | cm | px | in | pt | pi
    Default: in
    Name: hscale  String  Optional
    Name: vscale  String  Optional
    Name: scalefit  Choice  Optional
    Choices: yes | no
    Name: alt  String  Optional
    Name: hplace  Choice  Optional
    Choices: left | right | center | none
    Name: graphsty  String  Optional
    Name: applicable  ID References  Optional
    Name: inschlvl  Choice  Optional
    Choices: 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |

    27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 |

    55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 |

    83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99
    Default: 0
    Name: delchlvl  Choice  Optional
    Choices: 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |

    27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 |

    55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 |

    83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99
    Default: 0
    Name: comment  String  Optional
    Name: changeref  ID References  Optional
    Name: idref  ID References  Optional
    Name: assocfig  ID References  Optional
    Name: skilltrk  String  Optional
    Name: security  Choice  Optional
    Choices: uc | fouo | c | s | ts

    I've tried the following in RW rules file:

    element "graphic" {
      is fm graphic element;
      attribute "boardno" {
      is fm property entity;
      is fm attribute;
      }
    }

    element "graphic" {
      is fm graphic element "graphic";
      attribute "boardno" is fm property file;
      attribute "entityref" {
        is fm peroperty entity;
        is fm attribute;
      }
    }

    Thanks for any assistance.

    Ian Proudfoot
    Ian Proudfoot
    Brainiac
    May 12, 2017

    Hi Wayne,

    There's good and bad news for you. Yes FrameMaker can be configured to use the MIL-STD 40051-1C/2C DTD. However the supplied stylesheets are in FOSI and XSL-FO formats, neither of which are supported by FrameMaker.

    To achieve the required output formatting will require the development of a FrameMaker EDD. I have done this for MIL 40051 in the past so I can confirm that it can be a significant undertaking. FrameMaker provides all of the tools that you need but you may prefer to hire the services of a FrameMaker developer.

    The development steps are:

    1. Analyse the DTD and create FrameMaker Read/Write rules.
    2. Create a new EDD by importing the 40051 DTD
    3. Test the import/export to ensure valid XML.
    4. Optionally create XSLT stylesheets to map incompatible structure to FrameMaker objects.
    5. Retest the XML import/export.
    6. Add the formatting rules to the EDD.
    7. Stand back and admire your work!

    I hope that helps

    Ian

    techpubchick
    techpubchick
    New Participant
    July 31, 2017

    Ian,

    Do you know of any training that would be helpful to take on this task?

    Regards,

    Jane

    jbuenger
    jbuenger
    New Participant
    August 11, 2017

    Tech Comm Tools will be publishing a book you may find helpful.

    http://www.techcommtools.com/books/

    Regards,

    Jeanette

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