Custom cell ruling in tables - can dotted lines be created/used

[Paul Marcomms]

Our company has introduced new rules for the design of our documentation and one of these rules states that the row and column dividing lines within tables must now be .5pt dotted lines.

FrameMaker 7.2's 'Custom Ruling and Shading' line options are very limited in this regard as there is no facility for selecting  or creating any form of dotted line. I can create just the style of line we need in a drawing package and add it to the reference pages for the document but the table Custom Ruling and Shading dialog box doesn't seem to use the information from the refence pages.

We have come up with a workaround of sorts for the horizontal dividing lines by placing a suitable graphic in the left-hand cell which then appears to straddle the whole table,  but we cannot think of any easy way to  make the vertical cell dividing lines  dotted.

Has any one else found a way around this limitation?

We could go to InDesign (which is what the company used to design the new templates) but structured FrameMaker has saved us a fortune in translating and re-laying out our documentation so we feel that 'downgrading' to InDesign is not really an option

[Johann_Haider]

Paul,

depending on the number and complexity of tables, this may or may not be a feasible workaround:

- set column ruling to "none",

- overlay each column border with a dotted, .5 pt graphics line,

- group these lines, so that you can easily adjust their length to the table height.

In case you do not find a suitable line style in the graphics tool box, you can define a new one (in the maker.ini file under [Dash Patterns]).

HTH,

Johann

[Arnis Gubins]

Paul,

If you click on the Edit Ruling Styles button in the Custom Ruling and Shading panel, you will get some options to allow you to control the line patterns.

In the subsequent Edit panel, you can select one of the 7 pre-defined pen fill patterns, that will give the line a dotted effect. You can also specify the line thickness. There may be a combination here that will get you closer to what you want.

I do think that extending this edit functionality to allow the pre-defined linetypes (where you can customize the dash patterns in the maker.ini) would be the best solution though. Something to add to the FM fetaure requests...

[andyhersham01]

Which version of FM is that? I'm running v10 and I can't see any options for selecting line style in the Customer Ruling edit panel

[Arnis Gubins]

You can specify a pen pattern to mimic a linestyle. There was no mention of directly selecting a linestyle:

[Bob_Niland]

You can also create the tables in a spreadsheet, then import them.

If using Apache OpenOffice or LibreOffice 'calc', it is trivial to Export Selections as PDF for import.

[FieryPantone]

Our company has introduced new rules for the design of our documentation and one of these rules states that the row and column dividing lines within tables must now be .5pt dotted lines. FrameMaker 7.2's 'Custom Ruling and Shading' line option …

In an ideal world, a corporate design choice would make sure the tools in use supported the design required – though I realise this observation won't actually help you solve the problem, and I do sympathise :-}

[Bob_Niland]

> In an ideal world, a corporate design choice would make sure the tools in use supported the design required

Heck, you usually count yourself lucky if they provide the incomprehensible new corporate font in a format that installs and renders correctly on your platform.

Apparently, you are unfamiliar with Art Directors, who like politicians, and to some extent architects, expect reality to conform itself to their Perfect Vision. ADs in particular seem to be yearning for media design awards, which in my experience tend to negatively correlate with actual product sales.

Reminds me of one of a series of radio ads (promoting radio ads) done by Stan Freberg some decades ago. In this one (from approximate memory - can't find on net) ...

... an ad copywriter (C) has expired and found himself, no surprise, in Hell.
Satan (S) greets him.

S: You know where you are, and why. Choose the form of your perpetual punishment.

C: What are the choices?

Sound of heavy door creaking open.
S: You can be repeatedly torn apart by dogs.
Next door opens.
S: You can boil in oil.
Next door opens.
S: Or you can spend eternity with an art director.

C: Is that oil real hot?

[andyhersham01]

OK you get the picture: lovely design brief from InDesign, but not easily workable in FM. Perhaps we should campaign for Graphic Design courses to include a Framemaker module

Question:  I'm working around this issue with a dotted rule underline paragraph style. Is there any way to regulate the dotted line pen setting, to create round dots and/or control the space between dots?

[Arnis Gubins]

The line patterns are defined in the maker.ini file:

[DashPatterns]

;---------------------- Dash Pattern Definitions -------------------------

1=Dash, 8, 6

2=Hidden, 4

3=Longdash, 16, 10

4=Dot, 2, 4

5=Dash-Dot, 12, 6, 2, 6

6=Dash-Dot-Dot, 12, 6, 2, 6, 2, 6

7=Chain, 12, 6, 6, 6

8=Phantom, 20, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

From the Maker 11 INI Reference:

Each dash pattern contains a label that identifies the dash pattern in the Dashed Line Options dialog box and a repeating series of dash and gap segment lengths. Dashes and gaps are measured in points. The following illustration shows a dashed line and its segment description. The line is made up of a 12-point dash, a 6-point gap, a 6-point dash, and another 6-point gap. This pattern repeats to draw a dashed line of any length.

If a dash pattern setting contains an odd number of segment lengths, the last dash value is repeated for the final gap. For example, the following setting describes a dash pattern with 4-point dashes and 4-point gaps:

2=Hidden, 4

The dash pattern label cannot contain spaces or punctuation marks.

[FieryPantone]

no run-ins with Art Directors, but I'll not easily forget the day an earlier employer changed name and logo … the new logo was a different shape, which meant updating the page design to accommodate it; the new 'corporate colour' was different, which meant updating all the styles that used it as a discreet highlight; the new name started with 'The …' and could no longer be used as an adjective – every occurrence of the {company} whatever had to be recast as the whatever of The company, or more creatively rewritten. I hear they've just changed the name again, but now it's somebody else's problem :-}