Global Update Options for cross reference formats

[ZeBarron]

I have been using Adobe FrameMaker (ver 7-9) for some years, but still find it strange I cannot perform a Global Update that would allow me to switch from one cross reference type (name and format) to another throughout a file, or even better an entire book.

Why would I like to do this? Well, because I feel it would be a lot easier to maintain documents in those cases where I need to apply a new template. Especially in those cases where you are reworking older files that needs to fit into your WebHelp output (generated using RoboHelp). If this was possible I would have a lot less manual updates/maintenance to do.

Is this a missing feature, or am I missing something?

[Michael_Müller-Hillebrand]

Ze,

You want a find change operation for cross-reference formats, and you can get it here (with similar operations for other named objects):

http://frameexpert.com/plugins/findchangespecial/index.htm

- Michael

[ZeBarron]

Hah! Why Adobe, why? If someone can sell this solution for $30-300 surely it would be better if it was available in FrameMaker by default.

Just got feedback from Rick at Carmen Publishing that their "handy" tool does not support FramMaker versions 9 or later. They have a script solution for later versions.

Are there no other options ... for free maybe?

[Arnis Gubins]

ZeBarron,

There is a manual approach that could be done using MIF files.

The first step is to get the new definition into the Cross-Reference catalog. This can be be done via the regular cross-reference setup to update your template or you can create a MIF snippet (a tiny, self-contained MIF file) that holds the new format. An example of such a snippet would look something like this:

<MIFFile 9.00> # Created by me

<XRefFormats

<XRefFormat

  <XRefName `myNewXref Defintion'>

  <XRefDef `<$paratext\> on page <$pagenum\>'>

> # end of XRefFormat

> # end of XRefFormats

# End of MIFFile

You can then import this file info all file at the Book level to add the definiton or use the updated template approach. If you want to do a true swap of formats, then to get rid of the old defintion, you would need to use utility like ElectroPubs CleanImport (shareware) available at: http://www.electropubs.com/downloads.html

In the MIF files of your book, you need to use a text editor to a global  Search & Replace on the xref tagname that you want to update. The format to change used in the text flows will be:

    <XRefName `myOldDefintion'>

So you need to replace the 'myOldDefintion' with  'myNewXrefDefintion' (or whatever you called it).

To quickly convert all of your files (in a book) to MIF, you can either use the demo version of mif2go from Omni Systems (available at: http://www.omsys.com/dcl/download.htm#Mif2Go_Downloads ) or use Adobe's robomif utility available at:

http://www.adobe.com/support/robohelp/misc.html ot direct link is:

http://download.macromedia.com/pub/robohelp/files/downloads/htmlhelp/robomif.zip

To place a request for a new feature, please use the Adobe wishforms. The FM direct one is at:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=63

You can also make the suggestion in the FrameMaker Feature Requests forum at: http://forums.adobe.com/community/framemaker/framemaker_feature_requests

[peter minneapolis]

ZeBarron wrote:

Hah! Why Adobe, why? If someone can sell this solution for $30-300 surely it would be better if it was available in FrameMaker by default.

Just got feedback from Rick at Carmen Publishing that their "handy" tool does not support FramMaker versions 9 or later. They have a script solution for later versions.

Are there no other options ... for free maybe?

As always, I accept anything Arnis suggests as valid. As sometimes, I add something.

To change almost any importable format, without "coding," you can create a FrameMaker file with only the format(s) you want to change (or) add, and import it to the file(s) or book you want to change.

In this case, to change a cross-reference format

* Create a new FrameMaker file to use as the source of your changed cross-reference format.

* In the Cross-Reference panel or dialog box, click Edit Format.

* In the Edit Cross-References dialog box, delete all the cross-reference formats you don't want to import, leaving the ones you want to change and import. 

* Redefine the cross-reference you want to change, then click Change.

NOTE: If you need to create the name of a format that exists in the destination file, but not in this source file, type its name EXACTLY as it appears in the destination file, or copy and paste it in the Name text box, click Add.

NOTE: If you want to create a new format and not import any of the existing formats, create the new one first, then delete all the others - deleting all formats may cause problems (just guessing, not proven by testing.)

* Click Change to lock in the changes, and click Done to exit the dialog box.

* Save the source file with an informative name.

* In the destination file, save before proceeding, then open File > Import > Formats, select the source document, deselect all the categories you want to ignore, and import - for this example - cross-reference formats.

The cross-reference format definition in the destination document will change and the instances where the format is applied will also change.

NOTE: Importing to files in a book works the same way. Save all files in the book before proceeding with, by using Shift+File > Save All Files in Book, from within the book window. Open all files you want to import to. Saving before any operation that changes content is always a good idea, because the changes are unsaved, therefore they're undoable with File > Revert to Saved; this works even with commands that can't be undone. Operations that change content in closed files open, change, save, and close those files, and can't be undone.

You might want to create a really naked template for such operations, and clone new copies for changing components that can't otherwise be changed.

I believe the legendary TemplateMapper commercial FrameMaker utility from cudspan can do these things, many at one time. Search Google for terms like "cudspan template mapper" for contact info.

With the ExtendScript Tool Kit addition to FrameMaker 10, you may want to look into writing scripts for this kind of work, or poll folks on the list if there are scripts already made with it, that do what you need.

HTH

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

[Michael_Müller-Hillebrand]

ZeBarron wrote:

Are there no other options ... for free maybe?

ZeBarron,

We all know that just reading and writing all those messages exceeds the $30 for the plug-in. Rick maybe over-cautious, but I use and can recommend FindChangeSpecial to cleanup documents with FrameMaker 9 on a regular basis, and it even handles formats with umlaut characters. As far as I am concerned this means it is compliant enough for most users. If you xref format names are built from Cyrillic or Devanagari characters, well…

If you use it for a single document it even presents a drop-down field with the existing names. Great! Super usability!

Either give Rick the well-deserved $30 or wait until Adobe adds it to the product or experiment (aka as "possibly waste your time") with whatever other solution someone comes up. For me $30 is unbeatable.

- Michael

[ZeBarron]

Rick from Carmen Publishing provided me with help that I will check out. The FindChangeSpecial "app" is not supported by FM versions 9 and later; hence, he gave me a "batch" file with a script he named FindChangeFormatsBatch to test. It costs $80 for a site license and will be worth it if it works as expected.

Once all this FM stuff is done I can finally start to think about DITA!

[Lynne A. Price]

It's a little indirect, but to change all occurrences of a cross-reference format from one name (say xxx) to a new name (say yyy) within one document:

1) In the cross-reference window, click Edit Format.

2) In the Name text box in the resulting Edit Cross-Reference Format dialog box, replace xxx with yyy.

3) Click Change.

Unfortunately, this technique does not work for a book.

         --Lynne

P.S. While I too have a long list of simple enhancements to FM that I very much wish Adobe would add, I am delighted that FM does provide the tools that allow 3rd parties to develop plug-ins and scripts that can provide many such features.