How do ditafm-output.ini and .STS files work together when publishing a PDF?

[Ian16B7]

I have inherited a documentation project that uses FM2020, structured authoring with DITA 1.3.

We have a customized 'ditafm-output.ini" file as well as customized .STS settings file. I am trying to understand which changes that were made in these two files actually matter, which means understanding how these different settings are used/applied. When I look at the settings in these two files, there appears to be a certain amount of overlap. For example, in the .STS file, the DITA Options tab lists about 10 items, all of which I "think" appear also in the .INI file.

Which file's settings are used under which conditions?

NOTE: the instructions we follow to generate a PDF are to use File > Publish and then select the correct Settings File, select PDF and then click the Generate Selected Output button.

I have tried searching/reading the various Framemaker help files, but have not found an explanation yet.

[frameexpert]

I hope you get some good answers to this, particularly from Adobe. I have been working with these for several years and still don't know how it's all supposed to work. The .sts files are basically zip archives that contain the templates. In my opinion, Adobe should have stayed with an XML model for these settings, like the structapps.fm structured file. Using zip archives and ini files make the process more complicated than it should be.

[Ian16B7]

I emailed Adobe directly to get some clarification, the following were their responses:

• "The settings mentioned under DITA option in Sts files are honored while generating pdf. The same settings are honored from ditafm-output.ini only when saving ditamap as book with components."

I then pointed out that in their user documentation "Adobe FrameMaker INI Reference (2020)" appears to contradict that statement, because there is the following:

• "There is an option in ditafm-output.ini "SavePDFViaRoute" which states the following:
  • When set to 0, generates a compound .fm document and then a PDF
  • When set to 1, generates a book and then a PDF. Use this option when you need book components,
    such as index, ToC, and title page, in your output."

So I queried them explicitly about this option and their response was:

• "SavePDFViaBookRoute This flag has no importance and the settings is governed using STS only"

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I would suspect that that line only applies to PDFs created using the older Distiller route (both Save As and Publish use the new PDF creator).

[Andy38108926n5yf]

Have we get any updates regarding working with ditafm-output.ini? I could really use the toc section. I've been testing publishing PDF straight from the DITA bookmap, and looks like the .ini file doesn't get applied at all, and neither saving the XML bookmap into book with FM components.

[Ian16B7]

After getting the reply from Adobe (i.e. the one that I posted above), I did some testing using FM2020. I confirmed that for the settings I am using (see image below),  when the same setting exists in both the .STS and the ditafm-output.ini file, then the one in the .STS is used. However, not all settings exist in both places. So some of the settings in the datafm-output.ini will be used.

[Andy38108926n5yf]

I need to apply [BookWithFM-TOC] paratags for excluding some lower level headings, which is not available through .STS. Yet, the published TOC in the PDF still won't follow my directives.

[frameexpert]

Does the book get saved after the PDF is generated? If so, you could right-click on the TOC in the book and choose Set up Table of Contents, where you can eliminate the lower level headings from the TOC. Update the book and make another PDF.

[Andy38108926n5yf]

Hi Rick, 

Thank you for your response.

1. During earlier attempts, I didn't save anything, just publish it straight to PDF. When I do it this way, there's no way to modify the TOC entries, but I still could format the indentation etc.

2. I eventually make the stopgap measure and export the ditamap into book with FM components, as you suggested now. This way I can manually edit out the entries, but the indentation from toctpl.fm doesn't applied - weird behavior. Is there another place where FM keep the indentation template?

3. I also have difficulty with watermarks, since all of the JPGs and PNGs are just gray boxes in the PDF. The only way watermarks published correctly is to publish single topic.

These problems are holding us back to choose FM for our DITA migration.