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Ian16B7
Inspiring
July 26, 2023
Question

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

  • July 26, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 719 views

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.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

I
Ian16B7Author
Inspiring
August 31, 2023

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
Jeff_Coatsworth
Community Expert
August 31, 2023

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).

frameexpert
frameexpert
Community Expert
July 26, 2023

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.

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