inch/mm units in EDD generated from template

Report · Oct 16, 2009

I have templates with indents/tabs etc. originally defined in mm, but when I export the element catalog as EDD, indents/tabs etc. in the generated EDD are defined in inches. (This is in FM9)

The Display Units in View Options is set to mm, but even changing this to other settings has no effect.

In FM8, the units in the generated EDD are in mm as expected.

Is there a preference setting somewhere that i am missing?

Report · Oct 19, 2009

Harry,

My testing in FM 8 has the units exported in inches with that version as well. I don't believe there is a setting to control the units. Of course, since an EDD is a structured document, you could save it as XML, use XSLT to convert the units, and open the result back to FrameMaker.

--Lynne

Report · Oct 26, 2009

Thanks for your reply Lynne.

I appreciate your input, but the process you described is a pretty complex alternative for something that my version of FM8 already does.

Report · Oct 27, 2009

My two cents...

Maybe I am missing the point, but any changes in formatting, such as setting tabs, done in a template will not be included in the exported EDD. The exported EDD contains the structure definitions and any formatting done by the EDD. The latter comes from the EDD IMPORTED into the template, not from anything one changes in the template.

Thus, in my mind, about the only reason to export the EDD from a template is if one has a template from another source for which one does not have the original EDD, OR one has lost the original EDD. Once you have an EDD, changing the inches to mm is a one-time thing. Once done, it is THAT EDD in which changes are made and which is imported into any new or updated templates.

So, it may be a complex thing to do, to get the inches back to mm, but it should be a one-time thing.

If I am missing something different about your workflow, please clarify.

Thanks,

Van

Report · Oct 27, 2009

Thanks again for your input.

We have a number of developers that work with these templates, so to ensure that the EDD is the latest version, it is a general rule that the EDD be exported from the template before making modifications. (We have had cases where the latest EDD was not forwarded together with the latest version of the template.) So we basically export the EDD each time the template needs to be modified, which means that converting the inches back to mm is not a one-time thing.

The EDD settings were originally made in mm and then imported to the template, but when I export the EDD from the template in FM9, these settings are all in inches.

The Display Units in View Options is set to mm, so any indents/tabs etc. appear in mm in dialog boxes for documents generated using the template.

But, for example, an indent set to 15.0 mm in the EDD becomes 0.59055" when the EDD is exported.

Report · Oct 27, 2009

I am probably beating a dead horse, but...

You say...

so to ensure that the EDD is the latest version

I infer from this that there is ONE EDD. I assume that when you make changes to the EDD, you make them to the one current (latest) EDD. If this is true, then I suggest maintaining the EDD as an EDD, a document separate from the template. When you send out a template to a developer, simply import this EDD into the template to make sure the developer has the current EDD.

You also go on to say...

it is a general rule that the EDD be exported from the template before making modifications

My question is to what are you making the modifications? If you are exporting the EDD and then modifying the exported EDD to make it current, then you are repeating what you have presumably already done on the "latest EDD" you mentioned in the first quote. In other words, there is no need to export the EDD, fix it to make it current, and then reimport it back into the template. If there is one current EDD maintained as a separate document, you need only import it into the template to make the template's EDD current.

If the developers themselves are modifying the EDD, then it would seem you will end of with several EDDs, in which case, I suggest a modification of the above, one that maintains EACH EDD as an EDD document separate from the templates.

IF I am still missing something required by your workflow, you can always leave the measurements in the exported EDD in inches. If those numbers do NOT need to be modified, then leave them in inches. Any modifications can be done in mm. When the EDD is imported back into the template, the user can set his preferences to mm, and the inches will be displayed in mm, even though the EDD lists them in inches. (Caveat: I am not absolutely sure about this because I have not tested it; but it makes sense that it would work this way. Famous last words.)

Van