Structured FrameMaker conditional text

Report · Feb 06, 2014

Hello,

I have a problem with Conditional text in Structured FrameMaker.

I have to use conditional text for different customers. I have to use the same content and should get displayed for the particular customer when I publish that particular customer. It is more or less product conditioning.

How do I deal with it.

Please give me the solution at the earliest.

Thanks,

Srilakshmi

Report · Feb 07, 2014

Hi Srilakshmi,

You can use regular conditional text with structured FM, although it is obsolete and difficult to use. An additional complication with structured FM is that conditions should not span element boundaries, which is something you would have to manage manually.

I have a plugin that allows you to use attribute values and/or element tags as conditions, as a replacement for native conditional text. It is designed to leverage the markup for what markup is designed. It is free:

http://www.weststreetconsulting.com/WSC_AXCM.htm

If you are looking for further assistance with native conditional text, I'd have to refer you to the user documentation for FM. It's all in there.

Russ

Report · Feb 09, 2014

Hello Russ,

Thanks for the reply.

I just want to explain you my requirement.

I have 3 different customers: Customer 1, Cusotmer 2 and Customer 3.

I have content for all the 3 customers. I want to publish the document using the conditional text for each customer.

How do I add the 3 conditions in DTD and how do I take it forward to get the documents.

I request you to reply at the earliest.

Thanks,

Srilakshmi

Report · Feb 10, 2014

Srilakshmi,

I'm not sure what more I can tell you, because I'm not sure what exactly your question is. You can use native, unstructured conditional text for this, but the application and management would be all manual. That is, it would have no explicit relationship to the markup. Alternatively, you can apply conditions by assigning attribute values, perhaps by defining a "customer" attribute in your EDD/DTD. If you do that, you'll need to either:

- Use FM's "filter-by-attribute" feature to publish the content you want. This feature works at a very basic level, but is not ready for any serious, heavy-duty condition management.

- Use the plugin I mentioned

- Write your own script/plugin to manage content based on attribute values.

Does that help at all? If you are looking for detailed instructions beyond that, you'll need to see proper documentation set.

Russ