Framemaker 10 - DITA Image Linking - Sharepoint CMS

[MNLJoel]

Hello,

I am using Adobe Framemaker 10 with DITA. I am connected, through Framemaker, to a Sharepoint CMS.

I initially created my DITA concept locally, I then added an image (HRef) and linked it to a file on my Sharepoint CMS. Finally, I 'Uploaded the Active Document' to the CMS.

When I open the document from the Sharepoint CMS the image does not display. Right-clicking and selecting Properties shows that the reference file is in the AppData\Roaming directory.

How can I correctly link the image?

Kind Regards,

Joel

[absasenbury]

Joel,

I have a similar setup and encountered the same trouble when I started. I uploaded an image to SharePoint, added a fig element to my topic, and then chose the image in SharePoint for the image element. It appeared correctly initially, but when I closed and reopened the topic file, the image was replaced by a gray box. Does that describe the behavior you're seeing?

If so, my solution for it may be able to help you. When you use a SharePoint CMS, FrameMaker downloads a copy of any files that you open or check out to your AppData\Roaming directory. FrameMaker uses that local copy to resolve its references. Because of that, if you don't have a file open or checked out, you get dead links and gray boxes for images.

I was able to resolve the issue by turning versioning on in my SharePoint library and keeping the image file checked out while I work on the document. FrameMaker keeps a local copy in AppData\Roaming for as long as I have it checked out.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Alex

[David_Coe]

What version of SharePoint are both of you are using? FrameMaker 11 worked ok with SP2007 which is no longer available for me to  use; I have not been able to get SP2010 to work with FM11.

Thanks,

David Coe

[absasenbury]

David,

I'm using SharePoint 2010 with FrameMaker 10. Do you have the Full Control, Manage Lists, and Add and Customize Pages permissions on the site? FrameMaker adds a column to the Document content type, so the credentials that you are using to connect to the site will need to have the ability to modify content types.

Regards,

Alex Sasenbury

[David_Coe]

Yes, I do. I spent serveral weeks last spring/summer with my SP tech support and FM11 tech support with no success. Adobe, at the time, said the root cause was due to the new SP2010 claims-based authentication my office implemented vs Classic "windows"authentication that was used with SP2007. While I am not an expert on authentication modes, I don't believe their end analysis was accurate. One thing I noticed is that FM10/11 uses the local SP folder instead of directly to the SP server. While that worked fine with SP2007, SP2010 does not use the local draft folder very well. I suspect the new version broke how it uses the local draft folder. Several online searches at time confirmed that SP2010 had issues with the local draft folder. Now, due to a new contract requiring XML source and my BU purchased TCS4/FM11, I have figure out soon how to get SP2010 to work as an CMS or try to find another low-cost/free CMS.

Sorry for the long post, it still bothers me that I was not successful with SP2010 and FM11, their marketing hype that it integrates seamlessly with SharePoint as CMS was one of the criteria for purchasing their TCS in the frist place.

Anyway, it sounds like you got it work well. I would certainly appreciate if you could tell how to set it up so I can try it.

Thanks, David Coe

[absasenbury]

David,

Unfortunately, it seems like we might have too much variance between our systems for me to be of much help to you. Are you able to connect to your CMS at all?

Regards,

Alex Sasenbury

[David_Coe]

Yes, I can connect via FM CMS panel initially. Once I check it in and then check it out, the file is locked in the CMS panel for any future edits. I can edit the file fine outside of FM in SP and check it in and out but not in FM. The fuller explanation of that I went through is listed in another post at http://forums.adobe.com/message/4928459#4928459.    I am intrigued by your comment about FM adding a content type column and I will look into to see if it helps me find a resolution. Are there any other library settings, besides versioning, that I look at also?    Thanks, David Coe

[ScottPrentice]

I can't provide any information based on personal experience (never touched SharePoint), but might be able to point you in a direction that will help find the root of the problem.

DITA references (image, xref, conref, ...) should always be relative .. if not relative they should be absolute references that point to a file on a mounted drive using the drive letter (C:, D:, H:, ...). It's best if all files in a "project" (all files referenced within a map) are on the same drive .. it *might* work to reference files on another drive, but it's bad practice and will fail at some point.

In order for FrameMaker to resolve a reference, that file needs to be available at the specified file system location. If it's not there the reference will fail. When working with a CMS of any kind, you need to have all of the files (at least the ones that you expect to be referenced from any file you're working on) available on the "local" file system. If they aren't there, the reference will fail. A properly designed CMS connector/bridge will fetch the necessary files from the CMS and place them in the appropriate location on your local drive so the references will resolve. If you don't have a connector, then you have to do that yourself by making a temporary copy of all of the working files on your local drive.

Take a look at the @href attribute in the image element (you may need to do this using Notepad or some other text editor rather than in FrameMaker). Is the @href value pointing to a relative path, or is it pointing to some other path (possibly one that goes into the CMS)? When you insert a reference, you should always have the target file on your local file system so that the path points to the relative location for that reference rather than into the CMS or remote file system.

To be honest, I've never heard anyone talk about SharePoint as being a good CMS for use with DITA .. actually just the opposite. That's not to say it can't be done, but it is certainly not optimal. There are plenty of good DITA CMSes out there, and you might want to consider taking a look at those.

Good luck!

...scott

Scott Prentice

Leximation, Inc.

www.leximation.com

[Guest]

Joel's question is from January, but the answer may be to right-click the file in the Connector and select "Download dependents."  This will copy the referenced file from SharePoint to the Appdata\Roaming directory.