Framemaker XML export/conversion

[mgc5985]

Hi,

I am trying to use Framemaker 2017 to edit s1000d data modules that were originally created in a different program.  When we use the WYSIWYG view to edit and make pdfs, Framemaker re-structures portions of the document with it's own tags, such as <fm.graphic>, <fm.title>. I'm assuming this is from using the built-in structured applications (such as S1000D_description_401, etc.) to compose the document.

However, the xml file is now useless to us, as these "fm" tags cannot be read in our customer's CSDB. Unfortunately we had done significant work on the files before realizing this.

Is there an easy way to export a "clean" xml file from Framemaker without the "fm" tags?  Or perhaps to un-apply the structured application?

Thanks!

MG

[Ian Proudfoot · Accepted solution]

Hello MG, I hope I can help.

The fm tags you see should only be present in the FrameMaker environment and should not make it into the final export XML.

How are you saving the data modules to XML? You should be using the S1000D > Save As S1000D... command.

If you are doing that, but the data module is invalid, FrameMaker saves the data module without applying the export XSL transformation. Of course that's no use to anyone, so it's why we provided the ability to prevent the saving of invalid XML.

In the S1000D Options dialog switch to the General tab. Make sure that the Do not export invalid XML option is checked. Now if you use the Save As S1000D option it will not save the XML if it is invalid. You can also enable the Post XSLT validation of XML on export which will validate the final output so that you will know that the output is valid and will be accepted by your customer's CSDB.

If your data module is shown as valid, but still does not export due to a validation error I would need to look at the file to see what's going on.

Please note that on recent versions of FrameMaker the XML View does not show the correct S1000D XML. This is a FrameMaker bug that was reported earlier this year.

[mgc5985]

Thanks Ian!  This makes sense - a validation error probably prevented the xml from exporting correctly. We will work on correcting the errors and then using the features you described.

Will future versions of Framemaker display the correct S1000D XML?  Or will the current versions be updated?

- MG