How can I utilize FrameMaker Markers in RoboHelp HTML 8?

[I_am_Sammy_Spencer]

I am new to RoboHelp HTML 8, though I have used FrameMaker for years. Furthermore, I used to use WebWorks as my multi-channel conversion tool.

One thing that was nice about WebWorks is that I could specify attributes (almost like metadata) for objects in FrameMaker which WebWorks would recognze in the conversion process. For example, I could create a custom marker type called "Graphic," and then type in the "Marker" dialog box "Large."  In WebWorks, I would specify that a marker of the type "Graphic" with the content "Large" implied that a screen shot was to be reduced by 25%.  In short, I could do a lot of custom work in FrameMaker using markers.

Aside from how RoboHelp HTML uses FramMaker markers for contents, index, and glossary entries, how else can I leverage markers (then tell RoboHelp what those marker types mean), so that I can do more of my work on the FrameMaker side and less of it on the RoboHelp side?

Thank you very much in advance.

Most sincerely,

Sammy Spencer

[Mayank_Agrawal]

RoboHelp very well supports this workflow where you can place a marker in the FrameMaker content, and the marker is brought to RoboHelp content as a PI(Processing Instruction). The marker can be placed anywhere in the content except for inside an anchored frame. The standard markers(e.g. Glossary, Index) have a different meaning and are treated differently by RoboHelp. They are not imported as PI. However, any user defined marker is imported to RoboHelp.

These markers present in RoboHelp topic can then be identified and processed further thorough RoboHelp scripting to build up several custom functionalities.

You can refer my blog post http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2009/06/scripting_for_tcs_unleashed.html#more-145 for further details.

[michael_hunsberger]

I know this is an old thread, but I checked out that blog post for an issue I am having in RH 10.

Here is the code I have in my RH topic imported from FM 11:

<p class="Body"><?rh-marker name="Graphic" text="replace=true"?><img alt="Home Page"

id="image0" src="Home.png" style="margin-top: 1pt;" width="641"

height="359" border="0" />&#160;</p>

However, the script in the blog post is not pulling in the new Home.png image I placed in the /Images folder within the project. Any ideas? It would be really helpful if I could get this to work so I don't have to break my single-sourcing workflow to manually add images back in.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Did you update the path to the images in the script before running it?

[michael_hunsberger]

Thanks Jeff,

No, I just named my folder the same thing as in the script (Images) to avoid complications.

I also tried resizing using the "Resize=150" example, but that didn't seem to work either...

I should have mentioned I am using TCS 4, so maybe that is part of my problem.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Hmm...without looking at the script, it appears from the blog post that you need to edit it to indicate the path to the images folder.

[michael_hunsberger]

This is what was in the script at the beginning:

/* Update these variables as required */

var imagePath = "/Images";  //Image folder path relative to the project folder

var graphicMarker = "Graphic";  //FM marker type

So I figured if I put a new, identically-named, larger image in a new "Images" folder at the project level, it would be able to find it. I guess I don't know enough about scripting yet... I'll do some trial and error stuff as Matt suggested and report back if I can get it to work.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

Update the markers in FM to result in the appropriate path... you likely need to use \ codes in the FM markers to get the proper characters to appear in the final RH code. It takes a little practice and trial/error.