Yes, the first use causes the XSLT processor to load. I have tried for years to get a switch in the maker.ini so that the processor can be loaded on startup - depending on that switch - but so far there has not been any action on this from the developer team. I keep trying, as almost all of my applications are using XSLT and there is usually plenty time when FM is starting up - until the moment the user clicks on something that requires a transform. ... View more

It looks like there was some random Windows error, possibly caused by another component. I tried running the same client with a simple XSL and that worked. Retrying the original code then also worked. It was an alarming type of error message, but it looks like it was some false alarm in the end.  ... View more

Your company should invest in decent authoring tools. FM 10 is ancient (almost 12 years) and a LOT has happened since then. Don't play along with your management's underestimation of your value as technical authors. ... View more

You should be able to do this with FrameMaker. Look into the Hypertext marker syntax. You can place a Goto URL marker, which will turn into a hyperlink to the specified URL when you create PDF output. IMHO there is no need for Acrobat to make this work. ... View more

Have you set the superscript scaling to 100% ? If not, that might cause the slight downscaling of the underline. Just a thought... ... View more

I fail to understand why you would create an application from outside FM and then get it to connect to an FM session. Why not have the application started from inside an FM session. Maybe explaining a little bit about the planned workflow would help other app developers to come up with useful ideas. You Always Have Other Options. ... View more

At the beginning of your script, create a document object array in which you collect all applicable documents. Note that there may be visible or invisible documents in the current session which you do not want to mess with. So, at the start of your script, declare an array, then use a loop through all active document in the current session and check their names to see if they should be handled by your script. If so, add the document object to your documents array. Once you have all the Doc objects in the array you can start processing them. This is what I have been doing for a couple of decades and it always works like a breeze. ... View more

I am using .xml files. And I do have the read-write rules set up correctly. It seems FM has a serious bug and nobody is encountering it but me, as other XML standards like DITA use their own client code to repair what FM is doing wrong. It is either that or the documentation is incomplete (well, it is incomplete and even incorrect in many locations). I am surprised that nobody seems to have tried using cross-references in a custom XML schema. If anyone has done that, please share your knowledge here. ... View more

Thanks, Rick.   I missed the FS_PDFUseDistiller parameter (as the Save as PDF no longer uses that route) and had an error in the declaration of the return parameters array. After fixing those two issues it is working as intended. Now the only issue to solve is how to get to PDF/A-2a. It looks like I will have to do some Adobe Acrobat Pro scripting to automate that part of the workflow.   Kind regards   Jang ... View more

It is high time for me to get a call with the dev team, then. PDF/A-2a is being requested by pretty important potential customers (such as the European Union's Publication Office). ... View more

Thanks for the detailed information. The creation of PDF/A-2a in Acrobat Pro did not give any problems, as we make sure the FM PDF output is tagged (and the source is structured to start with). It is a shame that, even though the path to this PDF format is known (including the requirements), there is not even a chance to generate it. It should give the option and return an error if the requirements cannot be met. But I guess I need to get into Adobe Acrobat Pro scripting. ... View more

Hello Bob, I am using the Acrobat Pro route, but that involves another component and manual application of the changes. I am looking for a way to automate the process and even though there is scripting for Acrobat Pro, I would rather keep everything within one environment. If Acrobat Pro can create PDF/A-2a I do not see real reasons why FM would not be able to do this as well. I guess I will have to call a meeting with the dev team. ... View more

I have seen the PDF/A-2b job options. Looking for PDF/A-2a. There is quite a lot of variety in those standards, it seems. And there is no way I am going to get governmental bodies to adopt something other than they have decided for. They are about as flexible as a concrete wall. ... View more

It might be time to remove this post, or at least unpin it, as the conference is quite far in the past... ... View more

Hi Rick, I didn't know it was this easy. Funny that the complexer method via SetProps does not work - it just freezes FM. ... View more

I know. They have their very special own ideas about formatting - about a lot of stuff. It is kinda fun to be able to make Fm create all kinds of output, however silly it might look. I did earn my honorary title 'the Frame Tamer' by never giving up and always finding a way to make it all work. Remember the Yahoo acronym: You Always Have Other Options. ... View more

They - in this case the EU - do not demand any specific tool, just a very precise look of the finished documents. My client (their contractor) was using Arbortext with an ancient formatting package. I saved them from their constant stream of disasters by replacing Arbortext with FM. And of course pulling all possible tricks to make FM do what I want it to do. I have not yet failed in making anything work in FM. ... View more

Something in the anchored frame might be warping the numbering. Make sure to check the paragraph formats being used in the anchored frame. Make sure they do not have any numbering scheme set up. ... View more

My client needed to have the footnote number in superscript but enclosed in normal case brackets. FM does not offer any way to do this - either all footnote symbols (including the brackets) are superscripted or none - there is only one setting for the formatting of the entire footnote label. But as my client (the EU) does not take 'no' for an answer, I hijacked the FM footnote mechanism and created my own labels and set a custom format for the footnote numbering to show an empty string. In that way, I can number and style the footnotes however I want and still use FM to put them at the bottom of the page as desired. Of course this relies on either having an underlying XML structure that can be created/augmented using XSLT or a fairly simple ExtendScript to get the highest existing letter for a footnote label in the table and insert the next one. But I do agree with Klaus that numbering footnotes in any other order than normal reading order is NOT serving the reader of the document, who should be number 1 to serve with any content styling.  ... View more

It would be a design error to not include deleted content, as that content is contained in the section you are copying, only not currently shown due to your Track Changes settings. This fact is also consistent with the warning you get when you delete a selection that contains hidden content. In any case, it looks like at least some scripting would be required for your workflow. At least having a script that automatically accepts all tracked changes (which removes the deleted content) and then saves the file, possibly with another name, then copy the required text and paste it elsewhere. But it looks like scripting the text comparison inside FM would be much more efficient than using Excel as part of the workflow. In that case, it is easy enough to get just the visible text (that is just a couple of lines of ExtendScript code). ExtendScript supports regular expressions (at least to a certain level) so you would have the entire workflow running inside FM. ... View more

If you are using structured content, you can control the conditions via an attribute on the source and have that attribute also control the HTML5 styling by adding some lines to the CSS. ... View more

Publishing DITA can be done via the DITA-OT that is included in the FM package. In that case, you will need to adapt the processing that is included in that DITA-OT, which is not easy and will involve XSL-FO work - which a lot of developers find very hard to do. The other option is to use the FM route to create PDF (publishing via an FM book). In that case, you need to handle any additions to your editing template to the template that is used to create and publish the book. FM uses various templates for various purposes. These are identified in a ditaoutput.ini file that should be present in your AppData space. ... View more

I always use a separate TableAnchor format that holds no text. Just to make sure it does not show up at all I set the font color to white, font size 2pt (minimum for FM) and line spacing to 0 pt fixed. This causes the table to be right up against the top of the text frame. But you can also adapt the dimensions of the text frame on a landscape table page to allow for the extra space if needed. Note that the master page table may use the options Single (one page only) or Until Changed. If you expect tables that are bigger than one single page, you will have to use Until Changed and you will also need a paragraph format that starts on a new page after the table and triggers the normal portrait master page again. ... View more

Why don't you create a landscape masterpage and avoid having to insert a table in a text frame inside the text frame that holds your document content? It seems that the text frame inside the normal document content text frame is causing the confusion here. Is there a valid reason why you would not use a landscape page or have you not yet tried that? ... View more