DLindsay
Participant
DLindsay
Participant
Activity
‎Mar 11, 2019
11:48 AM
Did you import the updated EDD into the templates? For task.edd, you want these changes to apply to the task.template.fm file. So: Open task.template.fm and task.edd.fm. Use File > Import > EDD to import the task.edd.fm into the template file. Save the template file into its original location. Now when you open a task you should see the effect of the changes you made.
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‎Mar 06, 2019
01:39 PM
Yes, you apply one template to the whole lot, but that template can include multiple table styles. (You can have a different template for appendices - this could be another option to look at.) My situation isn't quite the same, but I think you could achieve your desired result by applying a table/object style that spans two columns. I think you could get the style to apply based on a parameter set in the table element / image element. You may have to dig into the EDD to get the style to automatically apply. I have different table styles applying based on how indented I want a table to be and control this based on whether I have the table in a step vs substep. Sometimes it screws up and then I manually reapply the correct style just before publishing.
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‎Mar 06, 2019
07:46 AM
Hi Winfried, I only have acrobat reader, not acrobat pro, and it does not include this option. Is there no way to set it in FrameMaker? The PDFs I generate in Word that contain titles show the title by default, I would like the FrameMaker generated PDFs to do the same. Thanks for your help! Kat
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‎Mar 05, 2019
11:12 AM
I usually save the text I want to reuse as a <ph> element in a DITA file that I store in a folder titled 'reuse'. You can use a <p> element if you prefer, I just find <ph> more flexible in where I can insert it later. Make sure the element has an ID defined. To do this select the element, then from the Structure menu > Assign ID to element. Save the file and keep it open. Now, in the file you want the paragraph to appear: Insert > Conref In the file settings dropdown choose the reusable file with the text you want. All the elements in that file that have IDs assigned will appear in the list below. Choose the element you need. Click Insert. You can repeat this process in the other file you want the text to appear in, pulling from the same reusable file. Note that the reusable file must be open in order to show up in the drop down list.
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‎Mar 05, 2019
11:01 AM
Not sure if you still need this answer, but in case someone else is wondering the same thing: In the ditafm-output.ini file (for FM 2019) there's a section called BookWithFM-AppendixMatter. You can specify a template here which presumably gets applied to the appendix components of your bookmap file when you 'save as book with components', then 'save as PDF'. The file is here: ....Program Files\Adobe\Adobe FrameMaker 2019\fminit (probably on your C drive) and here: ....AppData\Roaming\Adobe\FrameMaker\15 (I type %APPDATA% to find the app data folder then work down) I make changes the same changes in both locations to make it work. I haven't tried this for the appendix section, but that's how I control the templates for my other book sections. Hope it helps! Kat
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‎Mar 05, 2019
10:46 AM
I suspect these settings in the ditafm-output.ini file will control that for you. Have you tried this? Kat
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‎Mar 05, 2019
10:40 AM
Nope.
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‎Mar 05, 2019
10:39 AM
I want to be able to set the text that appears in the title tab for PDFs when they open, and have this text be different to the filename. How do you do this? Ideally I want a way to populate this field based on the bookmap file I start from, second best would be from imported variables. I'm just not sure what to set (in Word the Title property controls it, but manually setting File info > Title, then doing save as PDF from an fm file didn't work, so I'm confused), and how to make that apply to the final PDF... Help appreciated Kat
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‎Jan 23, 2019
07:35 AM
Thank you Amitoj! I hadn't come across bookmaps before, but I see the section in the user guide now and it looks like they'll be really helpful.
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‎Jan 22, 2019
02:45 PM
Hi! I noticed a new section in the ini file from the last time I updated FM 2019. I would love to use it to include a revision history page in my generated books. Is there any guidance on how to do so? Thanks! For reference: [BookWithFM-FrontMatter] Template=RevisionHistoryTpl.fm < - I ADDED THIS TEMPLATE FILE ChapterNumbering=Restart ;ChapterNumberingFirst=Restart|Continue|ReadFromFile|UseSame ChapterNumberingValue=1 ChapterNumberingText= ChapterNumberingFormat=Numeric ;ChapterNumberingFormat=Numeric|Roman_UC|Roman_LC|Alpha_UC|Alpha_LC|Kanji|Zenkaku|Zenkaku_UC|Zenkaku_LC|Kanji_Kazu|Daiji|Text|FullWidth|FullWidth_UC|FullWidth_LC|Chinese_Numeric PageNumbering=Continue ;PageNumbering=Restart|Continue|ReadFromFile PageNumberingValue=1 PageNumberingFormat=Numeric ;PageNumberingFormat=Numeric|Roman_UC|Roman_LC|Alpha_UC|Alpha_LC|Kanji|Zenkaku|Zenkaku_UC|Zenkaku_LC|Kanji_Kazu|Daiji|FullWidth|FullWidth_UC|FullWidth_LC|Chinese_Numeric Pagination=SingleSided ;Pagination=DoubleSided|SingleSided PageRounding=DeleteEmpty ;PageRounding=MakeEven|MakeOdd|DontChange|DeleteEmpty FirstPageSide=NextAvailable ;FirstPageSide=ReadFromFile|NextAvailable|Left|Right ExcludeFromGeneratedLists=1
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‎Dec 06, 2018
08:59 AM
Thanks Amitoj. I first saw the problem in FM 2017, but am now using FM 2019, version 15.0.1.430. What's the best way to share files with you? Kat
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‎Nov 29, 2018
01:34 PM
I get round that by choosing save as, saving the file somewhere else, then copying and pasting the file back into the original location. Alternatively you can right click on FrameMaker in the start menu and choose More > Run as administrator and then you can probably save the files directly. It's no trouble - I've been figuring this out quite recently and ask my share of questions too.
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‎Nov 29, 2018
01:25 PM
I would really appreciate a solution to this if one exists - does anyone know? I'm just having to reorganise my content to move the links out of the reused sections at the moment. Thanks!
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‎Nov 29, 2018
01:15 PM
OK, after you've edited the task.eddmod.fm file, open task.edd.fm then click Edit > Update References to pull in the changes. Save task.edd. Then open task.template.fm and click File > Import > EDD and choose task.edd. Save the template. (Of course backup the files before you change them in case something breaks. Also, you can either run FM as an administrator to be able to save the files directly or save them somewhere else and copy them back into the normal location.) Now if you click File > New > DITA > task, you'll see that the context label is gone. These changes affect how dita files are displayed within FrameMaker. However they don't affect how anything is published - the next steps fixed the output for me: Open composite.edd.fm (it's here: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe FrameMaker 2019\Structure\xml\DITA\app\DITA-Composite-FM) find the context and result elements, and delete the prefix rules in the same way that you did in task.eddmod.fm. Save the file. Open ChapterOutputTpl.fm and ditabase1.3.template.fm (or just ditabase.template.fm if you're using an earlier version of DITA). Use File > Import > EDD to import the composite.edd.fm into these two files. save them into their original locations. Now your published output should be good. If you only care about the published output and not how things display when you're working with the base DITA files then you only need to change the composite, chapterOutput, and ditabase1.3, but I find it helpful to have things look consistent all the way through the editing process, so I make my changes in both places.
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‎Nov 28, 2018
09:51 AM
Yes I did. Our company did a branding update so I had to remake all our templates and no-one knew how, so I've had fun learning... I needed to modify the note prefix too, (which is in the commonelements.eddmod.fm).
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‎Nov 28, 2018
09:35 AM
Agreed. This forum definitely helps though. This is where I came to figure it out. There's still a lot I have to learn!
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‎Nov 28, 2018
09:24 AM
Mine is here: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe FrameMaker 2019\Structure\xml\DITA_1.3\app\technicalContent\edd\task.eddmod.fm The path is similar for FM 2017 but under program files (x86).
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‎Nov 28, 2018
08:56 AM
The labels are either defined in the numbering part of the paragraph format which is controlled by the template file, or are defined directly within the EDD. Context and result are prefix added by task.eddmod.fm. To get rid of them you need to delete this rule under the context element: Prefix rules 1. In all contexts. Prefix: Context: Text range. Use character format: step.callouts And under the results element delete: Prefix rules 1. In all contexts. Prefix: Result: Text range. Use character format: step.callouts If I remember rightly, once you've done this, you need to refresh the task.edd.fm so it pulls in the updated task.eddmod.fm info, then apply the new task.edd to your task.template.fm file, and then you'll probably want to make the same changes to your output edd and template (in my setup that's ChapterOutputTpl.fm and composite.edd.fm).
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‎Nov 28, 2018
08:43 AM
I can't answer regarding the settings file, but you could use a variable to update the watermark text easily: On the template master page create the watermark based on a variable field. Store a variables.fm file in the folder with the book. Select all the files within the book then use file > import formats to import the variables from variables.fm I use this method and it lets me update version numbers, release dates etc pretty easily.
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‎Nov 05, 2018
07:31 AM
Hey Russ, Thanks for the detailed answer. We use DITA because it's the company standard and in general it's easy to work with. It keeps our topics written fairly consistently and we do find ourselves dropping content in and out often enough to appreciate the modularity. I don't find it particularly onerous to work with multiple files as I can open whatever I need from the ditamap. And all our writers know how to work with DITA now. The docs aren't particularly long. But as you mention, it's possible to do the conditional approach you describe with DITA too - setting parameters to A, B, C, 1, 2, 3, 4 and then using the DITAVAL file. I did some experimenting and was able to get this to work. I'm just unsure whether it's easier to maintain one ditamap plus making sure all the sections have the right parameters assigned and then having to apply the ditaval file during publish, or whether my current approach is best. I think it'll come down to how much of the output process can be automated. Happy Monday! Kat
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‎Nov 05, 2018
07:15 AM
Nice! Glad you got it working! I think the difference between having to use <n+> vs <sectionnum> might be controlled by the ditafm-output.ini file under app data: C:\Users\Moi\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\FrameMaker\14. I had trouble getting it to work right until I set Generate flat book to 1. This file also contains a bunch of options for which numbering should continue from the previous section vs restart.
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‎Oct 31, 2018
09:55 AM
My current solution to this is to store an fm file containing the variables that I want the book to use for title, version, release date, etc., and then use import>formats>variables only to apply this to all elements in the book as a step during publication. This method just uses FM variables, not DITA unfortunately, and I would prefer to pull directly from the DITAMAP like you describe, but I haven't found a way yet.
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‎Oct 31, 2018
08:52 AM
This was listed as an improved feature in FM 2019. I have no experience with it, but if you're on a subscription, maybe download the new version and take a peek at the user guide.
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‎Oct 31, 2018
08:49 AM
I tried selecting a link in the cross-reference pod and clicking 'go to location' and that doesn't work for me either. Double clicking a link in the fm doc does work (by opening the destination file) although it doesn't bring the destination file into focus. I tried clicking a link where the destination file is already open and it appears to do nothing. If you close any other files and then click the link does it open the destination file for you then? Sorry I can't be more help than that. Good luck!
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‎Oct 31, 2018
08:41 AM
I have a dream re-use scenario to work with at the moment. I can see several ways to approach it, and wanted to check in with anyone who's done this before for advice. I am putting together a user guide and release notes for an adapter product. The product connects system A, B, or C to system 1, 2, 3, or 4. A customer only needs info the systems they are connecting between. This results in 12 user guides and 12 release notes (for system A-1, A-2... ...C-3, C-4) Current approach: The content has been created as DITA concepts, tasks, and references, and with separate versions of each DITA file for each relevant system. Common content is reused via conrefs to shared files. 12 ditamaps connect these files as needed to create each variation of the user guide. This works, but I don't want to have to go through the publish process manually 12 times each time we do a software update. The process involves: - Open ditamap - Generate composite book with components - Add in an fm file for revision history - Import variables to all files in the book to update version number, release date etc - Regenerate page numbers & TOC (they changed because of inserting the revision history table) - Save as PDF and check everything is fine. How much of this can I automate with a script? Or, is it better to use 1 ditamap and combine my dita topics so they contain info for all relevant system types identified by (e.g.) the product parameter and use a ditaval on publish to generate whatever variation is needed? Would this be easier to automate despite the greater complexity in the source files? Thanks in advance! Kat
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‎Oct 31, 2018
08:15 AM
You've tried double-clicking on the link right? For me that either opens the destination file or displays an error message if the link is broken. I checked my 2019 version and I'm not seeing any difference. Does it help if you recreate the link?
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‎Oct 31, 2018
08:03 AM
You say that you're using the same paragraph format (title.0) for both 1. heading and 1.1 subheading, but I don't think that can be the case because the numbering is different between the two. If you look at the subheading paragraph format on the generated fm file (which is probably automatically applied based on an output template - so you don't have to worry about whether its the same as top level headings), and check the numbering tab, I suspect you'll see something like <$chapnum>.<n> in the Format: textbox. Try changing this to <$chapnum>.<n+> so the second number knows that it's meant to increment. Shout if you're still stuck. Kat
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‎Oct 22, 2018
02:17 PM
I have a conref to content that includes a xref. This looks like it works ok until I save my ditamap as a book and look at the resulting fm file. At which point the nested xref has disappeared (the fm-xref element exists but only contains WHITESPACE as the visible text, the href property is still present but the link is broken). Is there a way to make this work? Thanks!
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‎Oct 22, 2018
01:25 PM
Hi! You've probably fixed this by now, but in case you haven't, and assuming that the cross reference links to the task or concept element of your renamed file, you could try updating the element ID of that topic. Save the new file, then recreate the xref links to the topic and see if they stick. When I hit a similar issue in the past it was because my element IDs were not unique so FrameMaker was getting confused and pointing to the file I didn't want. Kat
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‎Oct 22, 2018
09:00 AM
Hi! I don't know about checkboxes specifically, but it sounds like the behavior that would happen if the template for your structured application contains a different format for your checkbox. To fix it you'd need to find the template, open it and change the format there, save it. Then your main doc should just open with the right format. Kat
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