Steve,
It's not clear from your message whether the problem is that the
formatting is not correct or that FM does not report errors in a structure
that should be invalid.
Remember that the logic of format rules is independent of whether the
document is valid. The context specifications test the actual hierarchy of
elements.
Faced with a problem such as yours, the first things I would do are:
1) Import element definitions from my copy of the EDD (or my template),
removing overrides, to make sure that the document sent by the user really
does use the latest EDD.
2) Simplify the structure as much as possible so that it still exhibits the
problem.
3) Simplify the EDD as much as possible so that it still exhibits the problem.
4) There are situations in which FM does not reformat something that it
should. To verify that all formatting really does come from the intended
rules, try applying a completely different paragraph format to the entire
document, and then import element definitions removing overrides.
Alternatively, build up the same structure in a new document.
Another technique in understanding formatting is to debug from the top
down. Remove inner elements and see what formatting is applied to the
containing elements. This is especially useful when several elements begin
in the same FrameMaker paragraph (such as a chapter and the chapter title
or a list and the first item in the list).
Show Element Context tells you which format rules have fired. You say it
hasn't been helpful. It won't help debug validation problems, but it should
help debug formatting problems. In particular, you might look for
unexpected interactions between first/last paragraph rules and the main
text format rules.
When reviewing the logic of an EDD with nested rules, collapse and
expand the various If and ElseIf elements so you can inspect one level at a
time. If you are using the EDD template that comes with FrameMaker, you
might prefer the various formatting improvements in the EDD template
available in the Tips and Free Tools section of my web site.
If you'd like to send me your problem document off-list, along with a
very explicit explanation of where you see a problem, I'd be happy to take
a quick look to try to explain the results.
--Lynne
At 04:13 AM 7/5/2006, Steve Rickaby wrote:
Without going into what might or might not be the problem, although it is
entirely possible to create the required element structures using the EDD,
the end users complain that 'strange things happen' with the problem
element, and have proved it by sending me a crazy document fragment that
is conceptually completely invalid, but which validates against the EDD.
All my formatting is done using paragraph formatting rules. I have messed
with Show Element Context, but have not found it very useful and have not
yet discovered what the main problem is. I just wondered whether any of
you could point me in the direction of links, or techniques, for tackling
this sort of situation? (I am still on Mac at the moment, so PC-specific
plug-ins aren't available to me.)
Lynne A. Price
Text Structure Consulting, Inc.
Specializing in structured FrameMaker consulting, application development,
and training
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.txstruct.com
voice/fax: (510) 583-1505 cell phone: (510) 421-2284
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