Re: [Framers] ExtendScript for save as text, for Git usage ?

[Peter Gold]

In the days of WebWorks, IIRC, there was a feature or add-on that enabled
something like being able to comment FM files, that had been converted to
HTML, and perhaps also make changes to the content, then round-trip those
changed files back to FM. Perhaps I'm only dreaming.

Have you found the Track Changes and Track Text Edits features in FM
inadequate in some ways?

Regards,

Peter
___
Peter Gold


On Wed, Jun 8, 2016 at 10:56 AM, Monique Semp 
wrote:

> Ok, ok—I'll abandon the idea of comparing MIFs. Clearly I didn't realize
> the complexity (or pointlessness) of the effort. My tiny bit of MIF
> knowledge, along with a bunch of unfounded assumptions, led me down the
> wrong path.
>
> But I do like the idea of saving as TXT, which supports what I really
> want: the ability to see what I changed in the actual user instructions.
> All the formatting stuff isn't what I'd want out of a diff. If I've made a
> bunch of formatting changes, they'd be in the templates, and I'd have
> included a relevant comment in the Git commit. And the TXT files seem quite
> small, so not a space hog on the Git server.
>
> So, my request now is whether anyone has an ExtendScript to automatically
> save files as TXT. I'm not sure if the best approach would be to auto-save
> a file as TXT anytime the file's saved as FM (whether explicitly by ctrl-S
> or because I've said Yes to saving when I close a file or a book), to
> auto-save all a book's files whenever I close the book (but sometimes I'd
> have just a file open, such as a Text Inset file), or what?
>
> Thanks for the education,
> -Monique
>
>
___

This message is from the Framers mailing list

Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com
Visit the list's homepage at  http://www.frameusers.com
Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/
Subscribe and unsubscribe at 
http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com
Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com

Re: [Framers] ExtendScript for save as text, for Git usage ?

[Monique Semp]

Ok, ok—I'll abandon the idea of comparing MIFs. Clearly I didn't realize the 
complexity (or pointlessness) of the effort. My tiny bit of MIF knowledge, 
along with a bunch of unfounded assumptions, led me down the wrong path.


But I do like the idea of saving as TXT, which supports what I really want: 
the ability to see what I changed in the actual user instructions. All the 
formatting stuff isn't what I'd want out of a diff. If I've made a bunch of 
formatting changes, they'd be in the templates, and I'd have included a 
relevant comment in the Git commit. And the TXT files seem quite small, so 
not a space hog on the Git server.


So, my request now is whether anyone has an ExtendScript to automatically 
save files as TXT. I'm not sure if the best approach would be to auto-save a 
file as TXT anytime the file's saved as FM (whether explicitly by ctrl-S or 
because I've said Yes to saving when I close a file or a book), to auto-save 
all a book's files whenever I close the book (but sometimes I'd have just a 
file open, such as a Text Inset file), or what?


Thanks for the education,
-Monique


___

This message is from the Framers mailing list

Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com
Visit the list's homepage at  http://www.frameusers.com
Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/
Subscribe and unsubscribe at 
http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com
Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com

Re: [Framers] ExtendScript for save as text, for Git usage ?

[Reng, Dr. Winfried]

Hi,

I remember that Jeremy Griffith from Omni Systems (the
developer of Mif2Go) had tried to do that: conversion to
MIF and comparison to previous versions. However, he
was not sucessful. MIF code contains too much formatting
code which is not relevant for the reader.

Maybe you could test an export to Text or HTML instead.

Best regards

Winfried

-Original Message-
From: Framers [mailto:framers-bounces+wreng=tycoint@lists.frameusers.com] 
On Behalf Of Scott Prentice
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2016 2:37 AM
To: framers@lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: [Framers] ExtendScript for save as text, for Git usage ?

I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

While MIF is a wonderful format for an ASCII description of a FM file,
it's really not intended for human consumption. First off, it's not
linear. Each FM object is defined in a section, and within that section
the objects are declared in reasonably orderly fashion, but it's really
complicated to jump from one object to another (as happens from
paragraphs to tables). Also, within a section, say the main body of
content, you may notice that the strings aren't always complete. You can
have a sentence fragment that ends in the middle of a word .. then
continues in the next block. This makes it really hard to search for
things since they may be split.

What you want is some sort of MIF-normalizer, that can make it more user
friendly. But, I don't think that really exists. There is a tool called
MIF-Muncher 
(https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.stc-2Dcarolina.org_MIF-2BMuncher=CwICAg=0YGvTs3tT-VMy8_v51yLDw=pdk93NJbIWwQmLZh1EZCoC4wFNMwWj1dp-sJbkswCLE=BkD7Yk4w5mHjRd2IHGLDpqa2we3r8jWIO3qWOHDuHnQ=mYDUQJGxXmBvjoTPj629pThr5yQ-kj8Fxi1ya1Hcnms=
 ) .. that helps with
scanning for various objects in a MIF .. but I don't know that it'll
work on a modern system. I made a tool that converts MIF into MIFML (an
XML representation of a MIF) and back, but that doesn't make it any
easier to read.

MIFs are great but can also be a very scary place to hang out for much
time.  :o

Cheers,
...scott


On 6/7/16 5:17 PM, Monique Semp wrote:
>> Do you really find it useful to diff MIF files very often?
>
> Well, I haven't done it yet because it'd involve so much extra manual
> work. But what I'd like to be able to do is simply scroll through the
> commit list in my Git client (SourceTree on Windows) and have the
> diffs show automatically, just as they do for source code. And with
> MIF files, that'd be possible.
>
> I have noticed, though, that the MIF files are *much* larger than the
> corresponding FM files (a 197 KB FM file became a 952 KB MIF file!),
> so now that I see this, I might rethink it.
>
> But as one more tool to make it easier to see what's been done to a
> particular file, in a way that's not even possible in the
> FM/FrameMaker view, I'd really like to try it.
>
> -Monique



This e-mail contains privileged and confidential information intended for the 
use of the addressees named above. If you are not the intended recipient of 
this e-mail, you are hereby notified that you must not disseminate, copy or 
take any action in respect of any information contained in it. If you have 
received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail 
and immediately destroy this e-mail and its attachments.
___

This message is from the Framers mailing list

Send messages to framers@lists.frameusers.com
Visit the list's homepage at  http://www.frameusers.com
Archives located at http://www.mail-archive.com/framers%40lists.frameusers.com/
Subscribe and unsubscribe at 
http://lists.frameusers.com/listinfo.cgi/framers-frameusers.com
Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com