OT: correct symbol to use
Hi Alan: Do you mean 1(a) to 1(c)? If so, I would write out the word "to". The "-" looks too much like a minus sign, and there's enough of a mix of words, numbers, parentheses and letters in there to discourage using another symbol that readers have to interpret. If you must use a symbol, I would go with the "...". Just my opinion. Fei Min Lorente "Alan Litchfield" Sent by: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 12/16/2008 09:51 PM Please respond to alan at alphabyte.co.nz To framers at lists.frameusers.com cc Subject OT: correct symbol to use Quick off-topic question, If you have in a line of text something like "to any of 1 (a)-(c)", is this more correctly set as "to any of 1 (a)...(c)"? Cheers Alan -- Alan Litchfield MBus (Hons), MNZCS AlphaByte PO Box 1941, Auckland http://www.alphabyte.co.nz ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/feimin_lorente%40amis.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
PDF-ing FM files under SVN
Hi Bodvar: Actually, I do save my PDFs in the repository because that's part of our configuration management. Since the PDF files are part of the deliverable product, they get the same tag as the software files so that if we need to re-create a deliverable, we can retrieve them from the tag. Also, having the PDFs available to others via the repository helps them view the documents because not everyone has FrameMaker. And they can get the version that they want. Fei Min Lorente "Bodvar Bjorgvinsson" Sent by: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 12/15/2008 07:27 AM To "Framers List" , "frame2acrobat at yahoogroups.com" cc Subject PDF-ing FM files under SVN I don't seem to find any list committed to working with FM under SVN or TortoiseSVN, so I will try and put the problem up here. I am testing SVN. My IT has set up a dedicated SVN server and also they set up a local SVN Working Copy and I am starting a real test. What I am wondering about is what would be the best procedure when printing to file and PDF-ing. These, and some other files, IMO, don't have any business being uploaded to the repository. Do you try to print/save those files to a place outside the SVN library or just try not to upload them by accident? Bodvar Bjorgvinsson -- "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious." -- Edsel Murphy, dec. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/feimin_lorente%40amis.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Source Control for Frame
I agree with Mike. We use CVS with our FrameMaker files. Although it is a bit annoying that FrameMaker thinks it's changed when it often hasn't, and CVS can't tell the difference, the source control system is still extremely useful for all the reasons that Mike gave below. We also find the check-in comments are good for figuring out what change was made at what time, and why. Fei Min Fei Min Lorente Senior Technical Communicator Medical Division ON Semiconductor feimin.lorente at onsemi.com +1 519 884 9696 ext 2297 | office +1 519 831 4931 | mobile +1 519 884 0228 | fax http://www.onsemi.com "Mike Feimster" Sent by: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 12/10/2008 09:01 AM To , "Donald M Rinderknecht" , "Flato, Gillian" cc Framers List Subject RE: Source Control for Frame Even though the files are binary and you can't do diffs, the other benefits of a good version control system are well worth it. - You can always go back to a previous version, whether it's the version from yesterday or last quarter's release. - Archiving is simple with tags. - You always know who the last person to work on a file was. - File locking for binary files makes it very difficult to step on each other's work. - It is impossible to delete something from the repository, this means it is extremely difficult for someone to permanently mess up a document. (You can delete stuff from the "current version" but it still exists in the older versions.) - Since each person has their own local working copy of files, you rarely have network issues and absolute path problems can be minimized. - Provided you're update/commit (check-out/check-in) policies are followed, you always know where the latest version of any doc is. - If you move to structured Frame and XML, you can do diffs as well as branching and merging. We use Subversion with TortoiseSVN. Terminology and specific benefits may be different for other systems. Mike -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of quills at airmail.net Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 3:36 PM To: Donald M Rinderknecht; Flato, Gillian Cc: Framers List Subject: Re: Source Control for Frame At 1:53 PM -0600 12/9/08, Donald M Rinderknecht wrote: >Hi Gillian, > >Other than the diff report (which I assume provides more details than >just a time/date stamp) is SVN useful? > >I've been wanting some centralized document management for our >FrameMaker (and other) files for a long time. We have several folks >that author materials, sometimes in teams. I'd like to have check >in/check out and versioning at the very least. It would be really cool >to be able to metatag content and search for it also. > >Folks have mentioned going to MIF files or XML. Wouldn't those options >add steps to the workflow? I assume they (MIF or XML) would affect the >workflow in a similar fashion. Also, going to XML would require >structure (I assume) so I don't think we're ready for that. We've >started to use structure in some docs, but I haven't had time to >implement that broadly. > >What is PDM? > >Thanks, >don. > >Don Rinderknecht -- 405.325.2805 >Meteorologist Instructor/Developer >Warning Decision Training Branch, Norman, OK http://www.wdtb.noaa.gov If you are working with a team that may be assigned files that others are working on, the locking capability is nice. It prevents others from checking out the file you are working on. Other than having that and a a date time stamp version, there isn't a lot that any source control system can add for Frame since the primary files are binary. Scott ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as mike.feimster at acstechnologies.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/mike.feimster%40acst echnologies.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/feimin_lorente%40amis.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
IXgen with Structured FrameMaker?
Hi Jennifer: I haven't seen anyone reply to this, so here's my two cents. I gave IXGen a try on structured FrameMaker (7.2) last year and couldn't get anything useful out of it. Here's a copy of my posting to the FrameSGML (Adobe FrameMaker Structured Applications) discussion list, May 28, 2007, so that you know which features of IXGen I wanted to use: Hi All: I've been indexing and I just discovered IXgen, but unfortunately, it doesn't work on structured index entries. Anyone know of a tool that does? IXgen generates an editable list of the index so you can make changes all in one place (including using search and replace) then writes your changes back to the original index markers. It also does nice things like checks that there are corresponding entries for your "see" and "see also" refrences, and elevates unique subentries. I'm looking for something like that which will help me clean up my index. Fei Min I didn't get any answers, so I could only conclude that IXGen doesn't work in a structured environment. Well, to be more precise, IXGen runs in Structured FrameMaker, but it doesn't do anything useful for me. Fei Min Lorente "Jennifer Collier" Sent by: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 11/28/2008 07:49 PM To cc Subject IXgen with Structured FrameMaker? Does anyone out there have experience using IXgen with Structured FrameMaker? We are currently using FrameMaker 6.0 (unstructured). We're in the process of moving to FrameMaker 8 (structured). We want to make sure as we begin using IXgen to index our documents, we do it the best way for making it work with structured. I know IXgen doesn't officially work with structure but we've been told that there are people that are making it work well. Any tips, guidelines, or processes I should be following? Thanks for all the help in advance! Jen Collier Horizon Software International, LLC Technical Publications Manager 770-554-6353 ext. 283 www.horizonsoftware.com ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/feimin_lorente%40amis.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
File Comparison Tool
Hi Shmuel: Beyond Compare 3 converts a PDF to text and compares the text. I've heard that it does a better job than Acrobat's comparison tool, which has a tendency to hang and shows you irrelevant things like different page numbers. I've used Acrobat's comparison tool and it can get confused if things get pushed onto different pages. I've also used Beyond Compare 2 and it does a very good job of dealing with deletions. Reorganization is a harder one to catch. I've also used FrameMaker's native comparison tool, but only for files, but it's pretty good. I just discovered you can compare books, but I didn't try it. My biggest beef with it is that if I compare two structured documents, the resulting comparison file is unstructured. Fei Min Lorente
What is the purpose of round-tripping Structured Framemaker and XML
Hi Celine: I round-trip to XML and I don't translate. I do it for a few reasons: Some of my SMEs don't like to work in a WYSIWYG environment, so I convert the chapters to XML and they can use their favourite editor. That also meant I didn't have to buy them a FrameMaker license. Some of our documentation is in the source code. We have scripts that pull out the information and tag it with XML and I can import that directly into FrameMaker. It's been a wonderful way to keep some of the documentation updated. Some activities are easier to do on text than in FrameMaker. I think the last time I did that, I had to remove an element or an attribute that I'd made obsolete. I supposed I could have used MIF, but XML is cleaner. Anyway, this is a fringe case...I don't do this very often. If none of these reasons apply to you, you certainly don't have to worry about round-tripping. I have some constraints on what I do in the FM documents because I have to make sure they will round-trip, so if would be easier to not have to worry about those things. Fei Min Lorente "Celine Deguire" Sent by: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 09/11/2008 12:54 PM To framers at lists.frameusers.com cc Subject What is the purpose of round-tripping Structured Framemaker and XML Hello Framers I'm trying to figure out why I would need to round-trip between Structured Framemaker sources and XML. I thought it would be for translation purposes but one of my translators tells me that Trados (Tag editor) allows editing (translating) structured FM sources as well as XML. Regards Celine ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/feimin_lorente%40amis.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Convert XML to FM8
Hi Eva: Sorry I don't have time to answer all your questions, but there are lots of better-qualified people on this list who can help you out. My suggestions for more information are: The Scriptorium wiki: http://wiki.scriptorium.com/tiki-index.php. Scriptorium is generally a good source of FrameMaker information. I'm using FrameMaker 7.2, but perhaps there's something similar in FrameMaker 8: C:\Program Files\Adobe\FrameMaker7.2\samples\fmsgml. There's a sample structured document and its EDD in that folder for you to play with. I thought I heard about a structured FrameMaker cookbook, but I can't find it. Maybe this will help: http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/framemaker/#xmldita. At least the Structured Application Developer's Guide (FrameMaker 8) can answer your question about "StructureTools/Utilities/Convert Structured Documents there is a listbox called Application" Good luck! Fei Min Lorente
Framemaker Uses
Hi Deirdre: No one's mentioned this yet, so I'll add for all the single-sourcing people out there that FrameMaker is wonderful for writing things once and using it many times. Whether you're using conditional text and variables so that some stuff only shows up in certain flavours of manuals, or text insets so that a piece of text can be used by different manuals, or generating HTML and PDF from the same FrameMaker document, it's all called single-sourcing and it saves a lot of time and effort. Then there's the whole structured and XML side of FrameMaker, which can also be a huge timesaver. In a nutshell, it automates a lot of the tedious formatting tasks for you. Round-tripping to XML also means that people who don't have FrameMaker can still work on the documents. Also, you can develop scripts to produce the XML that is subsequently opened in FrameMaker where the formatting is automatically applied. All this intro is to say that I'm using FrameMaker on software manuals, but some of the contents are generated from programming code as XML files, and some of the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are working in XML. I'm producing HTML for Eclipse help and PDFs. We have eight product lines, so I'm re-using a lot of the material for two or more products, and I can manage all this as a lone writer working 3/4 time because of FrameMaker and its add-ons. Fei Min "Deirdre Reagan" Sent by: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 05/07/2008 12:06 PM To "Frame Users" cc Subject Framemaker Uses Just out of curiosity, what kinds of documents are people producing in Framemaker? Our department produces aeronautial documents, such as Component Maintenance Manuals, Aircraft Maintenance Manuals, Wiring Diagram Manuals, and Illustrated Parts Catalogs. Do people produce books and magazines with Framemaker? Is Stephen King writing his next masterpiece on Framemaker? Does Anna Wintour use Framemaker to kick the next issue of Vogue to the curb? Are there websites that have been created in a Framemaker environment? I'm curious to know how widely used this product is and for what applications. Thanks! Deirdre ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/feimin_lorente%40amis.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Structure to non-structure.
Hi Harold: I'm not sure if I'm missing something here, but can't you generate a non-structured TOC and index even from a structured document? That's what I have. My TOC is based on paragraph styles, not elements, and your structured document still uses those. And although I'm using structured markers in my files for index entries, you can still use unstructured ones and generate the index the same as usual. So I'm not understanding the need to get rid of the structure. Also, structured documents still have all the same stuff as unstructured documents: paragraph styles, character styles, reference pages, master pages, markers...there's nothing to stop you from continuing to work in the same document and treat it like it's unstructured. You could mess up the structure, but FrameMaker won't stop you from doing that. But if you still want to eliminate the structure, I think if you set your FrameMaker to use just the FrameMaker interface (File > Preferences > General > Product Interface = FrameMaker), then open the structured document in that environment. It'll warn you that it's going to remove the structure and you can just say yes. Hope something here helps. If not, someone else on the list can always point you in the right direction. Fei Min Fei Min Lorente Senior Technical Communicator Medical Division ON Semiconductor feimin.lorente at onsemi.com +1 519 884 9696 ext 2297 | office +1 519 831 4931 | mobile +1 519 884 0228 | fax http://www.onsemi.com "Harold Winberg" Sent by: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 05/02/2008 07:58 AM To cc Subject Structure to non-structure. Hello Framers. Think me nuts but is there an easy way to convert a structured document to non-structured? The original doc was converted directly from Word to structured. The reason I am asking is that I am involved in a panic project where we might not have a working structured document by the time the TOC and index are due. My plan is to use a non-structured doc with para tags to make Index and TOC. I will have a very good draft and can adjust if we have a problem at the end. I know this sounds insane but I have learned that it works and it gives time to develop a good index before the last day of the project. Thanks Les. This material contains confidential and proprietary information of Force Protection, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Copying this material or disclosing such information to others without the Company?s prior consent is prohibited. This material also contains technical data relating to a "Defense Article" within the meaning of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (22 CFR Part 120). The transfer or disclosure of this information to any non-U.S. person or company without an export license approved by the United States Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is prohibited under federal law. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/feimin_lorente%40amis.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
What is a text inset?
Hi Neeraj: I'll answer this one because I'm working with text insets currently, so they're on my mind. A text inset is different from a text frame. It is text that resides in a separate file and can be used in one or more FrameMaker files. You insert the text inset by placing your cursor in the target file, and choosing File > Import > File and browsing to the location of the text inset file. If you change the text at the source, this automatically changes in the destination. This is very handy for bits of text that are exactly the same in many manuals, such as copyright notices. That's just a quick answer off the top of my head. You can get lots more information from the FrameMaker manual; just search for text inset. Fei Min Neeraj Jain Sent by: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 05/02/2008 03:14 PM To framers at lists.FrameUsers.com cc Subject What is a text inset? Hi All, I am learning FrameMaker 7.1. I have many times coming across posts mentioning text insets. I am confused. What is a text inset and how to insert it? Is a text insert different from a text frame? Please pardon me if my question sounds foolish. __ Smile because it turns on everyone. Regards, N. Jain Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/feimin_lorente%40amis.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Automatically inserting "blank page" text
Never mind. I figured out that when I have a row in the mapping table for
any paragraph, I should specify both the Right-hand and Left-hand master
page. I've done that and now everything is working. I've mapped
AnchorPara, Body, Heading1 and the chapter title paragraph styles in that
order, and I'm getting the right master page on all pages, including the
blank at the end. However, it's possible that I'll have a page somewhere
that doesn't use one of these things or uses them in a funny order and
I'll get messed up, so I'll proceed cautiously.
Thanks for the information about Silicon Prairie's plug-in, Will. I'll
remember that just in case there are too many exceptions to this solution.
Fei Min
FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com
Sent by: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
03/18/2008 01:53 AM
To
Shlomo Perets
cc
Framers at FrameUsers.com
Subject
Re: Automatically inserting "blank page" text
Thanks for the suggestion, Shlomo; I gave it a try.
For any table, I use an AnchorPara style for a tiny paragraph to hold the
table anchor. I put AnchorPara in the Reference Page mapping table and
told it to use the LeftRegular master page for the Left-Hand Master Page,
and gave it a Range Indicator of "Until Changed", and it seems to work.
Mind you, it started on a left-hand page.
However, I've been having an interesting experience with the Right pages.
If I don't specify anything for the Right-Hand Master Page, no master page
is applied to the Right pages. If I use the Body paragraph to indicate
which pages should use the Right master page, and I make it the first row
of the mapping table, then all the pages use the Right master page. If I
put that row after the Body paragraph that indicates using the LeftRegular
master page, then the Right master page doesn't work. There's probably a
rule that I can't use the same paragraph style to apply two different
master pages, even if they are Left and Right. Yes, I checked that the
Pagination is set to Double-sided.
Just out of curiosity, I set Heading1 paragraphs to apply the Right master
page, and they all used the Right master page until I had a Heading1 on a
left page. Then the LeftRegular master page stopped being applied. All of
these rows in the mapping table use a Range Indicator of "Single".
Also, the Right master page isn't applied to that long table I was playing
with. And I had to create a map for the chapter title paragraph to apply
the First master page.
Oh, I am successfully getting a "blank page" master page at the end of the
chapter. So, if someone can just tell me what I'm doing wrong with the
Right-Hand Master Page in the mapping table, I'll be all set.
Fei Min
p.s.
Stuart, the end-of-chapter indicator is a good idea, but we started this
whole "blank page" business because customers who were viewing the PDF
books were disturbed by the blank pages. The end-of-chapter indicator
might be too subtle for them, but it might be an alternative. Thanks for
the suggestion.
Rick, I thought you might have a solution, but my company hates spending
money. I'll present it as an option, though, because it might be cheaper
than fighting with the FDK. Thanks for offering to help.
Fei Min Lorente
Senior Technical Communicator
ON Semiconductor
Tel: +1.519.884.9696 ext.2297
Fax: +1.519.884.0228
Cell phone: +1.519.831.4931
Email address: FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com
Internet: http://www.amis.com
Shlomo Perets
03/17/2008 02:42 PM
To
FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com
cc
Framers at FrameUsers.com
Subject
Re: Automatically inserting "blank page" text
Fei Min,
You wrote:
> I have some unstructured manuals and if there is a blank page at the
end
> of a chapter (because we want all the chapters to begin on a right-hand
> page), we put "This page left blank for printing purposes." Right now
I'm
> manually deciding when the text should appear (meaning I have to look
for
> a blank page and put the right paragraph on it). Is there any way of
> automating this so that FrameMaker detects when the last page of a file
> has no content (other than a header and footer) and either uses a
> different master page or a particular paragraph type?
>
> I'm using FrameMaker 7.2 on Windows XP.
You may try using FrameMaker's Apply Master Pages function (7.0 or later)
for this purpose, as follows:
- create a new master page, named LeftRegular (or similarly), that will
control the layout of the standard Left pages
-- modify your standard Left master page so that it become the special
blank page ("intentionally left blank" or so)
-- in the mapping table controlling the assignment of master pages based
on
element names or paragraph tags, specify that "Body" paragraphs (and/or
any
other elements which is encountered on regular body pages) on left-hand
pages assign the LeftRegular master page
As you use the Apply Master Pages function (which may
Automatically inserting "blank page" text
I have some unstructured manuals and if there is a blank page at the end of a chapter (because we want all the chapters to begin on a right-hand page), we put "This page left blank for printing purposes." Right now I'm manually deciding when the text should appear (meaning I have to look for a blank page and put the right paragraph on it). Is there any way of automating this so that FrameMaker detects when the last page of a file has no content (other than a header and footer) and either uses a different master page or a particular paragraph type? I'm using FrameMaker 7.2 on Windows XP. Fei Min Lorente Senior Technical Communicator AMI Semiconductor Canada Company Tel: +1.519.884.9696 ext.2297 Fax: +1.519.884.0228 Cell phone: +1.519.831.4931 Email address: feimin_lorente at amis.com Internet: http://www.amis.com
Automatically inserting "blank page" text
Thanks for the suggestion, Shlomo; I gave it a try.
For any table, I use an AnchorPara style for a tiny paragraph to hold the
table anchor. I put AnchorPara in the Reference Page mapping table and
told it to use the LeftRegular master page for the Left-Hand Master Page,
and gave it a Range Indicator of "Until Changed", and it seems to work.
Mind you, it started on a left-hand page.
However, I've been having an interesting experience with the Right pages.
If I don't specify anything for the Right-Hand Master Page, no master page
is applied to the Right pages. If I use the Body paragraph to indicate
which pages should use the Right master page, and I make it the first row
of the mapping table, then all the pages use the Right master page. If I
put that row after the Body paragraph that indicates using the LeftRegular
master page, then the Right master page doesn't work. There's probably a
rule that I can't use the same paragraph style to apply two different
master pages, even if they are Left and Right. Yes, I checked that the
Pagination is set to Double-sided.
Just out of curiosity, I set Heading1 paragraphs to apply the Right master
page, and they all used the Right master page until I had a Heading1 on a
left page. Then the LeftRegular master page stopped being applied. All of
these rows in the mapping table use a Range Indicator of "Single".
Also, the Right master page isn't applied to that long table I was playing
with. And I had to create a map for the chapter title paragraph to apply
the First master page.
Oh, I am successfully getting a "blank page" master page at the end of the
chapter. So, if someone can just tell me what I'm doing wrong with the
Right-Hand Master Page in the mapping table, I'll be all set.
Fei Min
p.s.
Stuart, the end-of-chapter indicator is a good idea, but we started this
whole "blank page" business because customers who were viewing the PDF
books were disturbed by the blank pages. The end-of-chapter indicator
might be too subtle for them, but it might be an alternative. Thanks for
the suggestion.
Rick, I thought you might have a solution, but my company hates spending
money. I'll present it as an option, though, because it might be cheaper
than fighting with the FDK. Thanks for offering to help.
Fei Min Lorente
Senior Technical Communicator
ON Semiconductor
Tel: +1.519.884.9696 ext.2297
Fax: +1.519.884.0228
Cell phone: +1.519.831.4931
Email address: FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com
Internet: http://www.amis.com
Shlomo Perets
03/17/2008 02:42 PM
To
FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com
cc
Framers at FrameUsers.com
Subject
Re: Automatically inserting "blank page" text
Fei Min,
You wrote:
> I have some unstructured manuals and if there is a blank page at the
end
> of a chapter (because we want all the chapters to begin on a right-hand
> page), we put "This page left blank for printing purposes." Right now
I'm
> manually deciding when the text should appear (meaning I have to look
for
> a blank page and put the right paragraph on it). Is there any way of
> automating this so that FrameMaker detects when the last page of a file
> has no content (other than a header and footer) and either uses a
> different master page or a particular paragraph type?
>
> I'm using FrameMaker 7.2 on Windows XP.
You may try using FrameMaker's Apply Master Pages function (7.0 or later)
for this purpose, as follows:
- create a new master page, named LeftRegular (or similarly), that will
control the layout of the standard Left pages
-- modify your standard Left master page so that it become the special
blank page ("intentionally left blank" or so)
-- in the mapping table controlling the assignment of master pages based
on
element names or paragraph tags, specify that "Body" paragraphs (and/or
any
other elements which is encountered on regular body pages) on left-hand
pages assign the LeftRegular master page
As you use the Apply Master Pages function (which may be document- or
book-wide), the reserved "Left" master page -- not applied by any other
paragraph -- will then be the "blank" page.
When switching to the Apply Master Pages approach to control application
of
custom master pages, all assignments should be controlled through the
mapping table (as manually assigned master pages are reset); test the
master page assignments you need in a complex document, including
multi-page tables (if this applies to your documents).
Shlomo Perets
MicroType, http://www.microtype.com * ToolbarPlus Express for FrameMaker
FrameMaker/Acrobat training & consulting * FrameMaker-to-Acrobat
TimeSavers/Assistants
Unwanted re-ordering of files in booked publications
Hi Rob: I've had the same problem but it's because when I open a file by double-clicking on it, I accidentally move the mouse and drag it below the following file. It doesn't take more than a little movement sometimes. It's not clear to me whether the same thing is happening to you; are they only shifting when you save the book? I have the same version of FrameMaker and the same operating system as you. Fei Min Fei Min Lorente Senior Technical Communicator AMI Semiconductor Canada Company Tel: +1.519.884.9696 ext.2297 Fax: +1.519.884.0228 Cell phone: +1.519.831.4931 Email address: feimin_lorente at amis.com Internet: http://www.amis.com AMI Semiconductor - "Silicon Solutions for the Real World" NOTICE: This electronic message contains information that may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the copy you received.
Scripting pulling FM files from version control and creating PDFs
Hi Linda: I'm doing something similar except I haven't got the version control system part yet. I'm assured by the software guys that I can do this. We're using the Python scripting language and the FDK. As for generating PDFs, we had that bad link problem unless we used the "Create Named Destinations" check box. However, the files were so bloated that we would have to open the files in Acrobat after and do a bunch of things, including setting security. We tried using AutoIT for that, but it was pretty unstable because it's mimicking keystrokes and it depends on the focus staying on Acrobat while it does its thing. Sometimes it didn't work and with no changes to the code, sometimes it would. Then we discovered Microtype's Timesavers to unbloat the files and we didn't have to get into AutoIT at all. What a relief! Oh, and using AutoIT would also have tied us to a version of Acrobat because different versions might use different keystrokes to do the same thing; unless we wanted to rewrite the code whenever we upgraded. Hope that helps. Fei Min Fei Min Lorente Senior Technical Communicator AMI Semiconductor Canada Company Tel: +1.519.884.9696 ext.2297 Fax: +1.519.884.0228 Cell phone: +1.519.831.4931 Email address: feimin_lorente at amis.com Internet: http://www.amis.com AMI Semiconductor - "Silicon Solutions for the Real World" NOTICE: This electronic message contains information that may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the copy you received.
third-party or Frame tools for doc review/collaboration
Hi Matthew: I'm using a tool that WebWorks used to sell called FinalDraft. Unfortunately, they're no longer selling it, so it won't help you. I just wanted to ask someone out there to develop a review tool like it because it has some significant advantages over the FrameMaker-track-changes and the PDF-commenting models. Only the person distributing and changing the FrameMaker document has to buy the licensed software (the authoring version); all the reviewers can use the free software. You can make the changes suggested by reviewers' comments, then send another draft, and the existing comments will still be in the draft. Then reviewers can check the changes against their comments, and carry the discussion on further if they like. You can assign a status to each discussion so that they're easier to manage; categories such as Open, Closed, and MoreInfo help the author and the reviewers sort through the comments so they know which ones they have to read and which ones they can ignore. When you double-click on a comment, it opens FrameMaker and highlights the paragraph where the comment applies. Of course, it has its flaws because it never got to a second release, but it's still the most efficient way I have to distribute drafts and collect comments. I can keep using FinalDraft with FrameMaker 7.2, but they stopped development on it, so I can't use it with FrameMaker 8. If anyone knows of a review tool that has these features, please let me know. If anyone would like to develop such a tool (especially for structured documents), I think you'll find a market for it. Fei Min "Matthew Reeves" Sent by: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 01/02/2008 09:07 PM To framers at lists.frameusers.com cc Subject third-party or Frame tools for doc review/collaboration I recently started using FM after a seven-yr hiatus :) There used to be a tool called FrameView or something. I think it was a cheap solution companies could purchase for subject matter experts who don't author but are involved in the review/collaboration process. Also, I know about some third-party apps for commenting/saving changes to PDFs. I mean ones that are much cheaper than the Acrobat suite. These would solve part of the collaboration problem, but we are hoping to review/accept review comments programmatically in similar fashion to Word. Any referrals and general tips much appreciated. Cheers, Matthew Reeves mreeves111 at gmail.com ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/feimin_lorente%40amis.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. AMI Semiconductor - "Silicon Solutions for the Real World" NOTICE: This electronic message contains information that may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the copy you received.
Adobe FrameMaker Wish List
I just found this yesterday and thought I'd share it with everyone in case other people don't know it's there: http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?14@@.3bc498bf You have to have an account with Adobe, but since you're all FrameMaker users I don't think that should be a problem. Fei Min AMI Semiconductor - "Silicon Solutions for the Real World" NOTICE: This electronic message contains information that may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the copy you received.
I'm impressed with Adobe
Fred Ridder wrote on 09/17/2007 02:33:04 PM: > ... But if you look at some of the data that is available in > the investor relations part of the Adobe website, the reason > seems pretty clear. According to these figures, the category > of Adobe products called "Other", which includes among a > half-dozen truly minor products such applications as FrameMaker, > PageMaker, Captivate, Director, Freehand, and presumably > RoboHelp, accounts for less than 10% of Adobe's revenue. What we need to do is convince the people who are working on FrameMaker at Adobe to spin off their own company so that FrameMaker becomes 100% of their revenue; then we'll see what kind of attention we get! Fei Min AMI Semiconductor - "Silicon Solutions for the Real World" NOTICE: This electronic message contains information that may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the copy you received.
batch processing of large numbers of text files?
Hi Ben: I've been using Python to manipulate XML files, and it's free and friendly. Well, I sit with a lot of professional programmers, so I have help, but they assure me that it's a wonderful scripting language compared to many others. Did I mention that it's free? Here's the download site: http://www.python.org/ And here's the reference book: http://docs.python.org/lib/lib.html Good luck! Fei Min Lorente "B Hechter" Sent by: framers-bounces+feimin_lorente=amis.com at lists.frameusers.com 08/31/2007 12:47 PM To framers at lists.frameusers.com cc Subject batch processing of large numbers of text files? Hi Framers, Well, it looks like I will need to batch process a large number of ASCII (plain text) system configuration files in the same manner, in order to filter out information that I do not need, before I import them into Frame. I don't know if this a proper topic for the list, but it takes me back to my UNIX days of using "sed" with great success (even for a non-programmer like me), to create a standard set of batch text processing instructions that could be applied consistently and repetitively to large numbers of pattern-based plain text files. The question is two fold: a) any sed FM users out there? b) are there other similar (economical) options for batch processing of text files? Comments and opinions are most welcome. Thanks! Ben -- Ben Hechter objectives.ca Technical Performance Support Solutions Vancouver BC t: 604-725-7385 e: bhechter at objectives.ca w: www.semitake.com ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as FeiMin_Lorente at amis.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/feimin_lorente%40amis.com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. AMI Semiconductor - "Silicon Solutions for the Real World" NOTICE: This electronic message contains information that may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the copy you received.
Any beta testers yet of FrameMaker 8?
Yes, I've been able to download a copy. I sent an email to this address: Framemaker-beta at adobe.com If that's what you did, try my contact: Aseem Dokania (aseem at adobe.com). He's the FrameMaker Product Manager. Fei Min Fei Min Lorente Senior Technical Communicator AMI Semiconductor Canada Company Tel: +1.519.884.9696 ext.2297 Fax: +1.519.884.0228 Cell phone: +1.519.831.4931 Email address: feimin_lorente at amis.com Internet: http://www.amis.com AMI Semiconductor - "Silicon Solutions for the Real World" NOTICE: This electronic message contains information that may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the copy you received.
Link on Index References in PDF
Yes, I did download a trial version and I've finished taking it for a spin. It does exactly what I needed. Sundorne Communications has another happy customer! Fei Min AMI Semiconductor - "Silicon Solutions for the Real World" NOTICE: This electronic message contains information that may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the copy you received.
Link on Index References in PDF
This is my first time creating an index in FrameMaker in over 10 years, so I'm a bit out of touch. The last time I had to do this, we just printed the manual; we didn't publish it as a PDF. Now I've discovered that when I have a "see" or "see also" reference in my index, the PDF version of the index creates a link from those words to the place where I put that index marker. For example, if my index entry has: absolute data file see .o file and .cfo file then when someone clicks on "see", they jump to the place in text where I created the index marker. The index marker contains: absolute data file:see .o file and .cfo file<$nopage> Ideally, this is what I'd like it to do in the PDF: link on the words ".o file" and ".cfo file" instead of on "see". jump to the index entries for ".o file" and ".cfo file" If we can't do that, I would settle for not having a link at all. This case is somewhat palatable because if you click on "see", at least it takes you to somewhere that talks about .o files and .cfo files. However, I have another reference entry for "manipulating" which points readers to "changing", and since this is just a synonym and doesn't have a specifi context, it's rather confusing when it jumps to "Breakpoint Manipulation". I'm using FrameMaker 7.2, the structured flavour (but I don't think that makes any difference in this case), on Windows XP. Fei Min Fei Min Lorente Senior Technical Communicator AMI Semiconductor Canada Company Tel: +1.519.884.9696 ext.2297 Fax: +1.519.884.0228 Cell phone: +1.519.831.4931 Email address: feimin_lorente at amis.com Internet: http://www.amis.com AMI Semiconductor - "Silicon Solutions for the Real World" NOTICE: This electronic message contains information that may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the copy you received.
Some PDF Links Not Working
I'm using FrameMaker 7.2p158, Distiller 6.0.0 5/15/2003, and Windows XP. We recently noticed that a lot of the cross-references in FrameMaker didn't translate into working links in the PDF. I use Save As... to turn it into a PDF. When you put the cursor over the link, it changes to a pointing finger, but when you click on the link, it doesn't go anywhere. I've tried updating the cross-references, and I've tried the XRef Wizard from West Street Consulting, and I've searched for Unresolved Cross-References, but everything seems fine in FrameMaker. If I replace the cross-reference (by simply double-clicking on it, opening the source file, clicking Replace in the dialog box), then it works. However, I can't get xrefs to figure captions and table captions to work, no matter what, and I would prefer to not have to replace every cross-reference in the 3 problem manuals. This problem is happening in both structured and unstructured FrameMaker documents. I'm also flipping back and forth between FrameMaker 7.1 and 7.2 because FinalDraft only works with 7.1. Any ideas or suggestions? Fei Min AMI Semiconductor - "Silicon Solutions for the Real World" NOTICE: This electronic message contains information that may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the copy you received.
