QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Andersen, Verner Engell VEA 
 
Hi
I am using unstructured Framemaker 7.2
 
All my FM book files contain all master pages, all variables, all reference 
pages etc. This means that if you accidentially copy formats from one file to 
anoter nothing will go wrong.
 
My edition number in the footer is simply a global variable. Now the QA 
Department wants each chapter to have an editon number according to when 
changes were made. This means that some chapters have edition k, others edition 
l and so forth.
 
Have you any idea of how I can have the various edition numbers in footer of 
each chapter page and still have the possibility of importing all formats from 
all files without messing things up?
 
I want to avoid specific master pages for each chapter.
 
Regards,
Verner Andersen
Technical Writer

Radiometer Medical ApS
Åkandevej 21 ● 2700 Brønshøj ● Denmark
Tel. +45 38 27 36 12
Mobile. + 45 60 62 27 90
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: www.radiometer.com 
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/vea/Application%20Data/Microsoft/Signatures/www.radiometer.com
 

 
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Re: QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Frank Stearns 

On Wed, 31 Jan 2007, Andersen, Verner Engell VEA wrote:

All my FM book files contain all master pages, all variables, all 
reference pages etc. This means that if you accidentially copy formats 
from one file to anoter nothing will go wrong.


My edition number in the footer is simply a global variable. Now the QA 
Department wants each chapter to have an editon number according to when 
changes were made. This means that some chapters have edition k, others 
edition l and so forth.


Have you any idea of how I can have the various edition numbers in 
footer of each chapter page and still have the possibility of importing 
all formats from all files without messing things up?


I routinely use what I call a reference or resource file. It's not 
part of the printed book, but other files cross-reference to this file for 
various bits of info, such as version info, part #, etc.


You could list your edition info for each chapter in such an external 
file, then in each chapter doc xref to this reference doc to pick up the 
appropriate info for the footer. If something changes, you simply make a 
content change in the ref doc and regen the book, rather than copying 
formats around.


Doesn't take too much to set it up, and I always had more confidence in 
this approach rather than copying vars around because as you noted above, 
it's easy to break something by copying formats.


Frank

Frank Stearns Associates | makers of IXgen(tm) for FrameMaker(r)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
TOLL FREE Voice (USA and Canada):  800-567-6421
USA Voice: 360-892-3970  USA FAX: 360-253-1498
http://www.fsatools.com
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Re: QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Art Campbell 

Could you use the system variable for Modification Date instead of an
edition number?
That'd be equally easy for 'em to track.

Art

On 1/31/07, Andersen, Verner Engell VEA [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


Hi
I am using unstructured Framemaker 7.2

All my FM book files contain all master pages, all variables, all reference 
pages etc. This means that if you accidentially copy formats from one file to 
anoter nothing will go wrong.

My edition number in the footer is simply a global variable. Now the QA 
Department wants each chapter to have an editon number according to when 
changes were made. This means that some chapters have edition k, others edition 
l and so forth.

Have you any idea of how I can have the various edition numbers in footer of 
each chapter page and still have the possibility of importing all formats from 
all files without messing things up?

I want to avoid specific master pages for each chapter.

Regards,
Verner Andersen
Technical Writer

Radiometer Medical ApS
Åkandevej 21 ● 2700 Brønshøj ● Denmark
Tel. +45 38 27 36 12
Mobile. + 45 60 62 27 90
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: www.radiometer.com 
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/vea/Application%20Data/Microsoft/Signatures/www.radiometer.com





--
Art Campbell [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 ... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
  and a redheaded girl. -- Richard Thompson
No disclaimers apply.
DoD 358
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Re: QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Steve Rickaby 
At 08:37 -0800 31/1/07, Frank Stearns wrote:

I routinely use what I call a reference or resource file. It's not part of 
the printed book, but other files cross-reference to this file for various 
bits of info, such as version info, part #, etc.

You could list your edition info for each chapter in such an external file, 
then in each chapter doc xref to this reference doc to pick up the appropriate 
info for the footer. If something changes, you simply make a content change in 
the ref doc and regen the book, rather than copying formats around.

Doesn't take too much to set it up, and I always had more confidence in this 
approach rather than copying vars around because as you noted above, it's easy 
to break something by copying formats.

I was grunting my way through this when Frank's mail came in. You could 
implement this idea with named reference flows, too, either located in an 
external document, or on a reference page in each book document.

If you consider the latter option, beware of a FrameMaker 'gotcha' I hit 
yesterday: if a text inset imports a named flow from one of its own reference 
pages, the link to the reference flow breaks if you rename the file.

Grant Hogarth calls this a 'fugly': great word, although I have no idea what it 
means - a manifestation of the Law of Unintended Consequences, maybe.

-- 
Steve
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RE: QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Grant Hogarth 
Fugly = effin' ugly  :-) 

-Original Message-
From: Steve Rickaby
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 9:50 AM
Subject: Re: QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

At 08:37 -0800 31/1/07, Frank Stearns wrote:

GH: SNIP

If you consider the latter option, beware of a FrameMaker 'gotcha' 
I hit yesterday: if a text inset imports a named flow from one of 
its own reference pages, the link to the reference flow breaks if you
rename the file.

Grant Hogarth calls this a 'fugly': great word, although I have no 
idea what it means - a manifestation of the Law of Unintended
Consequences, maybe.

--
Steve
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Re: QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Daniel Emory 
--- Andersen, Verner Engell VEA
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 Have you any idea of how I can have the various
 edition numbers in footer of each chapter page and
 still have the possibility of importing all formats
 from all files without messing things up?
==
This kind of dilemma can be eliminated in structured
FM documents. The edition number, rev number, rev
date, effectivy, and similar info can be produced by
defining FrameMaker header/footer variables which pick
up the current value(s) of the applicable element
attributes. 

In mission-critical documents (aircraft maintenance
manuals, for instance) the process begins with the
technician picking a work card to perform a particular
maintenance task on a particular aircraft (the same
aircraft model can have many different configurations,
even within the same airline). The work card provides
all the information needed to assuredly select the
correct procedural instructions from the maintenance
manual (in the ATA methodology, the mechanic submits
the work card number to a database, which retrieves
the applicable procedure from the maintenance manual).


The work card information may even allow the mechanic
to examine the information in the footer of each page
of the retrieved procedure to verify that the footer
information (such as the page's effectivity, current
revision date, page block number, etc.) agrees with
what appears on the work card. All of this footer
informatin in the retrieved procedure is produced from
header/footer variables which pick up the current
values of the corresponding element attributes when
the procedure is delivered to the machanic.

As you can see, this approach, employing element
attributes which are converted by structured
FrameMaker to header/footer variables appearing in the
footer, can be used at any level of granularity, even
down to individual pages.


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QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Frank Stearns 
On Wed, 31 Jan 2007, Andersen, Verner Engell VEA wrote:

> All my FM book files contain all master pages, all variables, all 
> reference pages etc. This means that if you accidentially copy formats 
> from one file to anoter nothing will go wrong.
>
> My edition number in the footer is simply a global variable. Now the QA 
> Department wants each chapter to have an editon number according to when 
> changes were made. This means that some chapters have edition k, others 
> edition l and so forth.
>
> Have you any idea of how I can have the various edition numbers in 
> footer of each chapter page and still have the possibility of importing 
> all formats from all files without messing things up?

I routinely use what I call a "reference" or "resource" file. It's not 
part of the printed book, but other files cross-reference to this file for 
various bits of info, such as version info, part #, etc.

You could list your edition info for each chapter in such an external 
file, then in each chapter doc xref to this reference doc to pick up the 
appropriate info for the footer. If something changes, you simply make a 
content change in the ref doc and regen the book, rather than copying 
formats around.

Doesn't take too much to set it up, and I always had more confidence in 
this approach rather than copying vars around because as you noted above, 
it's easy to break something by copying formats.

Frank

Frank Stearns Associates | makers of IXgen(tm) for FrameMaker(r)
franks at fsatools.com 
TOLL FREE Voice (USA and Canada):  800-567-6421
USA Voice: 360-892-3970  USA FAX: 360-253-1498
http://www.fsatools.com

QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Art Campbell 
Could you use the system variable for Modification Date instead of an
edition number?
That'd be equally easy for 'em to track.

Art

On 1/31/07, Andersen, Verner Engell VEA  
wrote:
>
> Hi
> I am using unstructured Framemaker 7.2
>
> All my FM book files contain all master pages, all variables, all reference 
> pages etc. This means that if you accidentially copy formats from one file to 
> anoter nothing will go wrong.
>
> My edition number in the footer is simply a global variable. Now the QA 
> Department wants each chapter to have an editon number according to when 
> changes were made. This means that some chapters have edition k, others 
> edition l and so forth.
>
> Have you any idea of how I can have the various edition numbers in footer of 
> each chapter page and still have the possibility of importing all formats 
> from all files without messing things up?
>
> I want to avoid specific master pages for each chapter.
>
> Regards,
> Verner Andersen
> Technical Writer
>
> Radiometer Medical ApS
> ?kandevej 21 ? 2700 Br?nsh?j ? Denmark
> Tel. +45 38 27 36 12
> Mobile. + 45 60 62 27 90
> E-mail: verner.andersen at radiometer.dk
> Web: www.radiometer.com 
> 
>



-- 
Art Campbell art.campbell at 
gmail.com
  "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
   and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
 No disclaimers apply.
 DoD 358

QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Steve Rickaby 
At 08:37 -0800 31/1/07, Frank Stearns wrote:

>I routinely use what I call a "reference" or "resource" file. It's not part of 
>the printed book, but other files cross-reference to this file for various 
>bits of info, such as version info, part #, etc.
>
>You could list your edition info for each chapter in such an external file, 
>then in each chapter doc xref to this reference doc to pick up the appropriate 
>info for the footer. If something changes, you simply make a content change in 
>the ref doc and regen the book, rather than copying formats around.
>
>Doesn't take too much to set it up, and I always had more confidence in this 
>approach rather than copying vars around because as you noted above, it's easy 
>to break something by copying formats.

I was grunting my way through this when Frank's mail came in. You could 
implement this idea with named reference flows, too, either located in an 
external document, or on a reference page in each book document.

If you consider the latter option, beware of a FrameMaker 'gotcha' I hit 
yesterday: if a text inset imports a named flow from one of its own reference 
pages, the link to the reference flow breaks if you rename the file.

Grant Hogarth calls this a 'fugly': great word, although I have no idea what it 
means - a manifestation of the Law of Unintended Consequences, maybe.

-- 
Steve

QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Grant Hogarth 
Fugly = "effin' ugly"  :-) 

-Original Message-
From: Steve Rickaby
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 9:50 AM
Subject: Re: QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

At 08:37 -0800 31/1/07, Frank Stearns wrote:



>If you consider the latter option, beware of a FrameMaker 'gotcha' 
>I hit yesterday: if a text inset imports a named flow from one of 
>its own reference pages, the link to the reference flow breaks if you
rename the file.
>
>Grant Hogarth calls this a 'fugly': great word, although I have no 
>idea what it means - a manifestation of the Law of Unintended
Consequences, maybe.

--
Steve

QA wants unique edition number in changed footers

2007-01-31 Thread Daniel Emory 
--- "Andersen, Verner Engell VEA"
 wrote:
> Have you any idea of how I can have the various
> edition numbers in footer of each chapter page and
> still have the possibility of importing all formats
> from all files without messing things up?
==
This kind of dilemma can be eliminated in structured
FM documents. The edition number, rev number, rev
date, effectivy, and similar info can be produced by
defining FrameMaker header/footer variables which pick
up the current value(s) of the applicable element
attributes. 

In mission-critical documents (aircraft maintenance
manuals, for instance) the process begins with the
technician picking a work card to perform a particular
maintenance task on a particular aircraft (the same
aircraft model can have many different configurations,
even within the same airline). The work card provides
all the information needed to assuredly select the
correct procedural instructions from the maintenance
manual (in the ATA methodology, the mechanic submits
the work card number to a database, which retrieves
the applicable procedure from the maintenance manual).


The work card information may even allow the mechanic
to examine the information in the footer of each page
of the retrieved procedure to verify that the footer
information (such as the page's effectivity, current
revision date, page block number, etc.) agrees with
what appears on the work card. All of this footer
informatin in the retrieved procedure is produced from
header/footer variables which pick up the current
values of the corresponding element attributes when
the procedure is delivered to the machanic.

As you can see, this approach, employing element
attributes which are converted by structured
FrameMaker to header/footer variables appearing in the
footer, can be used at any level of granularity, even
down to individual pages.