RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional?
I have produced 2 books from one using conditional text for UK and US spelling and metric units and those parts of the text that are different. The forewords are different, and here whole pages are conditional. If you have the appendix in a different file, you could just make that whole text conditional, and in the book where the appendix is not needed, you would just be adding an extra blank page when all the conditional text is hidden (or insert a conditional picture on this page if you don't want it blank). I much prefer to have only one book, since most of the updates are needed in both language versions. Ragnar Hanas Uddevalla Hospital Sweden -Original Message- From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Ulrike Forsberg (UFO) Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 8:29 AM To: Fred Ridder; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional? My objection to building two books is the risk of producing a wrong manual because I forgot that I had an extra book for one of the manuals (you all know that things can get rather hectic close to a deadline). What I have done until now for the 3 products is that I changed the variables and the conditional text settings to produce the specific manual. The cover pages are added to the pdf file, they are done in a different program, so no advantage here for working with three books. Two books for 3 manuals will be the solution, and I have to note down in my procedure that there is a separate book for one of the three manuals. Thanks for all the feedback, have a nice day everybody, Ulrike From: Fred Ridder [mailto:docu...@hotmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 4:37 PM To: Ulrike Forsberg (UFO); framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional? What is your objection to building two books? That's the way FrameMaker is designed to work. If it weren't for the ability to build different books from differing collections of chapters is the primary reason for the extra comlication of the chapter/book paradigm. -Fred Ridder Subject: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional? Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 12:54:16 +0200 From: u...@thrane.com To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Hi Framers, I have a book file with a number of chapters and appendices. I use the same book file for 3 manuals, which I control with 3 conditional text tags. One of the appendices is only used in 2 of the manuals. Can I make this appendix conditional? My fallback solution is to make a separate book for this manual. I'd prefer though to have a single book. Thanks for your time, Ulrike Forsberg Technical writer E u...@thrane.com T +45 39 55 8213 Thrane Thrane A/S - Lundtoftegaardsvej 93 D DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark - www.thrane.com T +45 39 55 88 00 - F +45 39 55 88 88 ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as ragnar.ha...@betamed.se. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/ragnar.hanas%40betamed.s e Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional?
My objection to building two books is the risk of producing a wrong manual because I forgot that I had an extra book for one of the manuals (you all know that things can get rather hectic close to a deadline). What I have done until now for the 3 products is that I changed the variables and the conditional text settings to produce the specific manual. The cover pages are added to the pdf file, they are done in a different program, so no advantage here for working with three books. Two books for 3 manuals will be the solution, and I have to note down in my procedure that there is a separate book for one of the three manuals. Thanks for all the feedback, have a nice day everybody, Ulrike From: Fred Ridder [mailto:docu...@hotmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 4:37 PM To: Ulrike Forsberg (UFO); framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional? What is your objection to building two books? That's the way FrameMaker is designed to work. If it weren't for the ability to build different books from differing collections of chapters is the primary reason for the extra comlication of the chapter/book paradigm. -Fred Ridder Subject: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional? Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 12:54:16 +0200 From: u...@thrane.com To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Hi Framers, I have a book file with a number of chapters and appendices. I use the same book file for 3 manuals, which I control with 3 conditional text tags. One of the appendices is only used in 2 of the manuals. Can I make this appendix conditional? My fallback solution is to make a separate book for this manual. I'd prefer though to have a single book. Thanks for your time, Ulrike Forsberg Technical writer E u...@thrane.com T +45 39 55 8213 Thrane Thrane A/S - Lundtoftegaardsvej 93 D DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark - www.thrane.com T +45 39 55 88 00 - F +45 39 55 88 88 ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional?
Ulrike Forsberg wrote: My objection to building two books is the risk of producing a wrong manual because I forgot that I had an extra book for one of the manuals (you all know that things can get rather hectic close to a deadline). What I have done until now for the 3 products is that I changed the variables and the conditional text settings to produce the specific manual. The cover pages are added to the pdf file, they are done in a different program, so no advantage here for working with three books. Two books for 3 manuals will be the solution, and I have to note down in my procedure that there is a separate book for one of the three manuals. You're less likely to make a mistake if the process for producing each book is the same. That's why I suggested a separate book for each manual. Name each book appropriately for the manual version it produces. As Fred noted, each book should have its own generated files (TOC, etc.), so store the variables and condition settings in one of those. When you want to produce the Widget 1000 User Guide, open widget_1000.book, import variables and conditions from its TOC to the other files in the book, and you're all. It's having one process for book A and another for book B that's likely to cause trouble. IMHO, YMMV. Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional?
Hi Ulrike, You might consider using structured FrameMaker in conjunction with our AXCM plugin. With that, you can conditionalize whole chapters and much more. I do it regularly. I agree with the sentiment that multiple books is cumbersome and error prone. AXCM is completely free... you can read more at www.weststreetconsulting.com. Thanks, Russ Owner, WSC Message: 4 Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 12:54:16 +0200 From: Ulrike Forsberg (UFO) u...@thrane.com Subject: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional? To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Message-ID: d6595a169076fa4088f93124c6e9764570c...@ly-ex-01.thrane.tt.ad Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi Framers, I have a book file with a number of chapters and appendices. I use the same book file for 3 manuals, which I control with 3 conditional text tags. One of the appendices is only used in 2 of the manuals. Can I make this appendix conditional? My fallback solution is to make a separate book for this manual. I'd prefer though to have a single book. Thanks for your time, Ulrike Forsberg Technical writer ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional?
store the variables and condition settings in one of those. When you want to produce the Widget 1000 User Guide, open widget_1000.book, import variables and conditions from its TOC to the other files in the book, and you're all. ... set. You're all set. I hate it when I do that. Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional?
Ulrike Forsberg wrote: I have a book file with a number of chapters and appendices. I use the same book file for 3 manuals, which I control with 3 conditional text tags. One of the appendices is only used in 2 of the manuals. Can I make this appendix conditional? My fallback solution is to make a separate book for this manual. I'd prefer though to have a single book. You can't make an entire file conditional. Embrace the idea of multiple books -- this is the sort of thing it's for. In fact, I'd use a separate book for each manual, each with its own title page file, in which I'd store the variables for that manual. Richard Richard G. Combs Senior Technical Writer Polycom, Inc. richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom 303-223-5111 -- rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom 303-777-0436 -- ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional?
I don't really have objections to building multiple books, myself, but I wish that I could control page numbering for subordinate or included books from the top-level book. Then again, I need to remember to do separate updates for all books before generating. It would be nice to be able to control this from the top-level book as well. Jack DeLand Fred Ridder wrote: What is your objection to building two books? That's the way FrameMaker is designed to work. If it weren't for the ability to build different books from differing collections of chapters is the primary reason for the extra comlication of the chapter/book paradigm. -Fred Ridder ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional?
What is your objection to building two books? That's the way FrameMaker is designed to work. If it weren't for the ability to build different books from differing collections of chapters is the primary reason for the extra comlication of the chapter/book paradigm. -Fred Ridder Subject: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional? Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 12:54:16 +0200 From: u...@thrane.com To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Hi Framers, I have a book file with a number of chapters and appendices. I use the same book file for 3 manuals, which I control with 3 conditional text tags. One of the appendices is only used in 2 of the manuals. Can I make this appendix conditional? My fallback solution is to make a separate book for this manual. I'd prefer though to have a single book. Thanks for your time, Ulrike Forsberg Technical writer E u...@thrane.com T +45 39 55 8213 Thrane Thrane A/S - Lundtoftegaardsvej 93 D DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark - www.thrane.com T +45 39 55 88 00 - F +45 39 55 88 88 ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional?
The question I answered did not deal with multi-level (nested?) books. It was a simple question about building two different deliverables from a mostly shared set of component files. The answer to that question is that the method for excluding one chapter from one deliverable while including in the other deliverable is to construct two different book files from the same set of chapters (except the one to be excluded, of course). Richard Combs recommended using separate cover pages that contain the version-specific values of user variables (e.g. document ID and book title for headers/footers), which is also my practice. I also use the cover page to contain the version-specific conditional text settings which I import along with the variables into the chapters when I'm preparing to publish the individual versions. I also keep separate sets of book-specific generated files (TOC, LOF, LOT, Index) for each variant just to make the publishing process more foolproof. -Fred Ridder Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 10:55:22 -0400 From: jdela...@comcast.net To: docu...@hotmail.com CC: u...@thrane.com; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional? I don't really have objections to building multiple books, myself, but I wish that I could control page numbering for subordinate or included books from the top-level book. Then again, I need to remember to do separate updates for all books before generating. It would be nice to be able to control this from the top-level book as well. Jack DeLand Fred Ridder wrote: What is your objection to building two books? That's the way FrameMaker is designed to work. If it weren't for the ability to build different books from differing collections of chapters is the primary reason for the extra comlication of the chapter/book paradigm. -Fred Ridder ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
Re: can a chapter in a book be set to conditional?
Fred, I have a similar but not identical situation. (FM 9) I have two versions of the same product; one is cut down from the other. There are roughly 100 components to the large manual I inherited, which is a reference guide. These are currently grouped into 7 sections. The smaller version of the document will use components from different sections mixed together. All 100 pieces undergo revision about every 4 months. What I'm thinking is that I should break out each component from its section, and have 100 pieces that I can mix and match as needed. About 90 pieces will be in the same position within both manuals, and in fact the sections that contain these would remain unchanged. My idea is to include a nested book as an alternate section for my combined pieces destined for the small guide, and exclude it when generating the large manual. I would have another book for the parallel section of the large guide, and exclude it when generating the small manual. Does this make sense? I do have the separate versions of front matter as you and Richard suggest. I would appreciate any input. I am still in the planning stage. Jack D Fred Ridder wrote: The question I answered did not deal with multi-level (nested?) books. It was a simple question about building two different deliverables from a mostly shared set of component files. The answer to that question is that the method for excluding one chapter from one deliverable while including in the other deliverable is to construct two different book files from the same set of chapters (except the one to be excluded, of course). Richard Combs recommended using separate cover pages that contain the version-specific values of user variables (e.g. document ID and book title for headers/footers), which is also my practice. I also use the cover page to contain the version-specific conditional text settings which I import along with the variables into the chapters when I'm preparing to publish the individual versions. I also keep separate sets of book-specific generated files (TOC, LOF, LOT, Index) for each variant just to make the publishing process more foolproof. -Fred Ridder ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
