Docbook and Frame 7.2
Thx Lynne and Bernard -- you have given me an excellent leg up. Unfortunately, He Who Pays The Bills now wants me to work on another job for the next week or so -- but I'l be back onto docbook again as soon as possible, and will advise you of the outcome. I'll also raise the use of a consultant (but, it's a start-up, and money is a little ... um ... tight?). I'd meet you at the DITA conference, Bernard, but Nth Carolina is a bit far from Oz :) Thx again jjj -- John Pitt, technical writer 47 Gottenham St Glebe NSW 2037 Ph: +612 9692 8096 Mob: +614 3892 8096 john at pitt.net.au www.pitt.net.au
Docbook and Frame 7.2
After successfully avoiding structured Frame for the last 14 or 15 years, I now have a client who wants me to get DocBook xml produced from his product's code into Frame. The end result is to be used for a number of manuals and pushed through WebWorks ePublisher Pro. While my reservations about structured Frame were not *totally* unjustified -- it is a very steep learning curve -- and many of the elements in my client's xml are not accepted by Frame, I am making headway. But there are still many gaps in my knowledge; the most worrying being tables that refuse to behave, and whitespace throughout. The latter should (according to the Frame doco) be removed automagically, but they are not. What does seem to work, paradoxically, is to remove all of the spaces in the xml code! My questions. How do I: @ control column widths in tables? @ control the total width of tables? @ prevent the last column in multi-column tables appearing as the first column? @ remove whitespace elegantly? @ get Frame to accept the schema in the first two lines of the xml file? (I have tried many different versions, most of which should work, but Frame invariably chokes). @ find an easily understandable guide to using DocBook/Frame? I have tried the online doco that somes with 7.2 and got some benefits from the Steve Whitlatch stuff on the net (and accelerated learning from Bernard Aschwanden's tutorial -- thx again Bernard!) Not much is it? :) jjj -- _ John Pitt, technical writer 47 Gottenham St Glebe NSW 2037 Ph: 02 9692 8096 Mob: 0438 92 8096 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.pitt.net.au ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
RE: Docbook and Frame 7.2
Does anyone know if there is a single procedure-oriented book that describes how to migrate a typical Unstructured FrameMaker manual (book file, chapters, Toc, etc) to Structured FrameMaker using DocBook and FrameMaker 7.2? I have a whole slew of assorted docs with a ton of information on background and why this or that is important, and how to build a DTD and EDD and lots of other stuff. Surely someone somewhere has assembled the relevant information into something more directly usable? I would love to find some doc that says: You need these files in this directory structure, and you will generate this and that, and in the end it should look like so. Now to customize it to your needs, do this... john From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Bernard Aschwanden Sent: Thu 1/5/2006 9:45 AM To: 'John Pitt'; framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Docbook and Frame 7.2 A quick response is to ask if you have already printed and reviewed the structure developers guide PDF that ships with FM. It's in the OnlineManuals folder of the installation directory and is called Structure_Dev_Guide.pdf That's a pretty good start. As for some of the others... Depending on the time you have available I can suggest that you get Kay Ethiers book XML and FrameMaker. In either case, look up the following: cols widths colsep rowsep frame tabstyle A sample of some of the table rules that you need to consider are in the Structure_Dev_Guide.pdf file in the CALS table model. The big warning on working with tables (thanks to Lynne Price for this one when it drove me nuts) is to ensure that the DTD you are referencing also contains the attributes required for properties such as the number of columns, their width, span properties and so on. If not, then you don't get the right output. That drove me crazy since I thought I had all of FM working right (and I did) but I failed to get the table coded in the DTD correctly. If you are dealing with docbook then I strongly suggest starting with read/write rules that knock out the 8317 elements you don't need and keeps the stuff you find useful. I also found a ton of the attributes to be overkill and dropped them as well. Hopefully this gets you started. If it's not enough and you are at the DITA conference in March in North Carolina, look me up and we can run a test or two (assuming it's not too late). Finally, there are enough consultants (myself included) on this list that someone can always be hired to pitch in on the project. All the best, Bernard Bernard Aschwanden Publishing Technologies Expert Publishing Smarter [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.publishingsmarter.com -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of John Pitt Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 5:34 AM To: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Docbook and Frame 7.2 After successfully avoiding structured Frame for the last 14 or 15 years, I now have a client who wants me to get DocBook xml produced from his product's code into Frame. The end result is to be used for a number of manuals and pushed through WebWorks ePublisher Pro. While my reservations about structured Frame were not *totally* unjustified -- it is a very steep learning curve -- and many of the elements in my client's xml are not accepted by Frame, I am making headway. But there are still many gaps in my knowledge; the most worrying being tables that refuse to behave, and whitespace throughout. The latter should (according to the Frame doco) be removed automagically, but they are not. What does seem to work, paradoxically, is to remove all of the spaces in the xml code! My questions. How do I: @ control column widths in tables? @ control the total width of tables? @ prevent the last column in multi-column tables appearing as the first column? @ remove whitespace elegantly? @ get Frame to accept the schema in the first two lines of the xml file? (I have tried many different versions, most of which should work, but Frame invariably chokes). @ find an easily understandable guide to using DocBook/Frame? I have tried the online doco that somes with 7.2 and got some benefits from the Steve Whitlatch stuff on the net (and accelerated learning from Bernard Aschwanden's tutorial -- thx again Bernard!) Not much is it? :) jjj -- _ John Pitt, technical writer 47 Gottenham St Glebe NSW 2037 Ph: 02 9692 8096 Mob: 0438 92 8096 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.pitt.net.au ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/bernard%40publishingsmarter.com Send administrative questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers
Docbook and Frame 7.2
After successfully avoiding structured Frame for the last 14 or 15 years, I now have a client who wants me to get DocBook xml produced from his product's code into Frame. The end result is to be used for a number of manuals and pushed through WebWorks ePublisher Pro. While my reservations about structured Frame were not *totally* unjustified -- it is a very steep learning curve -- and many of the elements in my client's xml are not accepted by Frame, I am making headway. But there are still many gaps in my knowledge; the most worrying being tables that refuse to behave, and whitespace throughout. The latter "should" (according to the Frame doco) be removed automagically, but they are not. What does seem to work, paradoxically, is to remove all of the spaces in the xml code! My questions. How do I: @ control column widths in tables? @ control the total width of tables? @ prevent the last column in multi-column tables appearing as the first column? @ remove whitespace elegantly? @ get Frame to accept the schema in the first two lines of the xml file? (I have tried many different versions, most of which should work, but Frame invariably chokes). @ find an easily understandable guide to using DocBook/Frame? I have tried the online doco that somes with 7.2 and got some benefits from the Steve Whitlatch stuff on the net (and accelerated learning from Bernard Aschwanden's tutorial -- thx again Bernard!) Not much is it? :) jjj -- _ John Pitt, technical writer 47 Gottenham St Glebe NSW 2037 Ph: 02 9692 8096 Mob: 0438 92 8096 john at pitt.net.au www.pitt.net.au
Docbook and Frame 7.2
At 06:45 AM 1/5/2006, Bernard Aschwanden wrote: >If you are dealing with docbook then I strongly suggest starting with >read/write rules that knock out the 8317 elements you don't need and keeps >the stuff you find useful. I also found a ton of the attributes to be >overkill and dropped them as well. John, I echo Bernard's advice above (by the way, Bernard, thanks for the acknowledgment elsewhere in your reply!). Let me point out that FrameMaker makes it easy to drop the unneeded elements and attributes. When I start a DocBook project, I use FrameMaker's File > Structure Tools > Import DTD command to simplify the EDD. This command updates an EDD to correspond to a (possibly revised) version of a DTD. Since it processes read/write rules, though, any rules to drop unneeded elements and attributes affect the result. In a bit more detail, Imake a list of all elements (see below for one way of doing so). Then given: abbrev abstract accel ackno acronym action ... I use a text editor macro to insert: element " at the beginning of each line and: " drop; at the end to produce: element "abbrev" drop; element "abstract" drop; element "accel" drop; element "ackno" drop; element "acronym" drop; element "action" drop; ... I do something similar for attributes. I save all these rules in a file and include that file in my read/write rules. I delete the rules for elements and attributes that I know I want to use. Then I use an application that invokes those rules to import the DocBook DTD into the DocBook starter kit EDD that comes with FrameMaker. FrameMaker not only removes the element definitions for the dropped elements, but it removes references to those elements in the general rules for the retained elements. I then have a much simpler version of the DocBook starter kit EDD that I can edit to change the formatting as necessary for my project. If I later decide I had dropped an element or attribute that I want to use, I can remove the associated drop rule and import the DTD once more into the current version of my EDD. To make the list of elements, I create a new EDD by opening the DocBook DTD without a structured application. Then I create a list of elements and paragraphs (usually an alphabetized list since that makes it easy to locate entries in the list) selecting the Tag element to include in the generated list and formatting it without page numbers. I save the result as text. I do the same for the attributes, selected the Name element to include in the list. Since the same attribute may be defined for multiple elements, I remove the duplicates with a utility such as the UNIX uniq command. >Finally, there are enough consultants (myself included) on this list that >someone can always be hired to pitch in on the project. As another such consultant, I agree with the above as well! >-Original Message- >From: framers-bounces+bernard=publishingsmarter.com at lists.frameusers.com >[mailto:framers-bounces+bernard=publishingsmarter.com at lists.frameusers.com] > On Behalf Of John Pitt >Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 5:34 AM >To: framers at lists.frameusers.com >Subject: Docbook and Frame 7.2 > >My questions. How do I: As Bernard suggested, most (if not all) of your questions are addressed in the Structure Application Developer's Guide. >@ control column widths in tables? You can have an attribute whose value is a space-separated list of the widths of successive columns, such as "1in 3.5cm 200pt". You can request proportional widths "3* 2* 5*" divides the available space (which is either the width of the text frame or the width of a column) into widths in the indicated proportions. More specifically, FrameMaker adds the numeric values of all proportional widths, and assigns a width to each column that is the numeric value for that column divided by that sum. In this case, 3+2+5 = 10, so the first column would be 3/10 the width of the available space, the next one 2/10, and the last 5/10. You can mix fixed and proportional widths: "2* 3in 1*" makes the middle column 3 inches wide, gives the first column 2/3 of the remaining space and the last column 1/3. Alternatively, you can use the CALS table model (which DocBook does) and have an empty colspec element at the start of each tgroup. The colspec elements exist only in XML (in FrameMaker, they correspond to properties of the resulting table and its content rather than to elements). Each defines some properties of a table column, including its width. >@ control the total width of tables? Unless you are using proportional widths as discussed above, the total width of a table is the sum of the column widths. >@ prevent the last column in multi-column tables appearing as the first
Docbook and Frame 7.2
Does anyone know if there is a single procedure-oriented book that describes how to migrate a typical Unstructured FrameMaker manual (book file, chapters, Toc, etc) to Structured FrameMaker using DocBook and FrameMaker 7.2? I have a whole slew of assorted docs with a ton of information on background and why this or that is important, and how to build a DTD and EDD and lots of other stuff. Surely someone somewhere has assembled the relevant information into something more directly usable? I would love to find some doc that says: "You need these files in this directory structure, and you will generate this and that, and in the end it should look like so. Now to customize it to your needs, do this..." john From: framers-bounces+jsgammato=imprivata@lists.frameusers.com on behalf of Bernard Aschwanden Sent: Thu 1/5/2006 9:45 AM To: 'John Pitt'; framers at lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: Docbook and Frame 7.2 A quick response is to ask if you have already printed and reviewed the structure developers guide PDF that ships with FM. It's in the OnlineManuals folder of the installation directory and is called Structure_Dev_Guide.pdf That's a pretty good start. As for some of the others... Depending on the time you have available I can suggest that you get Kay Ethiers book "XML and FrameMaker". In either case, look up the following: cols widths colsep rowsep frame tabstyle A sample of some of the table rules that you need to consider are in the Structure_Dev_Guide.pdf file in the CALS table model. The big warning on working with tables (thanks to Lynne Price for this one when it drove me nuts) is to ensure that the DTD you are referencing also contains the attributes required for properties such as the number of columns, their width, span properties and so on. If not, then you don't get the right output. That drove me crazy since I thought I had all of FM working right (and I did) but I failed to get the table coded in the DTD correctly. If you are dealing with docbook then I strongly suggest starting with read/write rules that knock out the 8317 elements you don't need and keeps the stuff you find useful. I also found a ton of the attributes to be overkill and dropped them as well. Hopefully this gets you started. If it's not enough and you are at the DITA conference in March in North Carolina, look me up and we can run a test or two (assuming it's not too late). Finally, there are enough consultants (myself included) on this list that someone can always be hired to pitch in on the project. All the best, Bernard Bernard Aschwanden Publishing Technologies Expert Publishing Smarter bernard at publishingsmarter.com www.publishingsmarter.com -Original Message- From: framers-bounces+bernard=publishingsmarter.com at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces+bernard=publishingsmarter@lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of John Pitt Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 5:34 AM To: framers at lists.frameusers.com Subject: Docbook and Frame 7.2 After successfully avoiding structured Frame for the last 14 or 15 years, I now have a client who wants me to get DocBook xml produced from his product's code into Frame. The end result is to be used for a number of manuals and pushed through WebWorks ePublisher Pro. While my reservations about structured Frame were not *totally* unjustified -- it is a very steep learning curve -- and many of the elements in my client's xml are not accepted by Frame, I am making headway. But there are still many gaps in my knowledge; the most worrying being tables that refuse to behave, and whitespace throughout. The latter "should" (according to the Frame doco) be removed automagically, but they are not. What does seem to work, paradoxically, is to remove all of the spaces in the xml code! My questions. How do I: @ control column widths in tables? @ control the total width of tables? @ prevent the last column in multi-column tables appearing as the first column? @ remove whitespace elegantly? @ get Frame to accept the schema in the first two lines of the xml file? (I have tried many different versions, most of which should work, but Frame invariably chokes). @ find an easily understandable guide to using DocBook/Frame? I have tried the online doco that somes with 7.2 and got some benefits from the Steve Whitlatch stuff on the net (and accelerated learning from Bernard Aschwanden's tutorial -- thx again Bernard!) Not much is it? :) jjj -- _ John Pitt, technical writer 47 Gottenham St Glebe NSW 2037 Ph: 02 9692 8096 Mob: 0438 92 8096 john at pitt.net.au www.pitt.net.au ___ You are currently subscribed to Framers as bernard at publishingsmarter.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/m
Docbook and Frame 7.2
I'd buy it! -bob Robert Kern President, TIPS Technical Publishing, Inc. 108 E. Main Street, Suite 4 Carrboro, NC 27510 www.technicalpublishing.com bob at technicalpublishing.com 919-933-2629 phone and fax John Sgammato wrote: >Does anyone know if there is a single procedure-oriented book that describes >how to migrate a typical Unstructured FrameMaker manual (book file, chapters, >Toc, etc) to Structured FrameMaker using DocBook and FrameMaker 7.2? >I have a whole slew of assorted docs with a ton of information on background >and why this or that is important, and how to build a DTD and EDD and lots of >other stuff. >Surely someone somewhere has assembled the relevant information into something >more directly usable? >I would love to find some doc that says: "You need these files in this >directory structure, and you will generate this and that, and in the end it >should look like so. Now to customize it to your needs, do this..." > >john > > > >From: framers-bounces+jsgammato=imprivata.com at lists.frameusers.com on >behalf of Bernard Aschwanden >Sent: Thu 1/5/2006 9:45 AM >To: 'John Pitt'; framers at lists.frameusers.com >Subject: RE: Docbook and Frame 7.2 > > > >A quick response is to ask if you have already printed and reviewed the >structure developers guide PDF that ships with FM. It's in the OnlineManuals >folder of the installation directory and is called Structure_Dev_Guide.pdf > >That's a pretty good start. As for some of the others... Depending on the time >you have available I can suggest that you get Kay Ethiers book "XML and >FrameMaker". > >In either case, look up the following: > >cols >widths >colsep >rowsep >frame >tabstyle > >A sample of some of the table rules that you need to consider are in the >Structure_Dev_Guide.pdf file in the CALS table model. The big warning on >working with tables (thanks to Lynne Price for this one when it drove me nuts) >is to ensure that the DTD you are referencing also contains the attributes >required for properties such as the number of columns, their width, span >properties and so on. If not, then you don't get the right output. That drove >me crazy since I thought I had all of FM working right (and I did) but I >failed to get the table coded in the DTD correctly. > >If you are dealing with docbook then I strongly suggest starting with >read/write rules that knock out the 8317 elements you don't need and keeps the >stuff you find useful. I also found a ton of the attributes to be overkill and >dropped them as well. > >Hopefully this gets you started. If it's not enough and you are at the DITA >conference in March in North Carolina, look me up and we can run a test or two >(assuming it's not too late). Finally, there are enough consultants (myself >included) on this list that someone can always be hired to pitch in on the >project. > >All the best, > >Bernard > > > >Bernard Aschwanden >Publishing Technologies Expert >Publishing Smarter > >bernard at publishingsmarter.com > >www.publishingsmarter.com > > > >-Original Message- >From: framers-bounces+bernard=publishingsmarter.com at lists.frameusers.com >[mailto:framers-bounces+bernard=publishingsmarter.com at lists.frameusers.com] >On Behalf Of John Pitt >Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 5:34 AM >To: framers at lists.frameusers.com >Subject: Docbook and Frame 7.2 > >After successfully avoiding structured Frame for the last 14 or 15 years, I >now have a client who wants me to get DocBook xml produced from his product's >code into Frame. The end result is to be used for a number of manuals and >pushed through WebWorks ePublisher Pro. > >While my reservations about structured Frame were not *totally* unjustified -- >it is a very steep learning curve -- and many of the elements in my client's >xml are not accepted by Frame, I am making headway. > >But there are still many gaps in my knowledge; the most worrying being tables >that refuse to behave, and whitespace throughout. The latter "should" >(according to the Frame doco) be removed automagically, but they are not. What >does seem to work, paradoxically, is to remove all of the spaces in the xml >code! > >My questions. How do I: > >@ control column widths in tables? > >@ control the total width of tables? > >@ prevent the last column in multi-column tables appearing as the first column? > >@ remove whitespace elegantly? > >@ get Frame to accept the schema in the first two lines of the xml file? >(I have tried many different versions, most of which should work, but Frame >invariably chokes). > >@ find an
