Technical Communication

FrameMaker, Technical Communication, DITA, Ditaval, Filtering, PDF

Adobe FrameMaker 9 allows to use Ditaval based filtering of content while producing following output from a DITA Map:

• PDF
• Print Output
• FrameMaker Book (with FM Components)
• Composite Document

For using the Ditaval filtering with FrameMaker, first create a ditaval file specifying the filtering criteria and then select this ditaval file while producing the output.

While creating the PDF, FrameMaker Book (with FM Components) or Composite document from a DITA Map, following shall be done to use Ditaval filtering:

• Choose the option ‘Prompt For DitaVal File’ in the ‘Save Document’ dialog (as depicted in image below).
• After clicking on Save, a ‘Choose DitaVal File’ dialog appears. In this dialog, select the Ditaval file to be used to apply the content filtering.
• On choosing the file, the desired output gets generated as per the filtering specified in the Ditaval file.

For Print Output, user has the option to enable/disable Ditaval filtering feature using the ‘PromptForDitaval’ option in ditafm.ini file. Set ‘PromptForDitaval =1’ to enable this feature. When enabled, the ‘Choose DitaVal File’ dialog shall appear whenever the user invokes print command for a DITA Map.

Following is a demonstration for 'Using DITAVAL Filtering while generating PDF output from a DITA Map' :

view in a separate window

Please let me know your comments and suggestions.

Thanks and Regards,
Tarun Garg

FrameMaker Engineering

Posted by Tarun Garg at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adobe,RoboHelp,Technical Communication

Master Pages, a new concept introduced in Adobe RoboHelp 8, intends to provide flexibility in controlling the layout of topics, where in an author may separate the actual content from the layout of the output and may do it from a single place. In Adobe RoboHelp 8, a user may use Master Page as a Layout and Styling canvas where one may put basic HTML elements to be used for Layout purposes. This is an enhanced feature to the legacy Topic Template feature in RoboHelp through which user could just create topics having initial similar content and could control CSS style and Header/Footer.

Also, this feature introduces the concept of various Placeholders viz. Body Placeholder, MiniTOC Placeholder, Breadcrumbs Placeholder, where a user may generate variety of content in different style as and when required at various places in the topics controlling them from the same Master Page.

Using other placeholders, such as Mini TOC and Breadcrumbs may give authors a tighter control over the layout of the output since Mini TOC or Breadcrumbs may be generated automatically with same settings done at a single place in the Master Page. RoboHelp Headers and Footers behaviour is kept similar to earlier Topic Templates for a reusable persistence model.

Another use of this feature may be to achieve different look and feel for different SSL outputs. With a Layout already defined in a Master page, during generation of output, user may decide to apply one of the Master Pages used in the project so as to keep a consistent look and feel throughout the project output. This gives more flexibility to a user with respect to defining and controlling the layout of output.

The Master Page

Different areas of a Default Master Page

The Master Page Editor may be considered having two components, first, the Body placeholder area as a representative of Topic content to which this Master Page will be applied and second, the area outside the Body Placeholder which may be used for controlling the layout of associated topics (Refer the Image)

This Layout area is like any other Editor area where HTML content may be placed. The difference with the content outside Body Placeholder i.e. the Layout area is that these contents are not shown in the associated topic but are patched during preview/output. RoboHelp 8 overrides all layout settings (e.g. Borders and Shading Properties, Background Color etc) of attached Topic from that of the Master page.

In the Design view of a Topic associated with a Master Page, contents from the layout part is not shown, but while creating a topic, content present inside the Body Placeholder is placed as initial content of the new topic. The resulting preview/output of a topic with applied Master Page is formed with a combination of Layout from Master Page and content from the topic placed at a position where Body Placeholder is kept in the Master Page Layout. This may be understood from the following schematic:

Generation of Preview/Output for a topic associated with a Master Page

The Placeholders

Body Placeholder

A new concept of Body placeholder has been introduced in the Master Page which shall act as a placeholder for the actual topic content associated with this master page. This Body Placeholder is a special placeholder that provides space to embed the seed content to be inserted into a newly created topic based on this Master Page. Another most important use of this placeholder is to represent the Topic Content in layout of the Master Page. A Master Page can have only one Body Placeholder at a time. During preview/generation of resultant topic based on a Master Page, Body placeholder of the corresponding master page will be replaced by content of the actual topic content and the resulting topic will be generated.

Mini TOC Placeholder:

This placeholder may be used to generate a Mini TOC automatically at compile time for intra topic navigation. Although, this Placeholder may be inserted anywhere and any no. of times in the Master Page or a Topic, the purpose of centralized control and consistent appearance may be achieved by placing it into a Master Page Layout area. While previewing or in the output of a topic, this Placeholder will be replaced by the actual Mini TOC generated based on the Style settings done for the placeholder and the content in the resulting Topic for style H1 to H6 .

Mini TOC also provides a way to expand/collapse the Mini TOC in the output with a defined string (By default it is show/hide), which is shown beside Mini TOC caption in Expanding Hot Spot Style. The string may be changed from LNG File of the project wherein the variables are present in Master Page’s section. If an author doesn’t want to have any text present for the expand/collapse functionality, he may keep the variables as blank. Also if one wants to keep the Caption and this Hot Spot absent for a Mini TOC, one may keep the Caption blank. Still further, if a user wants to use the Expand/Collapse string in the output but doesn’t want to have any Caption in the resulting Mini TOC, he may achieve it by placing a space in the Caption field of the corresponding placeholder.

Breadcrumbs Placeholder

Breadcrumbs Placeholder is a placeholder for a Breadcrumb to be generated at Output generation time for inter topic linking based on the TOC selected. This placeholder may be inserted anywhere and any no. of times in a Master Page or a Topic, although maximum flexibility and centralized control may be achieved if used in a Master Page layout area.

Style for breadcrumbs may be set from the Options dialog itself, but if a user wants to use style present in CSS he may set the style for Breadcrumbs in CSS itself, where an entry for the Breadcrumbs character and paragraph style is present. After setting these style elements in the CSS user should check “Use Style from Topic” option in the corresponding Breadcrumb dialog for those settings to be applied in corresponding Breadcrumbs.

Generating consistent Output in RoboHelp 8

Adobe RoboHelp 8 provides a consistent way of producing output with the help of applying CSS or Master Page while generating output. This gives an author flexibility to generate same content with different styles and different layouts by just applying a CSS or a Master Page while generating output.

If a user wants to have a consistent layout across his output, he may create a Master Page with that particular layout and apply it in all of the topics in the content. The resulting output will have all topic contents placed in place of Body Placeholder present in the Master Page with the CSS of Master Page overriding the CSS of topics across output Topics. User may also select only a CSS to apply across all topics by selecting it in the SSL dialog. Doing this, selected CSS will be applied across all topics while generation.

A user may still want to use a layout from a Master Page and the CSS from the Topic itself. This may also be achieved by applying a Master Page having None CSS attached and corresponding layout present. Doing this will apply only layout from the Master Page on the resulting topics and CSS of the topics will be the same as in topics and hence may be different for the topics in the output.

Milind Jha
RoboHelp QE Team

Posted by Milind Kumar Jha at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With FrameMaker 9 comes a new way to work with files on a CMS (Content Management Server) that supports HTTP/WebDAV protocol. WebDAV is a kind of extension over HTTP which allows user to write files on Web along with usual viewing. Multiple users can collaboratively edit and manage files hosted on the Web server. Since many of today’s CMS servers provide users with a WebDAV route to access and edit files, FrameMaker 9 can automate the collaborative tasks by providing direct ways to view and make changes to files on CMS systems.

To setup a new CMS server and work with it using FrameMaker 9, initial configurations are required on the server side only. One is required to host any of the FrameMaker supported WebDAV servers on a machine. The list of supported servers includes Alfresco CMS, Apache Tomcat and Microsoft’s IIS server. Anyhow the feature works well with other WebDAV-based servers too. The server machine may either be situated in Intranet or can be remotely located. Other steps to set the server up comprises of establishing a file-structure that will be shared among contributors and creating a list of users who will have password-protected access to files on the server.

At the FrameMaker end, user is simply required to mention HTTP paths of files wherever required. For example, to open an FM file on WebDAV server, user only needs to type the HTTP URL of the file in the File->Open box and open it. If the file required being modified, just make changes and save the file. In a similar manner, user can import HTTP objects, open XML files, Books and Ditamaps, create references to HTTP files, etc. This is made possible with native HTTP path support added in FrameMaker 9. Almost all FrameMaker workflows now support HTTP paths. Frame 9 provides out-of-the-box HTTP integration where user is kept free from the network operations going internally. FrameMaker by itself manages file-caching for user, automatically downloads and uploads files and checks them in and out if required.

The support is not restricted to WebDAV servers in particular; operations that do not involve editing a file (e.g. importing a graphic or a DTD in XML) can even be carried out on files that belong to non-WebDAV HTTP servers.

Besides, FrameMaker 9 also consists of a new WebDAV browser. This browser can be accessed through the “Browse URL” button that can be found on any of File->Open, Import and Save dialogs. The browser is used to list the content of WebDAV server. The dialog also provides user with a set of file operations like create a new folder on server and rename or delete a file. This dialog comes handy especially when user does not remember the HTTP URL of file he needs to open or import. All he has to do is to browse to that particular folder through WebDAV browser and double-click the required file item. This will copy the file’s URL to the Open or Import dialog and will save substantial typing of user each time.

The presented flash demo illustrates some of the common DITA workflows that can be performed over files on WebDAV server. The flash presentation includes opening a Ditamap from one server, making changes to Ditamap, adding HTTP Topicrefs and Conrefs from another server into Ditamap, modifying the Topicrefs and saving them back, converting HTTP Ditamap into a composite document and uploading the generated document to the server. I hope you like the demonstration.

View in a seperate window

Please feel free to put your comments to the post.

Jatin Sanghvi
FrameMaker Engineering

Posted by Jatin Sanghvi at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker, Technical Communication, DITA, Ditamap, Ditamap Publishing, PDF

Adobe FrameMaker 9 supports generation of following output from a DITA Map: PDF Print FrameMaker Book with FM components FrameMaker Book with XML components Composite Document Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2 supports generation of following output (in addition to above) from a DITA Map: AIR HTML Flash Help Microsoft HTML Help (or CHM)

Adobe FrameMaker 9 enhances the output generation for DITA Maps with additional support for the following DITA constructs:

1. Attribute ‘print’: While generating output form a DITA Map, ‘print’ attribute value shall be used to determine whether the topic shall be included in the output. If no value is specified, it is assumed to be ‘yes’. User has the option to enable/disable this feature using the ‘UsePrint’ option in ditafm.ini file. Set ‘UsePrint = 1’ to enable this feature.
2. Relationship Table Support: Relationship tables, if present in the DITA Map, shall be used to generate related links in the output. User has the option to enable/disable this feature using the ‘UseReltable’ option in ditafm.ini file. Set ‘UseReltable = 1’ to enable this feature.
3. DITAVal Filtering Support: The DITA Map content shall get filtered, based on the provided DITAVal file, to generate the output. The filtering gets applied to the DITA Map, as well as to all the referenced Topics within. User has the option of specifying the DITAVal file at the time of generating output.

Using Adobe FrameMaker 9, one can save a DITA Map in various formats depending on one’s requirements. It could be intermediary output, like – FrameMaker Book/Document; or it can be final output, like – Print/PDF.

A DITA Map can be saved to one of the following formats, to carry out the required post-processing before producing the final output:

1. FrameMaker Book with FM components: A FrameMaker book is created based on the DITA Map. Each Topic gets converted to a separate FrameMaker document. Each Map (contained by the DITA Map), gets converted to a separate FrameMaker Composite document. The generated book contains these converted FrameMaker documents in the same hierarchical structure as the DITA Map.
2. FrameMaker Book with XML components: A FrameMaker book is created based on the DITA Map. Each Topic/Map in the DITA Map, gets added to the FrameMaker Book in the XML format itself. The generated book contains these XML documents in the same hierarchical structure as the DITA Map.
3. Composite Document: A Composite FrameMaker document is created based on the DITA Map. The content from all the referenced Topics/Maps is collated to create a single FrameMaker document for output.

Also, a direct output can be generate from a DITA Map, in the form of PDF/Print output. While doing this, the content from all the referenced Topics/Maps is collated to create a single output document (similar to the Composite Document).

Following table summarizes the availability of output related DITA features , while producing different outputs for a DITA Map:

*For this output, the topicrefs where 'print' attribute is set to ‘no’, do not get dropped from the output book. Rather, corresponding component’s ‘Exclude’ flag gets set in the output FrameMaker Book.

Following are the steps for producing an output from a DITA Map:

1. Open DITA Map in FrameMaker’s RM View.
2. Use menu command:
   • ‘File-> Save Ditamap As’, for all outputs except print.
   • ‘File->Print Ditamap’, for print output.
   • ‘File->Save As PDF’, for PDF output.
3. Select appropriate type from ‘Save as Type’ drop-down in the ‘Save Document’ dialog. Refer to the table below, for ‘Save as Type’ option to be used for different outputs.

Following table lists the ‘Save as Type’ option to be used for different outputs:

Output	‘Save As Type’ Option
FM Book (FM Components)	Book 9.0 with fm components (*.book)
FM Book (XML Components)	Book 9.0 (*.book)
Composite Document	Composite Document 9.0 (*.fm)
Print Output	-N/A-
PDF	PDF (*.pdf)

Following is a demo to 'Generate FrameMaker Book (with FM Components) from a DITA Map' :

view in a separate window

Following is a demo to 'Generate PDF output from a DITA Map' :

view in a separate window

Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2 boosts this capability through better integration of FrameMaker and Robohelp. It enables generation of more output formats from a DITA Map, such as – AIR, HTML, Flash Help and CHM. This can be done as follows:

1. Using FrameMaker 9, generate a FrameMaker Book (with FM/XML components) or a FrameMaker Composite Document, from a DITA Map. (Note: Using each of these different outputs, shall have a different impact in terms of the post-processing effort & the final output that will get generated.)
2. Import the generated output into RoboHelp 8, using RoboHelp’s menu command ‘File->Import->FrameMaker Document’.
3. Do the required post-processing and/or the settings. Generate the desired output (AIR/HTML/FlashHelp/CHM) using RoboHelp 8.

Following is a demo to 'Generate HTML output from a DITA Map' :

view in a separate window

Please let me know your comments and suggestions.

Thanks and Regards,
Tarun Garg

FrameMaker Engineering

Posted by Tarun Garg at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker 9,9.0.1,PDF,DITA,Technical Communication,STC

Dear Framers

Welcome back!

I hope most of you would have taken a break during the vacation.

At my end, I also keep working on getting the breaks fixed :-) . Yes, I am referring to the patch activity.

I appreciate that you experts find out the issues and report them in time to me. Since there were some known and unknown issues which you found with FrameMaker 9, I decided to get them fixed on priority.

The patch 9.0.1 was released some time back and it addresses a large number of key issues. The issues fixed with this patch are:

1. Type-ahead functionality of Control Key shortcuts (Ctrl+0 and Ctrl+9) is fixed.

Note - When focus is on type‐ahead area, with a tag displayed in it, clicking in the document applies that displayed tag. “ESC” key should be used to exit from the status bar’s type‐ahead area.

2. When the starting letter is pressed the fly‐out menu of the status bar DOES NOT APPLY the value automatically NOW if there is a SINGLE entry.

3. Now, index “see” characteristics with DITA indexterms can be completely controlled by you.

4. DITAVal filter works correctly NOW even if there was conditional text applied on some elements.

5. In Save as CMYK Pdf functionality, rendering of imported PDFs can be done as a CMYK preview.

6. The crash issue occurring when specifying a wrong file name in browse dialog at the time of inserting a new topicref (using element catalog) in a Map/BookMap file is fixed.

7. Para Designer doesn’t get updated in the minimized mode now.

8. In German locale, messages appear correctly in XML Schema Log.

9. File‐>preferences‐>interface‐ > Hide Panel on Close; will be checked OFF by default NOW. This boosts performance.

10. The issue of graphics getting dropped in CMYK PDF is fixed now.

The ReadMe can be downloaded from
https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=26e86a52-1056-4a40-82b5-0aa23adcd37e

You may find some change in behavior when you apply this patch but please do no worry. We are aware of these and there are simple workarounds for these. Let me discuss these in detail.

• Command popups in Designers (Paragraph, Character and Table) may not open on mouse click. You may also find empty building block list.

Tips

1. Make sure "Hide Panels on Close" if OFF in File->Preferences->Interface dialog (once it is done , this setting will persist for all subsequent FM session)

2. Close the Designer (Para,Character or Table) once and reopen. This will fix the issue. (need to be done once for FM session)

Please keep giving your valuable feedback.

I am really excited that at STC in Atlanta, I will get an opportunity for discussion with you all!

Thanks and regards
Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adobe FrameMaker,CMS Integration,WebDAV enhancements

You can open and edit XML files stored on the WebDAV server using FrameMaker 9.
When FrameMaker 9 is installed on your computer, the Edit with FrameMaker plug-in is added to the browser's toolbar and is listed as an option in the edit menu for XML files.

To edit XML files on a WebDAV server:
1. Open Internet Explorer browser.
Note: This feature is supported in Internet Explorer 6 and later.
2. Enter the URL of the XML file you want to open.
3. Click the edit icon on the browser’s toolbar, and select “Edit with Adobe FrameMaker 9”. FrameMaker is launched.
FrameMaker accesses the WebDAV server, checks-out the XML file and opens it in FrameMaker.
Note: To use the browser plug-in functionality on Windows Vista the user would need to disable the Protected Mode in the Windows Vista browser. To do this access-Tools>Internet Options>Security and uncheck Enable Protected Mode.
4. In the choose application dialog box that appears, select an appropriate Application to open the XML document.
Note: This dialog box does not appear if you have already specified the Application in the Generic Application Selector PI of the XML document.
5. Edit the document in FrameMaker and save the changes. The changes are saved back to the server depending on the setting kept in the Preferences. Users have option to either upload the file on each save or to save changes when the user closes the file currently being edited.
6. Close the document. FrameMaker saves the XML file on the WebDAV server. The file is now checked-in and unlocked on the WebDAV server.
You must log in to the WebDAV server the first time you open an XML file. Your login credentials are verified by the
WebDAV server before the XML file is locked and checked out for opening in FrameMaker. The valid credentials will be maintained for that particular FrameMaker session. Other users can open the locked XML files in view-only mode only.

A link to a small demo on using the Brower plugin to edit XML files over WebDAV is provided below.
View demo

Nakshatra
FrameMaker QE team

Posted by Nakshatra Bhardwaj at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Structured FrameMaker,Technical Communication,Adobe Technical Communication Suite,XML Authoring

Adobe FrameMaker 9 has introduced support for associating an XML file with a structured Application. XML authors can now provide the information about the structapps.fm and the Application required to open the XML document using a Processing Instruction(PI).

FrameMaker will be able to understand the PI in following three forms:
1. <?Fmwd AppLocation "structapps_path" AppName "Application"?>
FrameMaker will silently read file from structapps_path and associate Application both at the time of opening and saving XML file.
2. <?Fmwd AppLocation "structapps_path" ?>
FrameMaker will silently read file from structapps_path at the time of opening/saving XML file and will prompt user to select one of the applications within structapps.
3. <?Fmwd AppName "Application"?>
FrameMaker will use the current read structapps and associate the Application given in PI to the XML while opening/saving the file.

The PI should appear before the root element in the XML document with the following syntax:
<?Fmwd AppLocation "structapps.fm" AppName "ApplicationName"?>

For example the below code snippet for an XML file shows the usage of PI instructions.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<?Fmwd AppLocation "http://cms-fm/FM9/structapps.fm" AppName "SendMail"?>
<Mail xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="email.xsd">
<from>Asterix</from>
<to>Obelix</to>
<subject>Lost Dogmatix</subject>
<body>Please Help.</body>
</Mail>

While opening this XML file FrameMaker 9 will silently read the structapps file available at the path mentioned and will use the 'SendMail' application read from the structapps to open the XML file. This should save time involved in opening the structured application file, reading the application definitions and selecting the Application in the Choose Application dialog.

Points to be Noted-
• If Application is not found in structapps, XML will be opened/saved with No Application.
• structapps_path can be absolute/relative paths and they can point to either HTTP or local paths

FrameMaker uses the structured application definition file to locate referenced files, such as read-write rules,
templates, schema and DTD. In cases where the structured application referenced files are located on a web server FrameMaker will download all the referenced files from the server to a temporary location on the local disk. An author can provide such references using an absolute path or relative path with respect to the XML file being edited.
Please feel free to share your feedback.

Nakshatra
FrameMaker QE team

Posted by Nakshatra Bhardwaj at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)