Article 1. Level 1
   Section 1. Level 2
      Paragraph 1.a. Level 3
   Section 2. Level 2 again
Article 2. Level 1 again

Multilevel lists can be either single level or multiple levels. This feature is probably much richer than what many of us think.

Creating multilevel list
Select paragraph or any existing list or put the cursor where you want to create your list.

1. Either press (Create a Multilevel List) or go to Format > list -> Multilevel list
2. A dialog will appear. Choose a list style or template and press ok.
3. The selected content will be changed into chosen list style. If selected content has a list with levels then its level will be update based on the selected style.
4. Press tab or shift tab to change the level of selected list items.

List structure:
Multilevel list can have up to 9 levels. Each level can have the following properties and they get applied to the selected paragraph.

These properties can be modified using the List style definition dialog as mentioned below

Numbering Behavior:
The scope of 'numbering' of Multilevel list is defined at the topic level. Multilevel list items need not be adjacent or contiguous to retain the numbering sequence. Different items of the same Multilevel list can be in different blocks within a topic and its number is sequenced. You can also write any content between two items of multilevel list without having to choose to restart or continue numbering.

List Indentation & Margin control
User may control the margin space and indentation space of the Multilevel list as shown below.

Multilevel Prefix
Any Multilevel list prefix can have text in the following format in list style dialog.

<text><x|1-9><text>

<x|1-9>: This denotes level number. These will be replaced with sequence value with specified list style like (1,2,3, ...) or (a,b,c, ...) or custom sequence. This could be <x> or <1> or <2> or <3> up to <9>. <1> means first level, <x> means current level of list item.

<text>: Here text could be anything arournd level number. This text will appear as it is in the prefix.

Following are some examples of required 'list numbering' and its correponding 'prefix
text':

Custom Sequencing:
RoboHelp provides five numbering sequence options in list style (viz. decimal, upper-alpha, lower-alpha, upper-roman, lower-roman) and 30+ bullet options. In addition, RoboHelp also allows you to define your own custom sequence. To create a custom sequence, use the List style dialog:

1. Press 'New...'
2. Press 'Add Sequence' and name it



3. Type entries in 'Edit Sequence'
4. Press 'Add' to add more entries in the sequence.
5. Press 'OK'.

Restart/ continue numbering
You may restart/continue numbering of any multilevel list items by following these steps:

1. Right click on list item.
2. Select "List Style..." option
3. A dialog will popup, select "Restart numbering at" check box and choose a number from where you want to restart. If you want to continue just deselect "Restart numbering at" check box.
4. Close the dialog

Thanks,
Amit Jha
RoboHelp Engineering Team

In RoboHelp 8, we have streamlined and enhanced the list feature. You can now create style based simple bulleted and numbered lists in standard HTML format. You can also create multilevel list, which supports a high degree of customization like prefix text control, auto numbering, custom sequencing, list mingling, indentation and
spacing control.

In this blog, I will explain the differences between these lists based on different parameters. I will also explain how to migrate a list from one format into another.

1. Bulleted and numbered (HTML) List
In earlier version (RH7 or before), If you create a list it would
be like this

<ol type="i">
<li><p>HTML List (HTML standard)</p></li>
<li><p>Multilevel List (Proprietary list)</p></li>
</ol>

• Type some paragraphs
• Select those paragraphs
• To apply list style, either

• double click the list style in style pod listed in List styles , or
• go to format > List > bullet numbering. A dialog will popup select the custom tab, Select the style listed and press OK.

2. Multilevel List
This is new list introduced in RH8, to achieve high degree of customization which is not available in standard HTML list.

Features	HTML List	Multilevel List
Design	It is a container element which can contain any HTML content like paragraph, table, list, text box.	It is part of paragraph. It adds calculated prefix into the paragraph to create a list.
Numbering Scope	Block level - List numbering is continuous within a block. It is not easy to add content between two list entries with continuous numbering.	Topic level - You may add any content between two list entries without losing the continuity.
Prefix Text Control	HTML list does not have such functionality.	You may add any text around the numbering.
Paragraph Auto Numbering	RH 7 (or earlier) version achieves Autonumber list by bundling paragraph <p> and list<li> styles. The same functionality in RH8 is achieved using Multilevel list.	User can create an auto numbered paragraph style using button. Autonumbering dialog will popup.
Custom Sequencing	HTML list does not have such functionality.	This functionality is available in Multilevel list.
List Mingling	HTML list does not have such functionality.	Different list entries can be mingled. Like Table list, figure list, heading list can exist simultaneously.
Indentation and Spacing Control	User can control indentation of list. Incase list element has paragraph with tag, and paragraph also has some indentation, then different browsers may render it differently. Technically user can achieve spacing between prefix and text, but this can sometimes be complex and different browsers compatibility might be a challenge.	Multilevel list is part of paragraph, hence, the list indentation, if provided, will override paragraph indentation. Thus it has single point indentation control. User may control spacing between prefix and text into the list.

Limitation: - As multilevel list is not a HTML standard list, it generates hard space (&nbsp;) to make required spacing between prefix and text.

Migration of lists
HTML list can be converted to multilevel list and vice versa. This can be achieved by selecting the list and applying another list style to it.

I will provide more details on the Autonumbering and multilevel list functionality in RH8 in my next blog. Please stay tuned and continue to provide your valuable feedback.

Amit Jha
RH Engineering team

FrameMaker,XML,Technical Communication,DITA authoring,PDF,DITA,Image,UI,ScreenCapture

Dear Framers

I hope that you are enjoying working with the RoboScreenCapture software. If you are not much familiar with this tool, then let me explain about it briefly. It is a lightweight screen-capture and image editing tool which comes free with any FM9 and/or TCS2 license.

This post will give you an overview of the RoboScreenCapture tool functionality. Thanks to Rajat, FrameMaker Engineering Manager, for preparing this blog.

Screen Capture has always been an integral part of technical authoring workflows and with FrameMaker 9, you get RoboScreenCapture out of the box for the same. RoboScreenCapture is a powerful screen capture application that provides various options for capture like Full Screen, Window or Control, Active Window, Region, Freehand etc. Apart from Screen Capture it also contains basic image editing features like cropping, scaling etc to edit the captured image.

Embedded below is a small demo which shows the power of RoboScreenCapture.

Integration with FrameMaker

With FrameMaker 9, RoboScreenCapture is integrated with FrameMaker and is included in the box. You can launch RoboScreenCapture from FrameMaker itself by using "File-> Launch RoboScreenCapture" option. Also for basic image editing, you can use "Graphics->Edit With RoboScreenCapture" option or "Right-Click Context Menu" to edit the graphics in RoboScreenCapture.

Take care

- Mahesh

Technical Communication Suite,XML,Technical Documentation,Topic,PDF,DITA,Publishing,UI,Reviewer's Guide

Dear Technical Communicators

I met some of you during Tekom conference and it was wonderful interacting with you. I must thank you all for the great positive feedback you shared for TCS2 and FM9.

Your enhancements requests are definitely in my consideration set. Obviously, as a strategy guy, I am looking at the short term next release as well as the longer term roadmap.

You mentioned that more information is needed regarding TCS2 features. I am sharing the link for TCS2 Reviewer's guide again. It has many tutorials on the suite workflows as well as point product value additions. The Reviewer's Guide was developed as a pdf portfolio. I am sure you have already explored this new feature of Acrobat 9. TCS2 also gives you this value addition. You can also see the portfolio below:

If you wish to download the portfolio, please visit the link https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=7d63376d-4298-4e66-b399-9249aac022ba

Try It exercises for FrameMaker mentioned in the guide can be found at the link https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=9339409a-b884-49ae-a06d-157d69b17b8d

Please keep sharing your feedback...

Take care

- Mahesh

Thanks for the feedback that you have shared with us on RoboHelp 8. We have tried addressing the pressing issues via RoboHelp 8.0.1 patch. In addition to resolving the RoboHelp issues, this patch also improves the FrameMaker-RoboHelp interaction for the Technical Communication Suite users. Robohelp 8.0.1 patch is live now and is available through Adobe Update Manager (AUM). RoboHelp 8 users can check for updates through Help>Update Menu in RoboHelp 8.

List of major issues resolved in this update:

1. Slow loading of topics in display panel
2. Data loss on spell checking project when all topics are closed and 'User Defined Variables' (UDV) Pod is open
3. Popup showed blank on applying a CSS to multiple topics after importing a topic from previous version of RoboHelp.
4. Popup Window for related topics not opening near the related topics button when a large topic is created.
5. Table loses its width setting in Printed Documentation
6. Table with straddled rows and columns are lost on mapping it with any RoboHelp table
7. User defined indent changes and gets incorrect in case of a multilevel list
8. Table displays an extra column in some situations
9. Vertical alignment not shown properly when explicitly set using CSS.
10. RoboHelp HTML crashes when executing sample script for "UDV converter with UI"
11. All the panes are not visible in Browser based AIR Help using startpage.htm#path/targettopic.htm url.
12. RoboHelp 8 does not add space between the expanding Hotspot and the expanding text.
13. Dropdown text not suppressed by Conditional Build Tag in Printed Documentation
14. Different options e.g. Font, font size, zoom etc stop working on changing the image of any icon on the formatting toolbar and restarting RoboHelp.
15. Remove Unused Index Keywords menu item was disabled and hence the functionality wasn't available
16. Show/Hide in a MiniTOC in a Topic placed inside a folder works only in Internet Explorer
17. Clicking on Home breadcrumbs in child project in Browser Based Merged AIR Help opens up default topic of child project.
18. Incorrect order of topics displayed or RoboHelp HTML crashes on toggling between folders and TOC on TOC page layout when multi level Folder architecture is present in Project Manager.
19. RoboHelp 8 Compiler not working properly with the RoboHelp 8 Command Prompt.
20. CSH call of offline help for non-Unicode applications doesn't work for second time

21. Slow response time to Link multiple .fm files (e.g. two 7 MB files) as compared to linking single (14 MB) .fm file
22. Some images set in the FrameMaker's Anchored Frame missing in RoboHelp.
23. Some of the cross references not getting converted into hyperlinks for FrameMaker Book9
24. Multiple instances of FrameMaker launched on generating FrameMaker book with multiple big documents.
25. CBT is applied wrongly in RoboHelp if the conditional expression is applied on any anchored frame in the FrameMaker document.

Thanks,
Ankur
ankujain@adobe.com

FrameMaker,XML,Technical Communication,Topic,PDF,DITA,Publishing,UI,Review

Dear members of the TCS family

Many of you write to me about getting more information on the XML power present in TCS2.

This year I presented at the summer XML conference and talked about topic based documentation using TCS2 in XML way. This complete solution lets you author, review and manage content effectively whether you want to work in an unstructured fashion or want to work with XML or standards based on XML like DITA.

My presentation below gives more details on these workflows.

If you wish to download the presentation along with attachments, please visit the link https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=3dc8f616-2d88-4ea8-8c77-cf69da5b6a7f

Amit Agarwal from our engineering recently conducted an e-seminar on what's new in FrameMaker. It focuses on key enhancements like the user friendly new UI, DITA, Hierarchical books and Review workflow.

I recommend that you watch this recording which is available to you at http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p61231065/

I am really excited to meet all of you who'll be present at Tekom. Even if you are not, please be in touch.

Take care

- Mahesh

FrameMaker,Wiesbaden,Technical Communication Suite,DITA authoring,PDF,Trial,Publishing,

Dear Framers

Like every year, this year too it will be a great opportunity to meet many of you during the largest European Technical Communication conference, Tekom 2009.

This conference held in the city of Wiesbaden helps me in connecting with you in person.

Many of my colleagues from different groups like marketing and engineering would also be present. If you want to setup a meeting with me, please let me know and we can schedule a meeting at the conference venue.

Please write to me at mahesh@adobe.com

Hope to see you in Wiesbaden!

Take care

- Mahesh

Use Reference Images in FrameMaker
FrameMaker provides following two options while importing an image file into a document:

• Import By Reference : A reference to the image file on disk is kept inside the document


• Copy Into Document : Image data is embedded into the document

"Import By Reference" method should be preferred if it is not absolutely necessary to choose the other option. This reduces the size of the FM document and allows RoboHelp to maintain the original image quality by referring to the original image.

Use Zero Dimension Image setting in RoboHelp
RoboHelp imports the dimensions of anchored frame and specify them in the corresponding <img> tag of generated XHTML topic. This leads to resizing of image when the topic is viewed in a browser. Sometimes, some resized images look distorted in some browsers. RoboHelp provides a functionality of omitting height/width attribute in the generated <img> tag thus avoiding the resizing of generated images. This tweak can be applied by setting the "Preferred Dimensions" to zero in Conversion Settings dialog.

Use Web supported Images
The copying of reference images is effective only if the referred image has one of the web supported format viz. JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF. In case, an image with any other format is used, RoboHelp needs to regenerate the image in order to convert it to Web supported image format. So, if it is not absolutely necessary, a web supported image version of image may be used in FM documents. In case, it is necessary to use other image formats for Print workflows in FrameMaker, two versions of images may be used in the document with Conditions applied on them. One condition may be enabled for Printing and another for Online publishing. These conditions can be manipulated in either FrameMaker or RoboHelp.

Avoid unnecessary content in Anchored Frame
As it is understood, if the anchored frame contains more than one object, RoboHelp needs to generate one single image. So, unnecessary content e.g. empty Text Frame, text frame with only a marker, object hidden behind an image etc. may be avoided.

Replacing Images
In case the above workflows are not feasible to meet the requirements, the images may be replaced with desired better quality images. This may be achieved through scripting. Other workflows can include post processing the images using Photoshop scripting.

I hope these steps will prove fruitful in obtaining better quality images.

Mayank Agrawal
RoboHelp Engineering

• RoboHelp Way


• FrameMaker Way

ROBOHELP WAY

When a FrameMaker document is linked/imported in RoboHelp, RoboHelp allows a user to specify the changes in the look and feel of the document. The look and feel of a document is mainly decided by the kind of styling it uses. RoboHelp allows a user to specify a RoboHelp style for each FrameMaker style by which the FrameMaker style will be replaced after importing the content.
For example, a user may have the following Heading 1 style defined in FrameMaker

Now he/she may want it to look like as follows in RoboHelp

In order to achieve this user needs to do the following steps

1. Link the FrameMaker document in RoboHelp project.


2. Goto File->Project Settings


3. Goto "Import" tab of Project Settings dialog


4. Click "Edit" button for conversion settings for FrameMaker documents


5. Select "Heading 1" Style under "Paragraph" tree item on the left


6. Select "Heading 1" from the "RoboHelp Style" drop down on the right.


7. In case user wants to modify the look and feel of Heading 1 style, it can be edited in RoboHelp's powerful style editor which can be invoked by clicking the "Edit Style" button


8. Click OK on both the dialogs.

This specifies that Heading 1 style of FrameMaker should be replaced with Heading 1 style of CSS specified in RoboHelp. In this manner, all other styles can be mapped. This functionality not only covers Paragraph styles but also extends to character styles and table formats.
RoboHelp provides a predefined CSS called RHStyleMapping.css for this purpose. This CSS may be modified by the user. If the user has predefined CSS style, he/she can point RoboHelp to use the styles from the particular CSS. This can be done by selecting the CSS for style mapping in the Import tab of Project Settings dialog as marked in the screenshot above.

FRAMEMAKER WAY

RoboHelp provides another approach for style mapping. Instead of going through CSS route, a user may create a template in FrameMaker having styles designed for online publishing. This template can then be specified in RoboHelp using "Apply FrameMaker Template before import" option in Project Settings dialog. Once this is done, RoboHelp applies the FrameMaker Template temporarily on linked documents at the time of conversion of FrameMaker content to RoboHelp content. The process of application of FrameMaker template on FrameMaker documents is similar to FrameMaker's "Import Formats" functionality. Once FrameMaker template is defined in RoboHelp, the author need not map styles manually as described above.

WHICH METHOD TO USE?
The RoboHelp method operates around CSS editing. So, for users who are conversant with CSS authoring can leverage this functionality to design Online specific CSS styles to suite the Online published output requirements.
Users who find CSS authoring an overhead and are more comfortable working with FrameMaker's style designer can skip the CSS editing and may opt for The FrameMaker method. He/she simply needs to author his/her styles in FrameMaker and use the particular document as a template in RoboHelp.
However, besides the comfort level for each method, there could be other reasons for which a user may want to choose a specific method. There are functionalities which are limited to a particular method and may not be available it the other method.
For example, RoboHelp provides a rich interface for designing advanced table patterns which is not possible in FrameMaker. On the other hand, FrameMaker provides autonumber functionality in Paragraph styles which is available in totally different form in RoboHelp.
Users who are good authors but are not comfortable in designing styles either way may use predefined CSS and/or template and can specify them in RoboHelp using RoboHelp's Project Settings dialog.
Thus both the methods are useful for different purposes and for different users. It depends on an author to choose one of them as per the expertise and requirements as described. Advanced users may use the two methods simultaneously to take advantages of both the approaches.

Mayank Agrawal
RoboHelp Engineering Team

• Air Help


• Web Help


• HTML Help


• Flash Help


• Printed output(PDF, DOC)

Or Right click menu

Once the file is selected, RoboHelp scans the files (including all chapters and sub-books in case of a book) to read document catalogs and to create an exact replica of the chapter hierarchy in case of a book. The FrameMaker documents appear as linked documents in RoboHelp Project Manager Pane.

Settings related to style mappings, cross reference mappings, image conversion, file splitting, conditions, autonumber conversion, applying template etc. can be mentioned using Conversion settings dialog. It can be accessed from File->Project Settings->Import Tab

These settings can be saved or exported for reuse and can be extended to other projects.
Once these settings are done, FM content can be imported in RoboHelp using the Generate/Update menu. This content can then be published to any of available output formats from Single Source Layouts Pane.
Thus, TCS 2 provides an end to end solution starting with authoring of content in FrameMaker and finally publishing it using RoboHelp's Single Source Layouts.
Please note that, RoboHelp maintains a live link to FrameMaker files. This means that whenever the FrameMaker content is updated, RoboHelp notifies the user that the content has been updated and it can be reimported into RoboHelp. Thus, an author can edit his/her content as many times as he/she wants and can publish it any point of time.
Also, the FrameMaker content imported in RoboHelp can be locally tweaked for publishing. The look and feel of the content can be managed using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
This is how one can start exploring the product. This product has a very rich feature set for advanced users which is not covered in this blog. My previous blogpost http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2009/07/framemaker-robohelp_integration_in_tcs_revamped_myth_or_trut.html talks about the various useful features of the product.
One can keep exploring and learning this rich and easy to use product. One may keep following this blog to have further understanding of the product.

All the Best!!!
Mayank Agrawal
RoboHelp Engineering Team

Technical Communication,FrameMaker,Tekom,Technical Communication,XML authoring,PDF,CMS,conref,MIF,cross-reference,WebDav,STC,Publishing,Patch,903

Dear Framers!

Hello

I would like to thank you for the great feedback you have shared with me on FrameMaker 9. Naturaly, when there is so much in one release itself, there will be some issues as well. Thanks again for sharing your valuable feedback. We have tried addressing almost all the pressing issues through 9.0.3

FrameMaker 9.0.3 patch is live now and it is available through Adobe Update Manager (AUM). This patch (9.0p250) must be applied on top of 9.0.2 (9.0p237) only. You can check for updates through Help->Updates Menu in FrameMaker.

With the help of these fixes, following workflows are now enabled/supported:

• Opening/importing a file created in FrameMaker 7.2 and earlier with virtual fonts applied to the text now correctly shows the text in FrameMaker 9.


• The dimensions and default dpi resolution for PNG, JPG and GIF files should not get corrupted when imported in FrameMaker.


• Deletion of multiple user-variables from Variable Pod should not crash FrameMaker now.


• Memory leak shouldn't happen while creating a book with FrameMaker components from DITA map.


• FrameMaker doesn't crash while displaying a message box during FA_Note_PreQuitBook notification, on the second call of F_ApiUpdateTextInset() and when F_ApiAlert() is called from within a FA_Note_PostQuitDoc notification.


• The "New document command" in the quick access bar doesn't get disconnected from the API command "F_ApiDefineCommand".


• FrameMaker doesn't crash on switching on different tabs of table designer when context is set for book and panels are iconized.


• Now correct Index of Marker(IOM) is generated for a file containing Markers that use structured building blocks.


• On converting DITA map, which contains nested topicrefs, to a book the content of the topic files was hidden in folder templates. In 9.0.3, the folder containing template will be labeled as: []


• The table row element now hides while using DITAVAL filter.


• Spelling Checker now allows words with special characters to be added to dictionary. It also shows the words with suffix "(s)" as correctly spelled now.


• DocBook starter kit now unifies the XML and SGML applications and fixes various formatting inconsistencies in the XML application. The XML application uses XSLT instead of an FDK client and supports indexterm.


• PreserveEntity FDK client can be combined with XSLT in XML applications to preserve variables and special character handling when documents are round-tripped between FrameMaker and XML.


• In structured document, now you can hide child elements even when in Show state if the parent element is hidden using conditional text. This is an additional option. For details refer to the document shown below.

This patch has fixes for some more issues not listed above.

Please install this patch on top of 9.0.2, retest your workflows and share your feedback with me.

Thanks

-Mahesh (mahesh@adobe.com)

FrameMaker,XML,Technical Communication Suite,DITA,PDF,Trial,Publishing

Dear Users

In my engineering days, I used to study Quantum Physics where we also used to discuss going beyond the speed of light. Hard to imagine and really hard to measure but I many times believe that the speed at which technology is moving will soon replace the 'c' in the Einstein's equation E=mc2

How about trying the trial in a virtual environment?

Well, it may sound cryptic but if I decode it for you, it is very simple. You can now try out our products even if you don't have the trial copies on your machine. Technology and our efforts have made it possible for you.

I recommend that you please watch RJ's demo watch this short recording on how to navigate around the TestDrive platform and the tutorials.

You may want to refer to RJ's blog as well at http://bit.ly/DMRbm:

I am sure you'll love this experience. Please do share your feedback.

Take care

- Mahesh

Solution: Adobe recommends all RoboHelp Server 8 users update their RoboHelp installations by applying the update using the instructions below:

1. Stop Tomcat service if its running.
2. Backup the following files:
a. \WEB-INF\classes\adobe\robohelp\server\Publish.class
b. \WEB-INF\classes\adobe\robohelp\server\Publish$1.class
c. \WEB-INF\classes\adobe\robohelp\server\Publish$PublishData.class
d. \WEB-INF\classes\adobe\robohelp\server\Publish$SessionData.class
e. \WEB-INF\classes\adobe\robohelp\server\Publish$SessionManager.class
f. \WEB-INF\classes\adobe\robohelp\server\CircularArray.class
g. \WEB-INF\classes\adobe\robohelp\server\CServerConstants.class
h. \WEB-INF\classes\adobe\robohelp\server\RoboHelpServer.class
i. \WEB-INF\web.xml
3. Extract and copy the files from the update zip to the relevant folder. Select "Yes to All" at the "Confirm Folder Replace" prompt.
4. Start Tomcat service.

For more details please refer to the Security Bulletin.

We are in the process of developing a fix for the issue, and expect to provide an update by September 18, 2009.

Ankur

Ankur