FrameMaker

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• Opening FM files doesn't work
  
• Spellcheck just the selected text
  
• Changing the default action for Paste
  
• Using DZbatcher to automate creating a PDF
  
• Name Tree Dests defined more than once
  
• Name Tree Dests not defined
  
• Index building blocks
  
• Following a cross reference
  
• Abend: Missing images import-by-ref
  
• Who has a file open - name in the LCK file
  
• Space after eServer logo
  
• Keyboard shortcuts
  
• Index markers don't appear in the index
  
• Find doesn't work
  
• Frame file is in read-only mode
  
• Can't save a file
  

Opening FM files doesn't work

Q. I usually open an FM file by double-clicking on it in Explorer, but that doesn't work anymore.

A. One possible reason is that the file type definitions in Windows have been messed up, perhaps because you just uninstalled an old version of FrameMaker (eg you had both v6 and v7 installed). To fix the file type configuration, do the following:

1. Open My Computer (or any other Explorer window)
2. Click Tools > Folder Options
3. Click the File Types tab
4. Scroll down the Registered file types list to FM
5. Click the Advanced button
6. In the Actions field, select Open and click Edit. If Open doesn't exist, click New.
7. Fill out the dialog as follows.
   
8. If the bottom half of the window doesn't appear, add a check to Use DDE.
9. Click OK to save the changes.
10. Back at the Edit File Type window, with Open selected, click Set Default
11. Click OK to save the changes.
12. Repeat these steps for file type BOOK.

Spellcheck just the selected text

To spellcheck just the highlighted text, hold the Ctrl key down while opening the Spellcheck dialog, and continue to hold it down clicking the Start Checking button in the Spellchecker dialog box. You'll need to continue to hold the Ctrl key when you further click one of the "next" buttons in the dialog: Start, Correct, Learn, Allow.

Note: It won't work unless you hold the Ctrl key down while opening the dialog in the first place

Changing the default action for Paste

This tip describes how to change the default Edit > Paste action so that it does the equivalent of Edit > Paste Special > Text.

Edit the maker.ini file and look for this line:

ClipboardFormatsPriorities=FILE, OLE 2, EMF, META, DIB, BMP, MIF, RTF, TEXT

Change this line to the following:

ClipboardFormatsPriorities=TEXT, RTF, FILE, OLE 2, EMF, META, DIB, BMP, MIF

The important thing here is that TEXT should be the first option listed.

This change takes effect next time FrameMaker is opened. Whenever FrameMaker is subsequently opened, you can now use the normal Edit > Paste function (or Ctrl+V) to paste in text from another application, the incoming text will be stripped of all formatting. Note that this change does not affect the order of file formats appearing on the Paste Special panel.

Using DZbatcher to automate creating a PDF

DZbatcher is a free FrameMaker utility that lets you perform tasks such as Generate/Update and Save As PDF in batch mode. An example of this is so that you can have a PDF of you book built every night at 3am.

Here's how to set it up:

1. Download DZBatcher from http://www.miramo.com/download_dzb2.html
2. Install the software and reboot when prompted.
3. Create a batch file GENERATE.BAT in the directory with your book file, with the following line in it:

   dzbatcher -v generate.txt >> generate.log

4. Create the file GENERATE.TXT in the same directory, with the following lines in it:

   echo "Opening book..."
   open sg248870.book
   listopen
   echo "Doing a generate/update..."
   update sg248870.book
   echo "Saving as a PDF..."
   saveas -p sg248870.book sg248870.pdf
   echo "Exiting..."
   exit

5. Modify the above lines to reflect your book filename and required PDF file name

You can now run GENERATE.BAT and see it do a generate/update then create a PDF.

If you want to schedule this to run at a fixed time, use the Windows Scheduler. In Windows XP, this is Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Schedule Tasks.

You may notice that Acrobat Distiller is still running and the TPS file is still in the directory. To remove both of these, add the following lines to the GENERATE.BAT file:

erase *.tps >> generate.log
taskkill /fi "imagename eq acrodist.exe" >> generate.log

You'll need to run these after the PDF is created. I use a WAIT.EXE program to wait 1000 seconds then issue these commands. You can download it from http://www.ppedv.com/us/tools.asp. Taskkill is a standard command in Windows XP.

Name Tree Dests defined more than once

If you're getting Named Tree Dest errors and you've optimized the book but are still getting the errors, then you'll have to deal with them manually.

For example you might have:

% [ Warning: The following Names in Name Tree Dests were defined more than once ] %
I39.1.457227

The first letter corresponds to the type of object that the message is related to:

• Gnnnnn - with the digits reflecting FrameMaker-internal paragraph Object ID
• In.nnnnnn - Index marker
• M8.newlink.XYZ - reflecting a link defined with the newlink hypertext command
• M9.nnnnn.ParaFormatName.ParaText ... (Mn is the marker ordinal type)
• F, L, P.n (first/last pages of a document, page number)

The "n." which follows the "G" and "I" (G5.nnnnn and I5.nnnnn) means that you are creating a PostScript file for a book, "5" means that this is the 5th document in the book.

The last part of the entry in the error message corresponds to the Object ID. The Object ID numbers assigned by FrameMaker (persistent across sessions), are not visible when working with FrameMaker. But if you save the FrameMaker file in MIF format, and open the MIF in Notepad, the Object ID numbers will be present in the form of <Unique nnnnn>

Using the example of the error message above, if we save the 39th file as a MIF, open it with Notepad and search for "457227", you'll see:

<Marker
<MType 10>
<MTypeName `Conditional Text'>
<MText `+354248'>
<MCurrPage `Left'>
<Unique 457227>
> # end of Marker

From this you can see that the object in question is a marker of type Conditional Text. So search for all conditional text, mark it unconditional, then mark it conditional again (or just delete the text).

Name Tree Dests not defined

It is not uncommon to see the following type of messages in the Acrobat Distiller log.:

% [ Warning: The following Names in Name Tree Dests were not defined ] %
G10.473605
G7.545681
G9.504836
G9.504918

These seem to be appearing when you paste in text from a FrameMaker document that is based on an older Frame 5.5.6 template (skeleton).   

The solution to remove these is simple:

1. Open the book file
2. Click Format > Document > Optimze PDF size > Options and ensure that Force Optimization is checked.
3. Click Format > Document > Optimze PDF size > Optimize file
4. Click OK to open/modify the files in the book

You may need to redo step 3 each time new Name Tree Dests appear in the log. [15-Oct-03]

Index building blocks

The following building blocks can be used to form index markers:

• <font-catalog-name> - displays the text following in that font definition (note: formatting only affects the one level of an entry - you must specify it for every level if required)
• </> or <Default Para Font> - reverts back to the regular font (either one works)
• <$nopage> - don't display the page number (must be at the beginning of the marker and affects all subsequent index entries in the marker)
• <$singlepage> - to reverse the affect of <$nopage>
• : (colon) - separates the levels of an index entry (eg first-level:second-level)
• ; (semicolon) - separates index entries in the one marker (up to 255 characters)
• [] (square brackets) - specifies where you want the entry to appear in the index, that is, the sort order (must be at the end of the entry)
• <$startrange> and <$endrange> - markers will be displayed as a range (eg 2-10) and the text must be identical otherwise you'll get "???" instead of a number (must be at the beginning of the entry)

Examples:

memory:configuration
<$nopage>PCI slots:<Italic>See also</> Active PCI Manager
rules; configuration rules
<$startrange>installation:Windows Server 2003
<$endrange>installation:Windows Server 2003
<$nopage>Datacenter:See also</> Windows[Datacenter Server:!]

Following a cross reference

When displaying a FrameMaker document in Acrobat, you can click a cross reference link and it will take you to that heading.

To do the same thing in FrameMaker, hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys then click the text of the cross reference. The cursor will change to a hand as you hover over the text.

However, if the cross reference is to another FrameMaker file, when you click the link the source FM file closes (prompting you to save if necessary). If you don't want the source file to close, hold the Shift key down as well. In other words, hold down the Shift, Ctrl and Alt keys (all together) then click the text of the cross reference.

Abend: Missing images import-by-ref

If you get the following error while trying to open a file, then you need to install a patch:

6004, 4647406, 4646793, 4647092

The patch fixes the problem with FrameMaker 6.0 and Windows XP when opening a file with broken import-by-ref graphics links.

If you import files by reference into FrameMaker with a missing graphic, FrameMaker will bring up a Missing Graphics dialog box. When the Ignore button is pressed in this dialog box, FrameMaker crashes.

Who has a file open - name in the LCK file

When someone has an FM file open in FrameMaker, an LCK (lock) file is created with the same name as the FM file. It is a text file, for example:

David Watts/David Watts/DWATTS-T30/Friday, September 12, 2003 10:38:18 AM/1063377498/1/

If you try to open that file, you'll get a message saying the file is locked and the name of the user is listed:

The name that appears here is based on an entry in the maker.ini file. So if others see a name like "ITSO Raleigh" for you, then LCK files you create will look like:

ITSO Raleigh/ITSO Raleigh/M9794F18/Friday, September 12, 2003 1:25:43 PM/1063387543/1/

Close FrameMaker, then open the maker.ini file (usually in the c:\Program Files\Adobe\FrameMaker directory) and change the following entry:

User=ITSO Raleigh

Space after eServer logo

Problem: when you use the eServer logo, an extra space appears after it. For example:

Solution: Close FrameMaker and edit the maker.ini file and change the following entry to On (the default is Off)

DisplayUsingPrinterMetrics=On

When you restart FrameMaker, the extra space will disappear.

Keyboard shortcuts

FrameMaker has bazillions of keyboard shortcuts. Here are some:

• Ctrl-4 - make selected text conditional (a blue bar appears at the bottom of the window where you can press the first letter of the condition to cycle through them). For example, to mark selected text conditional on Comment, press Ctrl-4, c, Enter.

• Ctrl-6 - make selected text unconditional

Index markers don't appear in the index

If index entries that you've created don't appear in the Index after you do a generate/update, the reason could be that you've mistakenly made them Cross-Ref markers instead of Index markers. For example:

The index marker is really a cross-reference marker because you accidently selected Cross-Ref as the marker type (note the field Marker Type). The reason this happens is that FrameMaker changes the Marker Type field to whatever marker you last highlighted in the Frame file (and this is most often a cross reference marker when its not an index marker), and FrameMaker also remembers what the last marker type you selected.

If you're not sure how many index markers are now of type Cross-Ref, the best way is to create a List of Markers (LOM) file in your book (click Add > List of > Markers, then select Cross-Ref and any others you think they might have become), then do a generate/update.

Find doesn't work

In Frame 6, the Find function doesn't work properly - it ignores some text. This could be related to copy/pasting text from a Frame 5.5.6 document. The solution is to save the FM file as a MIF file (via Save As), then open the MIF in FrameMaker, saving it back to the FM file again. [12-Sep-03]

Frame file is in read-only mode

In some situations, you may find that when you open a file, you can't type in any text and the Save and Save As options in the File menu are not available (ie missing from the File menu). Another indicator is that a "Navigate" menu has appeared.

When this happens, your file is locked. To unlock it, press the following key sequence (one after the other)

1. Esc
2. Shift-F
3. l (lowercase L)
4. k (lowercase K)

You can then proceed as normal. [7-Sep-03]

Can't save a file

Problem: You can't save a file, and even if you make a change to a file then close it, FrameMaker still doesn't prompt you to save the file.

Reason: You've installed FrameMaker in evaluation mode. You will need to reinstall FrameMaker and enter a registration code when prompted.