Re: Can 10 become 6 conditionally?

[Kathy McCord <kmccord@xxxxxxx>]

From: Jon Nowland <jonn@firstlogic.com>
Subject: Can 10 become 6 conditionally?
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 15:09:48 -0600

Question about Frame's conditionals

I'm trying to combine two manuals that share many of their chapters. 

...

Advise, ideas, comments, laughter? Excuse our collective ignorance. Most in
our documentation group (about 8 souls) are only months into using Frame. Oh
the mysteries! (But it beats MS Word.) TIA

Jon Nowland, sr techwriter

#############################################################################

answers...

having two books is really the best way to do this: the "logistical problem" 
is probably a combination of the following:

a) you must keep performing update/generate as you hop from one
   book to the other.
   
b) if there is a cross-reference to chapter 5 (a "manual A only" chapter)
   in chapter 3 (a "manual A and B" chapter), that cross-reference will
   show up in manual B, where it is meaningless.
   
problem 'a' is unavoidable.  also not really a big problem, just a nuisance.

problem 'b' is solvable:

   - create a condition called "manual_A_only".  
   - apply this condition to all sentences in chapters 1,2,3,7,9, & 10 that 
     cross-reference anything in chapters 4, 5, 6, or 8.  
   - in manual A, make sure the condition "manual_A_only" is turned ON.
   - in manual B, make sure the condition "manual_A_only" is turned OFF.

----------

here is a harder way to solve the problems using only conditions:

concatenate some of your chapters:

   - file_A.fm = chapter 1
   - file_B.fm = chapter 2
   - file_C.fm = chapter 3 + 4 + 5 + 6
   - file_D.fm = chapter 7 + 8
   - file_E.fm = chapter 9
   - file_F.fm = chapter 10

in file_C.fm, apply condition "manual_A_only" to the contents of chapters
4, 5, and 6.

in file_D.fm, apply condition "manual_A_only" to the contents of chapter 8.

use one book file.  

   - for manual A, turn the condition ON and perform update/generate.  
   -  for manual B, turn the condition OFF and upfate/generate again.

you will still need to apply condition "manual_A_only" to any references 
to material in chapters 4, 5, 6, and 8.

---------

we recommend using two book files.  have done this successfully many 
times.
     
if you do, you might want to structure your directories as follows:
     
     top_level_dir
     |
     +---- manual_A_dir
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_A.book
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_A_TOC.fm+
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_A_LOF.fm+
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_A_LOT.fm+
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_A_IX.fm+
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_A.ps
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_A.pdf
     |
     +---- manual_B_dir
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_B.book
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_B_TOC.fm+
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_B_LOF.fm+
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_B_LOT.fm+
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_B_IX.fm+
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_B.ps
     |     |
     |     +--- manual_B.pdf
     |
     +---- common_files_dir
     |     |
     |     +--- chapter_1.fm
     |     |
     |     +--- chapter_2.fm
     |     |
     |     +--- chapter_3.fm
     |     |
     |     +--- chapter_4.fm
     |     |
     |     +--- chapter_5.fm
     |     |
     |     +--- chapter_6.fm
     |     |
     |     +--- chapter_7.fm
     |     |
     |     +--- chapter_8.fm
     |     |
     |     +--- chapter_9.fm
     |     |
     |     +--- chapter_10.fm
     |
     +---- common_art_dir
           |
           +--- graphic.gif
           |
           +--- another_graphic.gif
           |
           +--- ...
           

(this structure assumes that you import graphics by reference -- recommended.)

hope this helps.

--- kmc

           
------------------------------------
K.A. McCord, Staff Technical Writer
kathy.mccord@windriver.com  
Vox: (831) 661-0246 x 229   
Fax: (831) 661-0159
------------------------------------


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