Re: Conversion from Interleaf to Frame

["Thomas Michanek" <thomas.michanek@xxxxxxxxx>]

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From: "Petersen, Oran C" <oran.c.petersen@boeing.com>
> A group wants
> to convert about 1200 Interleaf files with half text half graphics into
> Frame. The group uses Interleaf 6 and is migrating to Frame 6 (or 7).
> Does anyone have any recent experience with this, or can you recommend the
> best process to accomplish this task? The most desirable solution would
> render the graphics editable in Frame, such as is possible with a cgm import
> and the unlock shortcut.

Here's a collection of useful experiences:


===============================================================================
From: <ndonati@hns.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2001 6:11 PM

I have lots of experience converting Interleaf documents to FrameMaker and I
must say it's not any fun.

I have several lisp scripts in Interleaf that we use to clean up our files
before converting them to Frame.  Do you use the catalog feature in Interleaf?
If all your manuals use defined tags then it will be easier to map them to your
Frame template (I assume you've developed a Frame template).

I can give you more specifics if you want to contact me directly.  It's kind of
difficult to go through everything we did without knowing where you're coming
from with your documents.

Noelle Donati
Documentation Projects Manager
Hughes Network Systems
301-212-7931
ndonati@hns.com

===============================================================================
From: "Peter Hirons" <phirons@com21.ie>
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 5:11 PM

I've done a few of these - mostly 2000+ page manuals!  First you need to
make sure the I'leaf files are saved as ASCII.

I then used Filtrix to convert the files.  The end results required some
re-work, but it was relatively painless

Peter Hirons
Knowledge Products Lead
Tel: +353 (0)21 7305 863

===============================================================================
From: <anne-marie.elkins@philips.com>
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2000 6:10 PM

You can convert to Interleaf to FrameMaker. I recommend using Filtrix.
Preparing the Interleaf File:
Cut all catalogs.
If revision tracking is used, create new baseline documents.
Documents containing revision tracking will not filter into FrameMaker.
Create and apply an Interleaf catalog that will remove prefixes from components and
turn off hyphenation. This reduces the amount of clean up in the FrameMaker file.
Make sure your Interleaf component names match your FrameMaker paragraph names.
The conversion process requires ASCII format files. Open the file properties for
the Interleaf book icon and set the Save As option to ASCII.
Select the book icon again and choose Resave from the Tools menu. This will save,
in batch mode, each document into ASCII format.

Filtering with Filtrix:
Use Filtrix to convert Interleaf ASCII files to FrameMaker MIF. 
Set the Target File Type to Frame 5, embedded graphics. 
(We used embedded graphics, but Filtrix also has an option for linked graphics)
Open each MIF file and save as FM
Clean up
Import Frame templates.
The filter will add a grey fill to arcs. Select arcs and set fill to none.
(Embedded graphics are editable!)

Anne-Marie Elkins
ATL Ultrasound

===============================================================================
We've had mixed results converting Interleaf-to-FrameMaker.  There are
two ways we have converted:

1-- Opening the file in Frame and letting the internal filter convert the file.

2-- Saving the Interleaf files as Interleaf ASCII, then converting them to
    FrameMaker via FILTRIX.

Depending on the files, sometimes one method works better than the other.

Kay Ethier
Bright Path Solutions
919.547.0129
http://www.travelthepath.com
_________________________________
Vice President, STC Carolina Chapter
Senior Editor, "IT:Information Technology for Professionals"
Adobe Certified [FrameMaker] Expert

===============================================================================
The Adobe-supplied converter, as well as Adobe's Filter Pack, were both weak
for conversion. We actually went from Interleaf to RTF (which retained
tags/components), and from RTF into Frame. We have a process down (from a lot
of initial trial and error), and this works best for us.

There are some third party tools out there (Blueberry's filter comes to
mind), but we've not seen anything that works easily. We've found that our
Ileaf-->RTF-->FM method has been efficient and effective.

You may want to give it a try and see your own results.

Rob Robertson
VP - Marketing & Technology
Cybergraphix, Inc.
www.cybergraphix.com
800-624-0480

===============================================================================
Try something called "Filtrix" from Blueberry Software.  We've had pretty
good luck with it.   Graphics don't come over that well, but everything
else seems to work fine.

http://www.blueberry.com/

Good Luck!
Lisa Harkins
Technical Writer, Marketing
775.448.1161
harkinlg@intgame.com



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Thomas Michanek, FrameMaker/UNIX/MIF expert
mailto:Thomas.Michanek@telia.com   (Sweden)
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