Re: Convert FM to FM+SGML

[Dan Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 11:14 AM 11/17/98 +0100, Annette Marx wrote:
>Hi Framers,
>
>
>is it possible to convert regular FM documents to FM+SGML and back? What
>formats/building blocks/structures get lost in the process? Is it realistic
>to plan to work with different FM versions (one with SGML and one without)
>on the same set of documents in the same  work group?
>
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I'm not sure what you're asking here.

1. If you're asking whether it's ok to create an ordinary unstructured
document in FM+SGML, or to open an unstructured document (created with
FrameMaker) in FM+SGML, then editi it and save it out as an unstructured
document that can subsequently be opened successfully in FrameMaker, the
answer is yes. 

However, FM+SGML cannot magically add structure to an unstructured document.
Adding structure to such a document is analogous to converting an ordinary
FrameMaker document to HTML, but the methodology for doing this involves the
use of FM+SGML's structure generator and structure rules tables. Adding
structure in that manner is generally unfeasible unless:

        a. The document is consistently and rigorously tagged, and the
tagnames for paragraphs and character strings match up well with the
corresponding element names in the target EDD/DTD, AND

        b. The target EDD/DTD is quite simple.

Even if those two requirements are met, you'll usually be confronted with a
considerable amount of manual clean-up work to make the document valid
(e.g., putting values in required attributes, dealing with cases where a
required element is missing, unscrambling things in cases where the
structure rules tables produced the wrong outcome).

2. If you're asking whether a structured FM+SGML document can be saved as an
unstructured document so it can be opened in FrameMaker, the answer is also
yes, but once the structure has been removed in that way, its structure
cannot be restored. The document becomes a useless artifact that should not
be edited, because any such changes cannot be transferred to the structured
version.
     ____________________
     | Nullius in Verba |
     ********************
Dan Emory, Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971 E-Mail: danemory@primenet.com
10044 Adams Ave. #208, Huntington Beach, CA 92646


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