Docbook and Frame 7.2

[John Pitt]

After successfully avoiding structured Frame for the last 14 or 15 
years, I now have a client who wants me to get DocBook xml produced from 
his product's code into Frame. The end result is to be used for a number 
of manuals and pushed through WebWorks ePublisher Pro.

While my reservations about structured Frame were not *totally* 
unjustified -- it is a very steep learning curve -- and many of the 
elements in my client's xml are not accepted by Frame, I am making headway.

But there are still many gaps in my knowledge; the most worrying being 
tables that refuse to behave, and whitespace throughout. The latter 
"should" (according to the Frame doco) be removed automagically, but 
they are not. What does seem to work, paradoxically, is to remove all of 
the spaces in the xml code!

My questions. How do I:

@ control column widths in tables?

@ control the total width of tables?

@ prevent the last column in multi-column tables appearing as the first 
column?

@ remove whitespace elegantly?

@ get Frame to accept the schema in the first two lines of the xml file? 
(I have tried many different versions, most of which should work, but 
Frame invariably chokes).

@ find an easily understandable guide to using DocBook/Frame? I have 
tried the online doco that somes with 7.2 and got some benefits from the 
Steve Whitlatch stuff on the net (and accelerated learning from Bernard 
Aschwanden's tutorial -- thx again Bernard!)

Not much is it? :)

jjj


-- 
_________________________
John Pitt, technical writer
47 Gottenham St
Glebe NSW 2037
Ph: 02 9692 8096
Mob: 0438 92 8096
john at pitt.net.au
www.pitt.net.au