TOUGH ONE

Michael Zaichenko biozaichenko at hotmail.com
Sat Jan 27 13:07:07 PST 2007 

Peter thanks again,
Problem was in that I'm not a pro-e-mail/internet user, lol, and sometimes 
I'm not even aware if I infoed anyone else. I'm putting this one to the 
list. :-)
Now, to the subject. You are right - it is worth looking into Structured 
Frame. I'm only about half-aware of it's possibilities. Will need some 
learning.
I solved this 'one-property' copying/pasting problem by creating a command 
at Frame Initialization that creates a script which stores specified 
settings, each time I press a shortcut key and runs it with a press of 
another key. It works with any one or a set of properties and applies only 
this one or more properties without affecting the rest of them. If anyone 
interested, I can send it to them.
It is FrameScript 4.1. I tried AC but couldn't figure out the objects and 
methods easily (in actual fact I didn't do much with it when I had a trial 
version).

Michael


>From: Peter Gold <peter at knowhowpro.com>
>To: Michael Zaichenko <biozaichenko at hotmail.com>,  
>framers at lists.frameusers.com
>Subject: Re: TOUGH ONE
>Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 10:40:39 -0600
>
>You're welcome, Michael.
>
>Once again you've only replied to me, rather than to the list. You need to 
>understand that this is a shared community in which whoever knows something 
>to contribute, does contribute. Writing only to one community member puts 
>the work on that person, and also closes off the possibility that others 
>may have more useful information for you.
>
>You're correct that you should have disclosed more detail about the complex 
>task you're working on. You don't say how you're scripting - FrameScript, 
>FrameAC, or some other tool. There are many skilled users of both tools in 
>the FrameMaker user community who could probably offer you some paths to 
>solutions as free advice, or as paid custom scripting help. I do not know 
>any of the scripting tools.
>
>Further, it seems that you may not have any identifying characteristic for 
>the paragraphs that need the special attention, or at least that the 
>decision about when to apply the special attributes to a paragraph isn't 
>available in the paragraph or its format. For this kind of work, perhaps 
>structured FrameMaker would work. It's able to check rules that you set up, 
>and apply formatting and other changes. For example, if you want the last 
>paragraph in a numbered or bulleted list to have extra space after, you can 
>write this into the EDD, and FrameMaker's rules-checker will do it. This 
>means that you only need to apply one format for all list items, instead 
>one for the "regular" items, and a special one for the last. Similarly, a 
>rule can identify the first item in a numbered list, and apply the 
>equivalent of <n=1>, and apply the equivalent of <n+> to all the others. 
>When you move items in the sequence, the rules recheck the list and apply 
>the first-item rule to the new first item, and the last-item rule to the 
>new last item.
>
>Taking on the task of migrating to structure isn't trivial, but if you're 
>already willing to invest in learning scripting, you might find advantages 
>to learning the structured approach. There are many skilled structure folks 
>in the community who can help you when you get stuck.
>
>I'm copying this to the list, for others to see, and perhaps comment upon.
>________________
>Regards,
>
>Peter Gold
>KnowHow ProServices
>
>
>Michael Zaichenko wrote:
>>Peter, thanks for such an extensive answer.
>>I took notes. Sorry for not telling you at the start, I'm quite advanced 
>>in FrameMaker and been scripting for years. It is as well my omission to 
>>not tell you I'm looking for a scripting solution to this pbm. See, what 
>>I'm trying to resolve here is a separate page or a spread where only one 
>>property of each (no necessarily consecutive) paragraph (not necessarily 
>>similarly tagged) has to change independently of the rest of the 
>>properties (this would need to be done on several files). Like if you 
>>would copy and paste paragraph properties but only selected ones.
>>I'm developing a script to do this thing and I'm half way with it - 
>>storing needed attributed in an .ini file. The bug I'm running into is 
>>that I can't replace properties in the property list or apply only those 
>>from the .ini file. .ini file contains strings like 'PROPERTY 
>>KeepWithNext(0)'
>>See what I mean? Sorry for not being clear at the start.
>>Michael
>>
>>
>>>From: Peter Gold <peter at knowhowpro.com>
>>>To: Michael Zaichenko <biozaichenko at hotmail.com>
>>>Subject: Re: TOUGH ONE
>>>Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:52:05 -0600
>>>
>>>Hi, Michael:
>>>
>>>(PLEASE NOTE: It's always a good idea to reply to the list, or both the 
>>>list and the person, rather than replying only to the person. This helps 
>>>share the information as well as the effort of responding to follow-on 
>>>questions.)
>>>
>>>Thanks for your question. I took a closer look at the help documentation 
>>>and noticed - actually, I didn't notice - the important missing step:
>>>
>>>To modify specific paragraph or character attributes across several 
>>>different character or paragraph formats:
>>>
>>>NOTE: Always experiment on saved copies, not on your only good versions 
>>>of the files.
>>>
>>>* Select the paragraph formats you want to modify. If they are not 
>>>consecutive, rearrange or re-tag a series of paragraphs to suit your 
>>>needs.
>>>
>>>* Open the appropriate designer (Paragraph, Character, or Table - YES!!! 
>>>you can redefine tables the same way.)
>>>
>>>* The missing step: Choose Commands > Set Window to As Is. This makes all 
>>>the properties in the designer become "no change."
>>>
>>>* Choose the property page you need, Basic, Default Font, etc. Set the 
>>>specific attribute or attributes on that property page as you need.
>>>
>>>* Click Update All.
>>>
>>>* In the Global Update Options dialog box that appears, choose (Name of 
>>>the property page) Only (Don't choose All Properties). The selected 
>>>paragraphs (characters, tables) are defined to the new property 
>>>attribute(s) of this one property page.
>>>
>>>* Change to another property page, again choose Commands > Set Window to 
>>>As Is, and repeat with this and any other property pages you need.
>>>
>>>When you're done with these changes and have decided that they are what 
>>>you want, save the file.
>>>
>>>To change the format properties in more than one file, using a FrameMaker 
>>>book file is the most efficient. If you're not familiar with using books, 
>>>search for books in FrameMaker help and read up on it. If you are 
>>>familiar with books, search for Changing the format of files in a book in 
>>>Help. You'll see how to import formats from the single changed file to 
>>>other files in the book. There's a cross-reference link in this topic to 
>>>Importing and updating formats, for more information.
>>>
>>>If your "random files" are not in a book, you can use File > Import > 
>>>File from one file to one file, rather than using the book for importing 
>>>from one file to many. Or, you can create a book, add the names of the 
>>>random files to the book, then import the format(s) from the one 
>>>prototype file to the whole group at once.
>>>
>>>Again, use a saved copy of all files while you're experimenting with 
>>>these techniques.
>>>
>>>Other resources: Search Google, the frameusers.com archives (when they're 
>>>repaired), and the FrameMaker User-to-User groups at Adobe.com. These 
>>>questions have been answered before, and you may find other approaches in 
>>>these resources.
>>>
>>>
>>>HTH
>>>________________
>>>Regards,
>>>
>>>Peter Gold
>>>KnowHow ProServices
>>>
>>>Michael Zaichenko wrote:
>>>>Thanks Peter,
>>>>what if I want to paste one or two properties to several documents 
>>>>consecutively without changing rest of the settings. UpdateAll is not an 
>>>>option here.
>>>>I literally need to copy one or two properties and paste them across 
>>>>several documents at random.
>>>>Ideas?
>>>>Michael
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>From: Peter Gold <peter at knowhowpro.com>
>>>>>To: Michael Zaichenko <biozaichenko at hotmail.com>
>>>>>CC: framers at lists.frameusers.com
>>>>>Subject: Re: TOU`GH ONE
>>>>>Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2007 16:39:31 -0600
>>>>>
>>>>>Hi, Michael:
>>>>>
>>>>>Search for
>>>>>
>>>>>Globally applying formats to text
>>>>>
>>>>>in FrameMaker's help.
>>>>>
>>>>>HTH
>>>>>
>>>>>Regards,
>>>>>
>>>>>Peter Gold
>>>>>KnowHow ProServices
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Michael Zaichenko wrote:
>>>>>>Hello there,
>>>>>>Looking for a way to copy one property of a paragraph? like it's 
>>>>>>spacebelow or keepwithnext? and paste it over to many other 
>>>>>>paragraphs. BUT ONLY ONE PROPERTY.
>>>>>>Braincracker, huh?
>>>>>>Michael
>>>>>
>>>>
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>>
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>>
>

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