Conditional Text Question
Shmuel Wolfson
sbw at actcom.com
Tue Jul 17 09:42:08 PDT 2007
Hi Sam,
I have a similar situation, where I have three similar books. What I do
is have 3 separate books. Some of the chapters are shared between the
books (and use conditional text), and some of them are unique to each book.
I'm not sure I follow what your system, bit this is what I would do:
-Have 2 separate books, each one having one or more unique chapters,
such as the chapter with the document number. (I wouldn't want to use a
variable or conditional text for the document number. Since it's an
important number I would want it to be static for each book.)
- Place the similar chapters in a folder on the network called "shared
FM chapters." Add those files to each of the two books. In each of those
shared chapters, use conditional text to mark the unique parts of the
chapter.
That's it. Sounds simpler than your system.
You could use conditional text for the footer also, but I use a variable
for that. I have a separate file with only one custom variable,
"Footer." When I'm working on Book A, I open my Footer file, redefine
the Footer variable, and then import only the variables from that file
to the book I'm working on.
Regards,
Shmuel Wolfson
Sam Beard wrote:
> Shmuel,
>
> Thanks for the response and sorry it's taken me a while to get back
> to you. I got sidetracked with some other issues.
> The document number is only on one page in the front section of the
> manual and is how we track projects and their updates. The number is an
> eight digit number with the first four digits a one-up number assigned
> to each document as it comes along. The latter four digits are the
> month-year of when the latest version is released. So, a new document
> might have a number like 23450707, indicating it's released in July of
> 2007 and the one-up part is 2345. If a revision is made to the document
> in August, the number becomes 23450807.
> There are several files for each book with a front section (fairly
> static with the exception of the document title, document number, and
> perhaps a short bit other text, depending on the document), a TOC, and
> then the various chapters. For the documents that are quick-start guides
> or other short documents, there is only the text related to the document
> itself. However, the questions I have don't concern these documents,
> only the multi-file books.
> I've seen the answers from you and others about removing the
> conditional text markers and will do that with the books. I really
> appreciate the support, as that's mostly what I was looking for when I
> posted my question. However, if there is a better way to do this than
> the way I am, that would also be appreciated.
> A quick refresher: two products very similar to each other (with at
> least one other sometime in the near future, probably); a lot of common
> text between them; currently, a master document set with a book
> containing several files marked with conditional text; and two other
> book files saved to separate folders named for the first four numbers in
> the document numbering system, with the appropriate conditional text
> hidden for each book. Since I have to store two versions of the manual
> under each folder, I thought the best way to do it was to hide the
> conditional text for one, save the document under the name/folder for
> the other, and do the same for the second one.
> I hope that I've made it pretty clear, but please ask if there's
> something that isn't. Thanks much for the assistance! The techwr-l and
> framer's lists are great resources with great people on them!
>
> Samuel I. Beard, Jr.
> Technical Writer
> OI Analytical
> 979 690-1711 Ext. 222
> sbeard at oico.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shmuel Wolfson [mailto:sbw at actcom.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 4:23 PM
> To: Sam Beard
> Subject: Re: Conditional Text Question
>
> I don't see why the document number should prevent you from using a
> single file. There are solutions for that too. But first tell me whether
>
> the document number is on every page of the manual, or just on one page?
>
> Are you using several files contained in a book?
>
> Regards,
> Shmuel Wolfson
>
>
>
> Sam Beard wrote:
>
>> All,
>>
>> Thanks much for the help on this issue, but I need to clarify a few
>> things. First, I'm aware of the purpose of using conditional text,
>>
> which
>
>> is what helped me to get this job. However, I have no real choice as
>>
> to
>
>> having three separate files (my second point), because of our
>> documentation control system. We number our documents with a one-up
>> system, including the month/year as the last four parts of an
>> eight-digit number. If these documents were for a new product line, we
>> MIGHT be able to get away with putting them into a single number.
>> However, they are for two separate but similar product lines. The
>>
> first
>
>> one is 1950 while the second one is 2158. Therefore, I have to
>>
> maintain
>
>> having three separate books for each document, hiding and viewing the
>> appropriate conditional text and saving it to the appropriate folder
>>
> on
>
>> our system. Unless someone has an idea about how to get around that,
>> then that's the way it is here. Before I started here, the documents
>> were COMPLETELY maintained as two separate books, even though there
>>
> was
>
>> a LOT of cross-over text between them. Obviously, this made updating
>> them much more of a challenge and they are actually out of step with
>> each other by one version. I'm not sure that's something that will
>> change, either. I'll probably have to use a variable or something else
>> to indicate the version numbers of the two and conditionalize that, as
>> well.
>> I believe everyone that responded mentioned hiding the conditional
>> text indicators, so I'll need to check into how to change that. I
>>
> wasn't
>
>> aware of how to change that, which is why I posted my question. So,
>> thanks to all of you for the tips on that. I'll see if I can determine
>> how to hide the indicators.
>> Thanks again and have a great day!
>>
>> Samuel I. Beard, Jr.
>> Technical Writer
>> OI Analytical
>> 979 690-1711 Ext. 222
>> sbeard at oico.com
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Miriam Lezak [mailto:mlezak at marzak.org]
>> Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 9:01 PM
>> To: Sam Beard
>> Cc: Frame User's Group
>> Subject: Re: Conditional Text Question
>>
>> Sam:
>>
>> If you conditionalize the whole row, that row should disappear when
>>
> you
>
>> turn
>> the condition off. The colored borders indicate that you've correctly
>> conditionalized it (rather than just conditionalizing the text within
>> the
>> border).
>>
>> If that doesn't make sense, let me know.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Sam Beard" <sbeard at oico.com>
>> To: <framers at frameusers.com>
>> Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 12:39 PM
>> Subject: Conditional Text Question
>>
>>
>> Hello All,
>>
>>
>>
>> I have a document that uses conditional text to delineate between
>>
> two
>
>> different versions of the same basic product. Before I started this,
>> there were two separate books for each manual, even though there is a
>> LOT of cross-over text between them that is the same. I combined them
>> into a single set of master files and am marking the conditional text,
>> hiding what I don't want to see, and saving the resulting file for the
>> two separate books. Now, I have three files for each chapter of the
>> book: Master, Version 1, and Version 2. All well and good. However, I
>> also have ALL of the text in all three files, albeit Version 1's text
>>
> is
>
>> hidden in Version 2, and vice-versa. Is there a way to permanently
>> remove the text for Version 1 from Version 2, and vice-versa, while
>> maintaining the master file? One of the reasons I need to do this is
>>
> to
>
>> remove the borders around cells in a table that are conditionalized.
>> Currently, there are large colored borders around any table cells that
>> are marked as conditional.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm on Windows XP with Frame 7.2b144.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks much in advance!
>>
>>
>>
>> Samuel I. Beard, Jr.
>>
>> Technical Writer
>>
>> OI Analytical
>>
>> 979 690-1711 Ext. 222
>>
>> sbeard at oico.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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