Under-documented features... [-STOP THE DISCUSSION-]

[Mike Wickham]

>> Initially I wrote to ask for help solving a problem involving variables 
>> sprinkled throughout a book, liberally throughout each chapter. My 
>> question was, is there a variable I can change and run through an entire 
>> book that'll put the book title in the page header of every chapter? <<

>> The general responses seem to be (1) nope, not in FrameMaker and (2) why 
>> don't you try using cross-references? Or import the variables from my 
>> title chapter into every other file?  I am bemused by the lack of 
>> interest in what I think is a
potentially valuable feature for FrameMaker. <<

The feature is already there. You can do it with any user variable you 
create!

1. Open a file. It can be a file already in the book, a separate template 
file, or a new empty file.

2. Create a new variable (Special> Variable> Create variable). Give it a 
name-- for example "BookTitle." Assign the title of your book as the 
definition of this variable. Example: "The Complete Idiot's Guide to 
FrameMaker." Click Add, Done, and Done. You now have your variable. You only 
have to create it once.

3. Leave the file open. If you close it, the next step will not work.

4. Open the .BOOK file where you want this variable to work.

5. Select all documents in the book. (Ctrl-a)

6. Choose File> Import> Formats. From the dropdown list under "Import from 
Document" choose the file in which you just created your variable. Deselect 
all checkboxes, except for "Variable Definitions." Click the Import button. 
Your variable now exists in every book in the file. Again, you only have to 
do this once.

7. That's it. "The Complete Idiot's Guide to FrameMaker" will show anywhere 
you insert the variable in those documents. Most likely, you will insert it 
in the header on a master page, so that it shows automatically in the page 
headers like you asked. Note: If you do this, don't forget to use File> 
Import> Formats and select only "Page Layouts" to import the new master page 
to the other book files, or your variable won't show because they'll still 
contain the old master page layout.

You can also insert the variable anywhere in the text anywhere you might 
want the book title to appear-- on the title page, copyright page, in the 
body text, or wherever. This has the advantage that, if you change the title 
at the last minute, you need only change the definition of the variable, and 
then reimport it to the book docs. It will fix headers and entries in the 
text at the same time. Powerful!

Mike Wickham