Converting from Word to FM9: Tables in Tables??

[Alison Craig]

Les, this actually sounds great.

I'll try it along with the other advice I've been given and use whichever seems to be the simplest and the most flexible for Notes/Cautions/Warnings in Tables.

Thanks, Alison

________________________________
From: Les Smalley [mailto:l_c_smalley at yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 7:30 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com; Alison Craig
Subject: Re: Converting from Word to FM9: Tables in Tables??

No, Frame does not support tables within table.  But depending on your need, it does (and fairly easily at that) support lines above and below paragraphs.  There is a little setup that need to be done.

On the Reference pages (not sure how this is reached in FM9, in earlier versions it is View > Reference Pages) you can create a named frame (or copy and paste one of the existing one and give it a new name).  There is a drawing tool to create a frame - it looks like a box with several object (triangle, square, circle) within it.  If you draw a new frame, you'll be prompted for a name.  This name will not automatically appear but FM knows what it is.  If you want the name visible on the Ref Page, you have to add a text line label for it.

The height of the frame itself will add to the spacing above/below the paragraph, so you may wish to keep it small - like 8 points.  But make the frame at least as wide as the full column measure.  The width of the frame will control how wide a line may appear on the body page - the maximum visible size is the smaller of the text column (or table cell!) width and the width of the frame.  Also, the left edge of the frame is always aligned to the left edge of the column - not with the left edge of the paragraph if it is indented.

Inside this frame place a line of the desired size.  If the line is offset within the frame, it will be offset by that same amount from the column edge.  The vertical position of the line in the frame will control its relative placement to the text of the paragraph - closer to the bottom of the frame and it will appear closer to the first line of text if the frame is above the para, and farther from the last line of text if it appears below, and vice-versa.  Centering the line vertically within the frame is probably the best best for your use.

In the paragraph designer, under Advanced properties, there are (were?) drop-down list for Frame Above and Frame Below.  When displaying the Note/Caution/Warning paragraph style in the designer, simply select the name of the frame you created in these drop downs and click update all.  The line form the frame on the ref page will now appear above or below (or both) the paragraph.

Hanging indents for the Note/Caution/Warning are set on the Basic properties tab of the Paragraph Designer - but differently than in Word.  You set the indent from the left margin and can specify different values for the first line of a paragraph and all subsequent lines.  Make the First value smaller than the Left value (e.g., 0.25" and 0.5") and you'll have a hanging indent.

Hope this helps,

- Les


--- On Tue, 6/16/09, Alison Craig <Alison.Craig at ultrasonix.com> wrote:
My company is finally making the transition from MS Word 2003 to FM 9 for all manuals.

On the advice of a consultant, I've translated my Note/Caution/Warning style into a table format as I was told this was the simplest way to duplicate my Word format (a simple hanging indent paragraph with a border above and below to demarcate the Note/Caution/Warning).

The problem is that I also have to use the Note/Caution/Warning style in table cells and it seems that FM9 does not support tables in tables.

I'm not sure if this forum will support attachments, but just in case it does, I've included a PDF of one of my simplest Word tables (2 columns only, with no shading) that also contains Notes and a Warning.

If anyone can advise me of a (simple?) way to duplicate this within FM9, I'd be extremely grateful.

Alison