XML Output from FrameMaker not Pure XML?

[LW White]

Hi Jan,

I'll put my two cents in as well. The XMl that Frame creates is absolutely standards-based XML that can be interpreted by any XML editor. I use Frame and other XML editors as well, on the same files, and there is no problem going from one to the other. What the person who told you this might have meant is that there are many aspects of Frame that are not part of XML--conditional text, variables, etc. To accommodate these things, Frame adds things like entity declarations to ensure that, for example, your variables are preserved during a Frame-XML round trip. Frame also has its own way of formatting tables and images that is quite different from the way XML does it. So, again--and I'll use DITA XML as an example--the CALS table model includes a colspec element that determines column width, ruling, etc. Frame hides the colspec element because it is using the Table Designer properties to record this information and there are rules operating behind the scenes to translate the Table Designer properties to colspec attributes. However, if you look at the XML, you'll see that the colspec element is indeed there. So I think it would be better to say that the XML from Frame is different than what you might create if you sat down with a simpler XML editor and created the content, but it is not degraded or proprietary.

Best,
Leigh

From: jwhit15 at verizon.net
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:09:51 -0600
Subject: XML Output  from FrameMaker not Pure XML?

I was told that the XML output from FrameMaker was not ³pure XML,²...that it
adds some kind of FrameMaker tagging. That was the rationale for a company I
interviewed with to move from FrameMaker to MadCap Flare?
I am interested in making sure I use the best tool for XML output.
 
Thanks for all responses!
 
-- 
Jan Whitacre
 
214-704-7952
 
Whit Write: Technical communication
that puts the user first.
 		 	   		  
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