Opening book files without opening the book

[Fred Ridder]

What Steve says is all true, of course, but it really has nothing to do with the question of whether a writer needs to have the book file open before working on any chapter. 

 

The answer to the question Timothy asked is no, there is no requirement for the book file to be open whenever a chapter is being worked on. One of the key benefits of FrameMaker is the way that multiple authors can work completely independently on modules of information (e.g. chapters) without regard for how they will ultimately be assembled into published deliverables. If you had to always have the book file open, it would effectively preclude you from ever being able to use one chapter with common information (e.g. a list of standard references or a common glossary) from being used in more than one book, which is another benefit of the FrameMaker book paradigm.

 

-Fred Ridder

 
> Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:33:49 -0600
> Subject: Re: Opening book files without opening the book
> From: chinaski69 at gmail.com
> To: tdewees at charter.net
> CC: framers at lists.frameusers.com
> 
> It's just a matter of logistics. If Writer A opens Chapter1.fm and
> inserts a cross-reference to Chapter2.fm which is currently opened by
> Writer B, then that will fail.
> 
> To succesfully be able to insert an inter-chapter cross-reference,
> Writer A needs all chapters to be writeable. After inserting the
> cross-reference, Writer A must save all chapters. Frame puts a
> cross-ref marker on the heading to which the cross-reference is made.
> 
> An easy way around this is to coordinate the placing of
> cross-references at certain times during the project.
> 
> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 8:56 AM, Timothy DeWees <tdewees at charter.net> wrote:
> >
> > I am currently working with a couple of other people who are new to
> > framemaker. I've been using frame for a bit over two years on a near daily
> > basis. I use the practice of always opening a frame book before editing
> > individual files within that book. My concern is that by working in an
> > individual file without opening the book, that errors such as broken
> > cross-references, re-mapping of text insets, or other errors may occur. Is
> > my concern founded, or is it ok to edit individual book files without ever
> > opening the book?  If anyone has a link to a discussion of this topic, that
> > would be particularly helpful.