FrameMaker's hypertext generation (links in PDFs)

[Shlomo Perets]

Dan,

You wrote:

>Can't tell if this is a FrameMaker issue or a PDF issue.
>
>I'm using FrameMaker 9.0p250 under Windows 7 Professional (64-bit).
>
>I'm running into problems with hypertext markers converted to hyperlinks 
>in PDFs (both created via "Save As" and "Print to"). The vast majority of 
>the hypertext markers convert to URL links just fine. The problem is with 
>links on the IRS website.
>
>The IRS uses a very archaic system that includes commas in the URLs, and 
>the resulting link the PDF is truncated at the first comma.
>For example, the following URL:
>http://www.irs.gov/efile/content/0,,id=171945,00.html
>
>Ends up being a link to:
>http://www.irs.gov/efile/content/0
>in the PDF.
>
>I've checked the hypertext markers in the Frame documents, and they are 
>correct. The problem seems to be in the PDF creation.
>
>I really don't want to have to manually create a zillion TinyURLs to 
>bypass this problem.
>
>Any ideas? Thanks in advance.


A "real" PDF link, defined in FrameMaker using a hypertext marker such as:
message URL http://www.irs.gov/efile/content/0,,id=171945,00.html
is carried over correctly to the PDF file, and is fully-functional in 
Acrobat/Reader.

However, when the URL is simply present in the text without a hypertext 
link defined, a "real" PDF link is not created. You (and your end-users) 
are then relying on Acrobat/Reader's "Create Links from URLs" feature 
(Edit > Preferences, General; in versions 7/8 it is called "Automatically 
detect URLs from text").

The presence of special characters may "disturb" the auto-detection, and 
truncate the resulting link. There are some variations as to special 
characters causing the problems, depending on the Acrobat/Reader version 
being used. With Acrobat/Reader 9, the comma indeed truncates the 
interpreted link.

Also, when longer web links that are split between lines are auto-detected 
(which may be likely with your URLs), only the portion present in the first 
line is used, resulting in an incorrect or partial link.

[Also take into account that end-users may view the PDF with older 
Acrobat/Reader versions, or non-Adobe viewers, where the link 
auto-detection feature may not be present at all.]

To have fully-functional links in all versions of Reader, I recommend 
adding hypertext links in FrameMaker, so that "real" links are present in 
the PDF. If you have lots of links to create, FrameScript can automate this 
task and is definitely worth looking into.


Shlomo Perets

MicroType * http://www.microtype.com
FrameMaker/Acrobat training & consulting * FM-to-Acrobat TimeSavers/Assistants