Custom Ruling and Shading of Tables via xml and EDD rules

[Roger Shuttleworth]

Hi Ed

I suspect your problem arises because you have not distinguished 
carefully between HTML and XML. The class attribute of HTML/CSS has no 
specific meaning in XML, which by its definition allows you to use 
elements and attributes of your own defining.

So to address your question and give some pointers:

Table, row, and cell properties are mapped from XML to FrameMaker (and 
back) using XML attributes and read-write rules. There are no EDD rules 
to handle these things. What you need to do, assuming you are not using 
a standard DTD in which much of the work is done for you, is:

1. Define the XML attributes that you will use, and their possible 
values. If you are using DITA or another standard DTD, they are already 
defined and you can read about them in the DITA (or other) Language 
Reference.

2. Identify which FrameMaker property corresponds to each XML attribute. 
For example, you may have an attribute called "align" for a table cell. 
This would correspond to a specific FM property that defines the 
alignment of text in a table cell. You can find out the names of the FM 
properties in the "Structure Application Developer's Guide" which is 
available from the Adobe website. They are very specific. (Sorry, I 
don't have access right now to specific information.)

3. Identify which XML attribute values correspond to which specific FM 
property value. Again, the values are given in the SADG and are very 
specific.

4. Write read-write rules that map the attributes and their values to 
the FM properties and their values.

As an example, you may like to study the read-write rules that come with 
the DITA XML application (in the FM installation\structure\xml\DITA\app 
folder and its subfolders. I believe there are examples in there that 
will give you the idea.

Writing read-write rules is the most challenging part of creating a 
structured application (IMHO), because they have to be exactly right and 
the exact syntax is not always easily found. So you will need to persevere.

I hope this gives you some ideas. Bottom line: define these things in 
the RWR, not in the EDD.

Roger

Repatriated to the UK


On 10/07/2013 12:40 AM, Ed Nodland wrote:
> I have XML files that include tables.  Some cells include a class such as:
> <td class="cheader"> Centered text with gray shading
> <td class="header"> Left justified text with gray shading
> <td class="cbody"> Centered text not shaded
> <td class="body"> Left justified text not shaded
>
> I want to be able to open the XML file using FM10 and have the cells
> formatted.
>
> I do not see a "Custom Ruling and Shading" EDD Rule that allows ruling
> and shading to be defined for a cell based on a Context Rule such as
> [class="cheader"].
>
> _Am I missing something?_
>
> It appears that using the table format styles are limited to an orderly
> set of rulings and shadings rather than being totally custom or XML
> attribute driven for specific rows or cells.
>
> I can change the markup or take a totally different approach but I nered
> the format to be driven by the XML data not manual activity in
> Framemaker aftrer opening the XML file..
>
> _Any suggestions?_
> _
> _
>   Ed Nodland
>
>
>
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