Question for the Group: Create a Conditionalized or Hierarchical Book

Wed Dec 17 10:13:02 PST 2014

I practice a version of Laura’s approach for our User Manuals – where I create 8 manuals from one set of files (to be fair, 4 manual are “full manuals” of about 400 letter-sized pages, while the other 4 are subsets of the 4 “full manuals” and contain only about 25% of the full content).

To keep everything straight, I have a separate set of Book files for each version. The book files consist of

·         Manual Name book.book

·         Manual Name bookTOC.book

·         Manual Name Cover.fm.

The book files are kept in a “Book” directory below the standard content (which in my case is another 21 *.fm files). I copy in only the book files I need as I’ve found that having all 24 book files mixed in with the 21 content files makes for a messy work environment.

I also keep a set of what I call “Var Doc” files – one for each of the 8 manuals – in a Var Doc directory. These Variable files allow me to change variables (product names, part numbers, revision numbers, etc) in a matter of seconds in order to produce any manual I need. They also allow me to create Var Doc files for the translation bureau (on a per manual/language basis) so the translators can quickly update translated variables. (Just be sure to keep the Variables names consistent between all the Variable files or you’ll have a real mess on your hands.)

Alison

Alison Craig | Technical Documentation Lead
Ultrasonix | 130-4311 Viking Way | Richmond, BC  V6V 2K9 | analogicultrasound.com<http://www.analogicultrasound.com>
T 604-279-8550 ext 127 | F 604-279-8559

From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Tony Marek (PDF)
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 9:24 AM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Question for the Group: Create a Conditionalized or Hierarchical Book

Thanks, you guys! Three good suggestions that I can work with — all rolling in overnight.
~Tony

From: Laura Fergusson [mailto:Laura.Fergusson at exterity.com<mailto:Laura.Fergusson at exterity.com>]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 6:36 AM
To: Tony Marek (PDF); framers at lists.frameusers.com<mailto:framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: RE: Question for the Group: Create a Conditionalized or Hierarchical Book

Hi Tony

If I understand you correctly, I would do the following.

Keep all your files in the one folder, including three separate book files:

Book for Product A

Book for Product B

Book for Product C

Add the chapters you need to each book and conditionalise the content of each file as required.

(You CAN exclude chapters from books (in the book file itself), but I personally find this more difficult to maintain.)

Hope this helps. If you’d like more information about how we use this, feel free to contact me off line.
Laura

Laura Fergusson | Technical Writer | Exterity Ltd
tel: +44 1383 828250 ext 249 | fax: +44 1383 824905
e: laura.fergusson at exterity.com<mailto:laura.fergusson at exterity.com> | w: www.exterity.com<http://www.exterity.com>

From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com<mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com> [mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Tony Marek (PDF)
Sent: 16 December 2014 23:18
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com<mailto:framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: Question for the Group: Create a Conditionalized or Hierarchical Book

I currently need to create a new non-structured book in Frame 12 that will have one of three possible outputs (to .pdf).  I’m looking for advice on the best way to create and maintain the project.

To simplify the problem: previously we had the Product A user manual and the Product B user manual – maintained and distributed separately.  These manuals are each at about 15 chapters and 800+ pages each, with little or no overlapping content.

Now, my company has merged the two products into an optional third product, so that we have three possible product permutations (and manuals): Product A, Product B and now the new Product C (which consists of all of the components/chapters from both A+B).

So my question is: what is the best way to merge the two document sets so that I can publish Manual A, Manual B or Manual C (A+B), depending on the customer.

Should I conditionalize all the chapters under one book – so that I would only display and publish the appropriate chapters based on the customer — e.g. publish chapters set to Condition A, Condition B, or both conditions for Product C?  Or should I use the hierarchical book structure and then add/delete the subordinate book depending on the customer release?

I have no experience with hierarchical books so I’m not sure what the benefits or drawbacks are.

I could also simply add/delete the appropriate A/B chapters from the master book manually – but with 30+ chapters, this seems like it could be prone to mistakes in publishing the correct content.

Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Thanks,
~Tony

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