Mixed Structured / Unstructured and xrefs

[Scott Prentice]

Lin...

It's likely breaking because the cross-refs are linking to "elements" in 
the original files, then when you paste into an unstructured file, there 
are no elements to link to. You'd need to run some process before 
pasting into the unstructured file which iterates over all cross-refs 
and relinks them to paras or markers instead of elements.

I know you said not to ask .. but I'm not sure why you're converting the 
structured files into unstructured files. It's OK to have a book that 
contains both types of files (may not be a "best practice" but should 
work). As long as you're dealing with FM binary files, not XML files, 
you can mix and match as needed. Have you tried just adding the 
structured files to the book? You will need to enable the structured 
interface in FM in order to do this, but that should not have any 
adverse effect on your files. It's perfectly fine to edit unstructured 
files in the structured interface.

Hope that helps.

...scott

On 10/30/14 1:53 PM, Lin Sims wrote:
> Bare bones background:
>
> We have Excel spreadsheets that we convert to XML files using a 
> script. The script also creates a ditamap for all the files and 
> creates an XML file that contains a table that links to all the 
> individual XML files.
>
> We use DITAFMx to convert the ditamap and XML files to a single FM 
> file (still in structured). At this point, the xrefs work just fine.
>
> Here's the tricky part. I then import (by copy) the newly created FM 
> files into an UNSTRUCTURED FM file (because that's what the rest of 
> the book is in, and no, this is not currently an option to change, 
> don't even ask, it's a MESS), which is opened in FM with the 
> structured interface so that the structured information can be retained.
>
> As soon as I copy those files into the container (unstructured) file, 
> the xrefs break. I need those xrefs to NOT break, and I don't have 
> time to relink 500 or so xrefs every time I create this book.
>
> I've tried this on the FM install on my desktop, which uses the 
> structured interface but is NOT in a DITA/structured environment, and 
> the FM install on a server, which uses the structured interface and IS 
> in a DITA/Structured environment.
>
> If I open the files on their own, they're fine. If I import them into 
> the unstructured document, the links go bye-bye and I can't regenerate 
> them.
>
> I'm beyond frustrated. Any clues would be appreciated.
>
> -- 
> Lin Sims
>
>

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