[Framers] Using Frame as a little CMS

[jang at jang.nl]

Restricting cross-references from pointing to materials that are not inside text insets takes most of the usefulness of text insets out of the equation.
The issue with cross-references and text insets is that the FM cross-references contain a unique identifier as well as the file name of the referenced file. This is the source file of the text inset, which does not resolve to the file into which the text inset is inserted. Such issues can be resolved by scripting, which traverses all the files in a book searching for cross-reference targets. In the second pass, the script tries to resolve the targets for each cross-referece from the list of identifiers while disregarding the file names. When a match is found, the new file name replaces the one that was in the original reference. This is also what the XRef Wizard does for structured FM files.

FYI, I am delivering a series of 7 webinars hosted by Adobe, under the umbrella title of "Jang's F.M. Circus". The session on June 2nd revolves around creating unbreakable links. That builds on the previous session, on "Plug-in Hybrid Documents", where I show how FM can be connected to a MySQL database.

If companies need custom solutions, they can always approach me off-list. I am certain I can always find a solution for FM-related problems, whether they are in structured or unstructured documents, or a mix of these.

Jang F.M. Graat

The Frame Tamer

> West Street Consulting's XRef Wizard takes care of the problem with
> cross-references and text insets:
> 
> <http://www.weststreetconsulting.com/WSC_XRefWizard.htm>
> 
> Requires Structured FrameMaker, though.
> 
> -j
> 
> On 2016-04-26 18:06, David Artman wrote:
> 
> > P.S. You missed a REAL and intractable issue: I've found sometimes that
> > cross-references just don't like text insets; and so I often advise a
> > strategy where headings are not the 'top leaf' of inset content, and the
> > actual-text-in-files must be targeted for cross-referencing (i.e.,
> > heading must be typed every time, then inset inserted). As such,
> > text-inset content can only really internally cross-reference (i.e.,
> > inside its own inset) or cross-reference between 'real' text in the
> > files that make the actual deliverable. Not a giant issue, but
> > non-optimal compared, say, to DITA conreffing.
> >