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Structuring Documents with FrameBuilder

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Process

Process

This chapter provides an overview of the structuring process. Details of converting documents are also in this chapter.

The chapter is broken down into seven parts:

Structuring overview

This section presents the general steps and procedures needed to put a document online. A graphical representation of the structuring process is given first, followed by a narrative overview of the process.

The procedures in the remainder of this chapter cover the details of the conversion process. Any questions that the overview brings up are answered in the remaining sections of this chapter.

A graphical overview

Figure 1 gives an overview of the structuring process at the file level. The figure assumes a FrameMaker file as its starting point.

A narrative overview

This section is a narrative (text) overview of the process illustrated in Figure 1. Detailed steps and procedures begin with the "Preparing to structure" section.

There are five steps to converting a book for use with PinPoint:

  1. Tasks to do before structure generation
  2. Structure generation
  3. Tasks to do after structure generation
  4. Repeat for each file in the book
  5. Put the book file online
Use the most recent versions of the external files (chapt.struct, struct.rule.table).

The following procedure assumes that you are starting with documents that do not strictly adhere to the latest FrameBuilder v 4.0 templates.

  1. Tasks to do before structure generation

    The following items must be completed before structure is generated:

    1. (Optional) Remove current paragraph and character tags.
    2. (Optional) Import tags and element definitions from chapt.struct.
    3. (Optional) Run mifmucker on the file.
    4. (Optional)Re-apply the appropriate paragraph tag for any modified paragraph (a paragraph where the para type is displayed below the menu bar with an asterisk).
    5. Adjust the character and paragraph tags before you generate structure so that the structure rule table (SRT) efficiently wraps your document.

  2. Structure generation

  3. Tasks to do after structure generation

      Post-structure generation requires the following steps to be completed:

    1. Validate the file's structure.
    2. Perform the HPTAG export.
    3. Run mkbook on the newly exported document.
    4. Use PinPoint to view the document.
    5. Adjust the online document to match the hard copy document.

  4. Repeat for each file in the book

      Repeat Steps 1, 2, and 3 for each file in the book, including the title page and copyright information.

  5. Put the book file online

      Once all the files are ready, the book file can be created according to the following procedure:

    1. Generate a book file called book.struct which contains all
      the *.struct files.
    2. Resolve cross-references.
    3. Import element definitions from the chapt.struct template into the new book file.
    4. Validate the book's structure.
    5. Select (on icarus) HPTAG -> Export in the book window.
    6. Run mkbook on the newly created book SGML output.
    7. Use PinPoint to view the book online.

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