🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi Riley...

Basically, all you have to do is to add more targets to the ditafm-ant.xml file (in your DITA-OT folder), and update the BuildFile section of your ditafm.ini file with matching target names.

I've posted the DITA-FMx version of the ditafm-ant.xml file (ditafmx-ant.xml) to ..

 <http://leximation.com/outbox/ditafmx-ant.xml.txt>

You should be able to copy and paste the targets from the lower section into the corresponding area of your ditafm-ant.xml file. For example, to add the eclipsehelp target, copy the target element that starts with ..

<target name="eclipsehelp"
...
</target>

Then update your ditafm.ini file (in C:\Program Files\Adobe\FrameMaker8\fminit\ditafm) so the BuildFile section looks something like this ..

[BuildFile]
AntCommand=ant
AntScript=ditafm-ant.xml
Count=3
DitaDir=C:\Tools\DITA\DITA-OT1.3.1
1=chm
2=html
3=eclipsehelp

Now when you run the Generate Output command, you should see eclipsehelp as an available output target.

Note that you can't use the ditafmx-ant.xml file in place of your ditafm-ant.xml file, since DITA-FMx uses slightly different parameters when it calls the Ant script, but you should be able to futz with it a bit to get it to work.

Note that some of the target types will require additional tweaking or compilers/tools to get useful output (JavaHelp and ElipseHelp for example), but this *should* get you started.

Cheers,

...scott

Scott:

Thanks as always. I also have access to some developers who use Ant on a daily basis, so I suspect I'll be able to get some help from them as well...

I'll let the forum know how this goes...

Cheers & thanks 'gain,
RBV

Hi Riley...

Each DITA authoring tool will have its strengths and weaknesses, but as for generating output .. DITA (and most Open Source tools) is all about manual "plumbing". :)

You have to go through a bit of pain to get things set up the way you want, but once you do, you're good to go! You're free to switch authoring tools as needed, but your publishing process is yours to tweak as needed.

Cheers,

...scott

Hi:

Okay, I successfully performed plumbed the pieces such that DITA > Generate Output gave me the eclipsehelp option, and that option generated HTML without error.

Now I'm going to use the DITA-OT demo files to figure out how the left-side navigation pane gets created and populated...

Cheers,
Riley

The story so far:

Using the plug-in I can gen the proper number of HTML files, and some supplementary XML files but I don't get an index.html file or anything equivalent. Stated another way, most -- but not all -- of the FM8 --> plug-in --> DITA-OT plumbing appears to be in place...

That in turn means I don't have any apparent way to display a left-side navigation pane with a TOC-like list of topics; the list of topics would presumably follow the structure of my FM8 .ditamap file...(?)

Anyone know what I'm failing to do? I'd like to get a fully-functioning Eclipse Help system that has left-side navigation...

Cheers & thanks,
Riley

Hi Riley...

I've never been able to do that .. but have never really tried too hard. If you don't get a useful reply here, I'd try posting to the Yahoo dita-users group .. but you might want to remove FM from the discussion since that will just muddy the waters. What you want to do is find out how to generate an Eclipse Help system using the default transforms available in the DITA-OT. Also .. you might want to differentiate between a standalone Eclipse Help system vs. one that's used within the Eclipse IDE .. I think they are different beasts, and it'll depend on which you want as to how you go about getting it.

Cheers!

...scott

Scott:

Thanks.

What I did do was borrow the index.html and toc.html files gen'ed by the DITA-OT demo.

I then used some scripts to transform a copy of my .ditamap file (which hierarchically listed all my topic files) into HTML unordered lists and list items (ULs and LIs) used in the Eclipse Help system's TOC file.

So, I can post-process a copy of my ditamap file into a crude approximation of an Eclipse Help TOC, then re-use the Eclipse Help index.html to launch it in a frame.

Overall, I think you're correct -- FrameMaker in its native state knows only how to turn DITA back into .fm binaries for purposes of generating a somewhat clumsy looking PDF of the assembled topics...

(Wouldn't it be funny, he said, if the FM8 DITA plugin could generate the DITAMAP file as a single HTML approximation of itself rather than interpret it as a list of topic files? Then one could two-pass the Eclipse Help system as HTML-ized topic files and a TOC-ized DITAMAP.

Anticipating the next question, no -- saving the DITAMAP as HTML doesn't get you any closer than does post-processing the DITAMAP XML file...)

Cheers & thanks 'gain,
Riley
x5633

Hi Riley...

So .. are you really looking to build "Eclipse Help" or do you just want a simple frames-based "WebHelp" output? Eclipse Help has a lot of overhead (namely Java) .. which can be useful, but it is a bit of a niche product.

The standard XHTML target will build you a TOC that can be formatted nicely and all you need is a frameset file to wrap it all up. As is standard with the OT, it's pretty boring in appearance, but with some tweaking you can get something decent.

FM can build you a FM book from your DITA files, to which you can add a title page, TOC, and Index .. and it can look identical to a book that you'd craft on your own (pre-DITA). If it's clumsy looking, you need to do a bit more work .. but you can get there. :)

FM can also pass your ditamap off to the OT for processing (which is what the Generate Output command does). It does nothing to the files beyond passing the map filename off to the OT via the ~ant-build.cmd file (found in the FM8/fminit/ditafm folder). You can open this batch file and see the command line that's used. Anything that you can build with the OT, can be spawned from FM .. it just provides easy access to running the OT from FM.

Cheers,

...scott

Scott:

Thanks -- I'll keep this in mind assuming I return to authoring DITA with FrameMaker.

In the meantime, I've advised my customer that given its current personnel and financial constraints, its trial migration to a DITA model for authoring and deploying content should be abandoned, at least for the time being.

The experiment has compelled us to conclude that it's taking far too much time and effort to make FrameMaker do anything but convert DITA topics authored in XML into FrameMaker binaries (and that none too well), that there would be too much apparent training required to get a writer up on the DITA tools and "gotchas", and too much ongoing research and experimentation required to implement a sensible DITA workflow.

Very disappointing for all concerned, but this small organization has work to do and DITA in general, and FrameMaker's inchoate DITA capabilities in specific, simply isn't helping them get it done...

Cheers, thanks as always, & take care,
Riley