🚀 go-pugleaf

Hanna,

How did you import the PowerPoint graphics into FM (i.e. which filter
did you select from the pop-up dialogue)? AFAIK, no version of FM has
ever had an import filter for PowerPoint.

If you imported these as OLE objects though, there is a chance that an
upgrade at the system level (such as SP3 for XP) broke OLE for you
(known issue with FM and SP3).

OLE objects. I wonder if IT surreptitiously "upgraded" me. If I roll back SP3, will my images come back?

Thanks for the info.

They should. This has been reported on a few times in this Forum and
the solution was to either roll-back to SP2 or to re-import by
reference in a different format.

A quick way to check is to create a MIF of any file with missing
graphics and search for a known PPT filename that is linked to. If you
find it (look for <ImportObFileDI "pathname"> statements), then you
should be able to re-link. If not, then the links have been hosed.

Hanna,
If your OLE fix doesn't work, export the PPT as graphics, or print it to PDF and import the frames individually.

Art

Hanna, you said "all was fine until you added a condition". If it turns out that an SP3 update happened then that's almost certainly the problem, but if it didn't ...

Was this condition applied to all the graphics? Was it a change (copy, delete, whatever) in the condition, or just a brand new condition?

One thing you might try is to save one of the problem chapters as MIF, then view the MIF through a text editor (or better yet, the wonderfully useful freebie MIFBrowse, here:

 <http://www.grahamwideman.com/gw/tech/framemaker/mifbrowse.htm>

Then search to find a problem graphic filename, and see what you can see as far as conditions applied to the anchoring frame's paragraph.

What I'm suggesting is if the system didn't get an SP3 upgrade, it might be possible to do some MIF-bopping to remove the problem condition.

Caveat: of course, be sure to have a solid backup before you mess with MIF.

[For future reference, it would help us help you if you specify your exact FM versions including the "pxxx" numbers as shown in FM's Help > About, just in case one of the many patches might have contained a fix.]

I think what happened was that I copied my files to my auxiliary computer, which had been upgraded to SP3 without my knowledge. Then I copied them back to my XP SP2 computer and started working on them. In the meantime, I had been conditionalizing graphics (for print vs online with Madcap Flare), so I thought that caused the problem.

I'll check the MIF and see what's going on....

Thanks for all your expertise on this.

Hanna

Well, the images were missing from the MIF so I guess I'm OOL. But, that MIFBrowse utility is way cool. Thanks for the tip.

Hello every one ! I'm new to this stuff, but I sure think it's a great way to solve our Adobe technical problems; I want to thank everyone for the posts, it's been extremely helpful so far :)

-However, After reading this post I don't seem to get the solution.

I'm having the same issue as Hanna; I've imported a Power Point SWF (Created with captivate) object into a frame maker file by referrence. Yet I haven't had any recent upgrades or have I added any conditions and for some odd reason, when I try to create a PDF the document comes out fine but it always plays the media back without the powerpoint graphics.

Still though, you can hear my narration of the powerpoint; you can still hear sound, and even see any text graphic insertions I placed in the object with captivate, but all of the power point words, colors, everything else is gone. I'm using Frame Maker 8- 1.6GHz-Windows XP- 512mb of RAM....

I would greatly appreciate any help I can get on this issue. Running into problems like this when your trying to finish a project for a client isn't always the most pleasant experience :/ LOL...But that's why we have this chance to get together and get to know each other. Is anyone friendly enough to help ?

What specific version of FM8, from Help > About, the "pxxx" numbers?

What Windows service pack level (2 or 3)?

Thanks for the responce Sheila !

I'm currently running the Service Pack Level 3...I don't understand "rolling back" though....

And I checked Frame Maker (structured) for the numbers you requested...it said...

Version 8.0p266

Guillermo,

There have been two additional patches released for FM8. It's
currently at 8.0p277. You should install both of those. See
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=22&platform=Windows

XP SP3 broke aspects of OLE so depending upon how things were created
in PowerPoint and with Captivate, there might be issues.

Can you just play the swf ok? Have you tried playing back the PDFs on
other machines that perhaps don't have SP3?

Version p266 is two versions outdated. The current version of FM8 is p277. THere are many, many things listed in the readme files for both updates; one enigmatic one is:

> > 1538795 Platform: Win
You shouldn�t use Graphics operation on Flash (.swf files)

If you perform graphics operations on flash files in FrameMaker, final output will not be appropriate < <

What it means by "graphics operations" or "appropriate" is a mystery.

FM updates are *not* "roll-up" meaning that you have to do both the available updates (p273 and p277) individually, in order lowest to highest, as compared to many other applications where the updates are cumulative, i.e. "roll-up" so you only have to do one single update to bring it up to the most recent version.

"Roll back" usually means to remove a version; in this case it probably is applying to Windows Service Pack 3, because there are many changes to OLE functionality that broke FM functionality for those folks who embed linked objects in FM. Many IT depts and/or users will not allow rolling back SP3, however, as there can be good/bad/unknown implications for just about every application on the system, not just FM.

Folks,
I am always reading here that WinXP Service Pack 3 "broke" OLE.
However, from the point of view of Microsoft, what it actually did was *fix* a howling security flaw in the OLE implementation.

You should bear that in mind if you want to roll back to SP2...

Guillermo, in the FrameMaker Preferences dialog for version 8 there is a checkbox "Do not embed Adobe Flash files in PDF" -- do you have that checked or un-checked?

Wow look at all the responses ! I'm so feelin the love right now. Thank you so much everyone for your coolness. This is turning into a nice topic :)

And when I say nice, I mean nice and challenging. lol...

I went ahead and followed your advice Arnis; my FM 8 is now p277. To answer your question- NO, I haven't tried it on anyone elses machine and YES- the SWF plays fine on it's own.

I installed the updates as you said Sheila; with p273 first, and I like the upgrades, thanks. Now, to answer your question, the box is unchecked. Remember, the SWF file plays my vocals and I can see the text insertions I made with captivate, but it still won't show the power point I recorded with captivate...it makes no sence to me...I can hear it but I can't see it!?

I agree david, rolling back anything just doesn't seem to register with me either but, I don't know what else to do at this point.

Hey, I read in an old FAQ that the Adobe Distiller printer had to be installed for FM back in 2000. It couldn't be used with HP drivers and I have an HP now...Could that be the issue ?