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Introduction to DITA topic-based authoring with Adobe FrameMaker 8

DITA tutorial: Authoring DITA with Adobe FrameMaker 8.0

This tutorial offers an introduction to authoring DITA in FrameMaker using the key features of the product. These examples use the tutorial files included with this article.

Module 1: Open, edit, and save a topic

With FrameMaker 8, authoring DITA in FrameMaker is now easier than ever. In the first tutorial module, you will open, edit, and save a DITA topic.

1. From the DITA_Tutorial folder, open review_ditamagic.dita.
2. Ensure that New Element Options (Element > New Element Options) is set to Prompt For Required Attributes Values and Allow Automatic Insertion Of Children.
3. Open the Structure View, if it is not already open, and Shift+click the minus sign (-) at the left side of the element bubble, to collapse the <dl> element and all its sibling elements.
4. In the Structure View window, place your cursor immediately above (before) the last <section> element.
5. From the Element catalog, select Section, and then click Insert. Notice that a <title> element is automatically inserted as a child element.
6. Within the <title> element, type Cons

7. Move the insertion point from the <title> element to a next-sibling position, immediately below the <title> element.

   Tip: You can also move your cursor out of an element and to the position directly below it using the following keyboard shortcut: Esc s D.

8. From the Element catalog, select <ul> and click Insert. Note that an <li> element is automatically inserted as a child with a <p> element grandchild.
   Note: The <p> grandchild is automatically inserted to facilitate the addition of multiple elements within the <li> element. In circumstances where only text will be contained by the <li>, the <p> element can be deleted and text can be typed directly into the <li> element.
9. Within the <p> element, type None
10. Save and close the file.

Module 2: Create a new DITA map

To create a new DITA map:

1. Choose DITA > New DITA File > New <map>.
2. In the Enter a New DITA Map File Name dialog box, ensure that you are in the DITA_Tutorial folder.

3. Type custom_reviews.ditamap and click Select.

   Note: If you don't provide a filename extension for the new file, one is added based on the type specified in the Default File Type option in the DITA Options dialog box. DITA map files are given a ditamap extension.

   A new window opens for your new DITA map with the default title text MAP TITLE.

4. In the Structure View window, click on the plus (+) sign at the right side of the <map> element bubble.
5. Double-click the title attribute.
6. In the Attributes dialog box, highlight the text in the Attribute Value field and type Custom Review Set
7. Click Set Value, and then click Done.
8. From the Element catalog, select topicref and click Insert.

9. From the Select a file dialog box, choose review_ditamagic.dita, and then click Select.

   A <topicref> element with <fm-topicreflabel> child element has been added to your DITA map.

10. In the Structure View window, click your insertion point below, and as a sibling to, the <topicref> element.
11. From the Element catalog, select topicref and click Insert.

12. From the Select a Topicref File dialog box, choose review_datapersister.dita, and click Select.

    Another <topicref> element with an <fm-topicreflabel> child element has been added to your DITA map.

13. In the Document window, double-click the text of the new <topicref> element that was inserted in the last step.

    The review_datapersister.dita file opens. Notice the <simpletable> element that was imported within the file. Since <simpletable> elements have no cols attribute to tell FrameMaker how many columns to expect, the program counted the number of columns before importing. By default, simpletable and reltable elements are supported in this way.

14. Close review_datapersister.dita without saving it.
15. Save and close custom_reviews.ditamap.

Module 3: Build a book from a DITA map using the DITA-Book-FM application

To build a book from a DITA map:

1. Choose DITA > Build FM DITABook from DITA Map file.

   Note: Always use this method to open a DITA map when building a book. Doing so ensures that all the conref and xref elements are automatically resolved.

2. In the Choose a DITA Map file dialog box, choose reviews_revised.ditamap and then click Select. When invoked from the DITA menu, the DITA Book application specified in the DITA Options dialog box (DITA-Book-FM) is automatically selected for you.

3. In the Save Book dialog box, type reviews_revised.book, then click Save.

   A book window appears, and each file is added to the book. All of the power and capabilities of FrameMaker books are now at your disposal—from Table of Contents and Index generation to the creation of high-quality PDF and HTML output.

   The task element that was nested in the Review: DitaServer topic by editing the DITA map is imported within the review_ditaserver.dita file as a separate, nested fm-ditafile element.

   Note: Double-clicking one of the files in the book window opens that file as iconified. Double-click the file name in the book window a second time to open it fully.

4. Close reviews_revised.book.

Conclusion

This article has provided a brief introduction to topic-based authoring with DITA using the DITA features of FrameMaker 8. Through mechanisms such as topic specialization, DITA maps, and conrefs, DITA can enable authoring groups to attain greater levels of content reuse than were previously possible in typical structured authoring workflows. With its built-in support for DITA, FrameMaker 8 lets users leverage this power from within a familiar WYSIWYG authoring environment.

Where to go from here

The following resources provide more information about DITA and Adobe FrameMaker 8:

• Adobe FrameMaker user forums
• Core DITA documentation
• DITA technical committee at OASIS
• Core DITA documentation
• The DITA Open Toolkit
• DITA users Yahoo group
• FrameMaker DITA Yahoo group

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