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Re: Converting from Framemaker to XML

Subject: Re: Converting from Framemaker to XML
From: "Katie Kearns" <katie.kearns@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 10:25:59 -0700
Re:  Converting from Framemaker to XML
On 4/26/07, Lech Rzedzicki <xchaotic@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi.

I would like to spend as much time with XSL as I can, but in order to
do that, I need to have the XML for processing in the first place.
Much of the data that I work on is .fm format (unstructured
Framemaker) and I am investigating various methods of converting that
to XML with the least amount of manual labour, while keeping most of
the formatting.

Have you tried using the internal mapping tool that FrameMaker has? Convert it to structured Frame. If your mapping is too complicated for Frame to manage, at least you've got an XML output to start with. I'd recommend not trying to learn MIF. It's not XML, and it's really kind of annoying. (There are good reasons for it, but learning it isn't my idea of a fun or useful time :D)

Or, if you don't want to do that, you could use a conversion tool like
WebWorks. The latest version changed from using their proprietary
scripting language to using regular old XSLT, so it's basically an
XSLT engine that natively understands MIF. :D

As to the formatting -- XML has no formatting unless you create it.
That means XSL for transforming to HTML, XSL-FO for transforming to
PDF. Depending on your authoring tool (if people will be authoring in
XML) it means writing something like CSS (XmetaL, many others), XSL
(Altova Authentic is an example, I'm sure there are others), FOSI
(Arbortext, unless they finally let you use something else), or EDDs
(structured Frame).

Framemaker can generate EDDs that use the same formatting you had all
along. You can also use to to output to PDF so you wouldn't need to
develop XSL-FO for a PDF output (XSL-FO is great, but it can be pretty
time consuming to write and perfect).


There are many ways do it straight from fm, using .mif or RTF
intermediately, or using .ps/PDF and using visual styles as hints for
XML tags etc.

I have had people recommend the PDF route. I think Don Day recommends that (or at least did for a while). But now that FM is a little more XML supportive, I'd try using their mapping tables or WebWorks or something first.


But what I'm looking for is simplicity and automation.
Can you recommend any free/open-source tools that I could use to go
FM->XML, while preserving as much formatting metadata as possible
(layout, headings, tables etc)?

You wouldn't use metadata for formatting. That sort of misses the point of XML. ;)

-Katie

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