Adobe FRAMEMAKER 7 Manual page 393

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 7.0 431
Classroom in a Book
A brief XML tutorial
It is straightforward to author XML from Structured FrameMaker 7.0 documents. One
key feature to understand is that XML authoring is template-driven. Several
interdependent support files act like templates and master pages to control the behaviors
for authoring, importing, and exporting your projects. Although FrameMaker 7.0
documents are not XML documents, the FrameMaker 7.0 program can export valid
Structured FrameMaker 7.0 documents in the XML format, and it can import an XML
document back into FrameMaker 7.0 for re-editing and updating, a process called a
round trip.
To start Structured Authoring, you need a Structured Template. Before you save your first
document to XML markup, set up an XML application file, reference your XML DTD
(Document Type Definition), and create XML read/write rules. The FrameMaker 7.0
Structured View enables you to look at the hierarchy of your structure. The Element
Catalog guides you through complex structures.
You might think of these necessary files working in the background like the internal
systems of the human body. The Structure View tree is like the spinal column, with its
branches the nerve center and bones of the file. The elements and attributes of the
structure are the vertebrae and nerves branching out. The files working in the
background, like other systems of the body, are the DTD, Read/Write Rules, Stylesheet
designations, and pointers needed to validate the document. A valid XML file is then
useful on the Web, as a PDF, in catalogs, in print, and on wireless devices. Without the
inner structure, however, the whole thing would fall apart. A valid XML document,
therefore, is a system of vitally important files working together in the background behind
the fluent face of the finished work.
Using XML Cookbook to author XML documents
The XML Cookbook is a FrameMaker tutorial that lets users practice using the details of
Structured FrameMaker 7.0 to create XML.
The methodology from the Cookbook is adapted here as an opportunity for you to
become familiar with an XML file, edit its content, and save it. In the next lesson, you will
view the results in a browser, as a PDF, and import it back into Structured FrameMaker
7.0. You can use the XML Cookbook, included with your original FrameMaker 7.0 CD, to
amplify what is covered in this lesson.