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8
S a v i n g a n E D D a s a D T D f o r e x p o r t
the DTD from the EDD using the rules, test the results on sample documents, and repeat
the process as many times as necessary. You may find it easiest to write and test only a
few rules during each iteration. For a more detailed discussion of this process, see "Task
3. Creating read/write rules" on page 35.
You develop read/write rules in a special rules document that is part of a structure
application. When you create a DTD from an EDD, you can specify which application (and
hence which set of rules) to use with the DTD. For information on developing a read/write
rules document, see Chapter 14, "Read/Write Rules and Their Syntax."
Creating a DTD from an EDD
To create a DTD from an EDD, choose Save as DTD from the File>Developer Tools
submenu in the EDD. Specify a location in the Save as DTD dialog box.
If the Use Application dialog box appears, select a structure application for the DTD. (Use
Application appears only if no application is specified in the EDD.) If you're creating an initial
DTD without read/write rules, select <No Application> for a default structure application with
no rules. To specify structure application for the DTD later, you can use Save as DTD again
and this time select the application.
What happens during translation
An EDD has element and attribute definitions that correspond to element and attribute
definition list declarations in a DTD. When you translate an EDD to a DTD, FrameMaker
makes assumptions about how the constructs from the EDD should be represented.
FrameMaker reads through the entire EDD, processing elements and their attributes one at
a time. In the absence of read/write rules, the software translates a FrameMaker element
definition to an XML or SGML element declaration of the same name, and it produces an
attribute list declaration for each attribute defined for the element.
FrameMaker writes other EDD constructs in various ways; for example, variables become
entities and markers become processing instructions. Comments and Section and Para
elements in the EDD become comments.
Note that EDDs include more semantic information about the usage of elements than DTDs
do. For example, an EDD may have special element types corresponding to markers,
system variables, and graphics. The declarations in a DTD created by FrameMaker reflect
this information.
For details on the translation of each type of element, see "Translating between markup
data and FrameMaker" on page 199.
Important: When exporting an EDD as a DTD, if the new DTD file has the same
name as the old DTD file, FrameMaker can save a backup version of the old DTD.
To use this feature, you must turn on Automatic Backup on Save in the Preferences
dialog box. On the Macintosh, this option is turned off by default.
Developing an Element Definition Document (EDD)
106
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