In This Chapter - Adobe 65030365 - FrameMaker - PC Developer's Manual

8
Developing an Element Definition
Document (EDD)
An element definition document (EDD) contains the structure rules, attribute definitions, and
format rules for all of the elements in a group of FrameMaker documents. You write and
maintain the definitions in the EDD and then convert them to an Element Catalog in a
structured template. To work with the elements, end users create documents from the
template or exporting from, then importing into a new document.
You can start a new EDD in two ways. If you have a DTD that your end users' documents
will follow, you can begin with the DTD and create an EDD with element definitions that
correspond to constructs in the DTD. If you do not have a DTD, or if you do not plan to
translate structured documents to markup, you can create an EDD and write its definitions
entirely in FrameMaker.
An EDD is a regular structured FrameMaker document-it has an Element Catalog already
set up with everything you need to define elements for end-users' documents. When
developing the EDD, you insert elements from the catalog and in most cases provide values
to fill out the definitions. For general information on working in structured documents, see
the FrameMaker User Guide.

In this chapter

This chapter explains the process of developing an EDD and provides a summary of the
elements in the EDD's Element Catalog. In the outline below, click a topic to go to its page.
A first look at the steps for developing an EDD:
•
"Overview of the development process" on page 76
How to start or update an EDD:
•
"Creating or updating an EDD from a DTD" on page 77
•
"Starting an EDD without using a DTD" on page 80
Summary of the elements you work with in an EDD:
• "The Element Catalog in an EDD" on page 81
How to define elements and supply other information about them:
• "Defining preliminary settings in an EDD" on page 88
•
"Organizing and commenting an EDD" on page 90
•
"Writing element definitions" on page 91
•
"Keyboard shortcuts for working in an EDD" on page 102
Structure Application Developer's Guide
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