Re: TECHWR-L Digest, Vol 29, Issue 14

Subject: Re: TECHWR-L Digest, Vol 29, Issue 14
From: "Peter Gold" <peter -at- knowhowpro -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:35:01 -0500

Rick Lippincott wrote:
======================
My boss asks "Is there any way to look at the -source- file, and
determine how many target files use the information?"

So far as I know Frame can't. What I think we'd need is either an
Adobe or third-party application that from outside Frame can scan the
source files, scan the target files, and build a list of any
relationships between the two.
==============

Hi, Rick:

You can add a list of text insets to a file with Special > List of >
References, and moving Text Insets into the Include list box.

The generated file by default displays the relative path from the
container file (your "target file") to the inset (your "source file.")
If you modify the the TextInsetsLOR prototype line on the generated
file's reference page, so it looks like this:

Container: <$fullfilename> Inset: <$referencename> <$pagenum>

and regenerate, the entries will include the name of the container
file like this:

Container: D:/UserDrive Files/inset files report.fm Inset:
../directory_name/insetfile.fm 1

I know this works for a single container file. It should work across a
book, but I haven't tried it. The generated file will only display the
visible insets, so you may want to generate with Show All conditions.

You could take this further inserting Tab characters (or its
representation "/t") on the reference page, like this:

Container: /t<$fullfilename> /tInset: /t<$referencename> /t<$pagenum>

then selecting the generated file's entries and converting them to a
table, with Tab delimiters, and sorting the table on the inset file's
pathname column, to collect information across container files.
Exporting as text to a spreadsheet would be better for finer
statistical parsing.

You could generate the lists separately for tracking each condition by
something like this:

Condition <type-condition-name-here>: /tContainer: /t<$fullfilename>
/tInset: /t<$referencename> /t<$pagenum>

Another option might be to use Bruce Foster's Archive plug-in; I'm not
sure if it can provide the information on all the files it collects,
but it's worth looking into. Search Google for framemaker book archive
plug-in.

If you have FrameScript, you could either write a script, or contact
Rick Quattro for a custom script, if he doesn't already have one, or a
plug-in that does this.

HTH

Regards,

Peter
_______________________________
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices
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