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Subject:Re: Frame-to-PDF automation on Windows From:Shlomo Perets <shlomo -at- microtype -dot- com> To:Janet_Swisher -at- trilogy -dot- com Date:Fri, 17 Sep 1999 12:07:17 +0100
Janet,
You wrote:
> We would like to start generating PDF files automatically from
> FrameMaker files as part of our software build process. I know
> that the fmbatch utility facilitates this sort of thing, but is
> only available for Unix. Any suggestions for ways to do this on
> Windows (NT, if it matters)? Or should we shell out for a Unix
> FrameMaker license just for the build process? (All the writers
> use Windows.)
DZbatcher from Datazone (London, England; the developers of
Miramo, a database->FM tool) has functionality similar to that of
fmbatch. It works only on Windows NT, and it is free. If you have
the Solution Sampler CD that came with your FrameMaker 5.5
package, you can find it there. Otherwise, contact
dztools -at- datazone -dot- com -dot-
If you produce interactive PDFs, FrameMaker-to-PDF automation
also involves the one-time insertion of various Acrobat commands
and features in your source FrameMaker files (DOCINFO fields,
view settings, PDX index automounting, custom bookmarks, and
more) - so that you don't need to use Acrobat Exchange to
manually insert these each time your create new PDFs. See my web
page for more information on related tools and techniques.