The default structure application file is
structapps.fm
in FrameMaker 7.x and
sgmlapps.fm
in FrameMaker+SGML (6.0 and previous
versions). Following are several suggestions for working with
application definition files:
Instead of defining all applications in the default application
definition file, developers who work on multiple applications may
define them in different files. To create a new application
definition file, simply save the default file under a new name. Place the new
file in the same directory as other application files for the
project. You need not name the file structapps.fm
or
sgmlapps.fm
. For example, you might use
docbook.app
as the file name for an application
definition file used solely for working with DocBook. On Windows platforms,
you may
wish to register an extension such as .app
for use with
application definition files.
Place comments in the application definition files to explain any non-obvious specifications. While the default application definition file that comes with FrameMaker does not have a comment element, you can place comments in flows other than the main body flow. Comments can appear in background frames on a master page or in additional body page flows. Alternatively, instead of the original file, you can use one that does provide a comment element (see An Improved Template for Application Definition Files below).
FrameMaker user variables can be defined for strings such as pathnames that are used
repeatedly in an application definition file. To
indicate where variables are used, you may wish to define a
character format for them. For instance, a character format called
Variable
might set all properties except color to
As Is
and set color to Red
. A variable
called Directory
might be defined to be
<Variable>directory/directory/directory/
. Uses of
Directory
would then appear in red in the
application definition file and hence
be distinguished from surrounding text.
An Improved Template for Application Definition Files
Text Structure Consulting, Inc., offers revised templates for
application definition files starting with FrameMaker 7.0.
These templates differ from those that come with FrameMaker in the following ways:
Comment
element, permitted within
and between application definitions, that allows you to insert comments in
the main flow of an application definition file. Since the trick of placing
comments in background flows on master pages is no longer necessary, the revised
templates remove the First
master page, and moves the comment it
contained to a Comment
element.CommentsDisplayColor
, CommentsDisplayWeight
,
CommentsPrefix
, and CommentsSuffix
to the StructuredSetup
highest-level
element. These attributes control formatting of comments in the same way that attributes of the same name
on the highest-level element of an EDD control formatting of EDD comments.
XmlCharacterEncoding
and
XmlWriteRules
elements to indicate that these elements were supported only in FrameMaker+SGML 6.0.The table below provides links for downloading application definition files equivalent to the one shipped with the indicated versions of FrameMaker. Each file is accompanied by its EDD. The same EDD supports FrameMaker 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2 versions of the template with conditional text distinguishing material specific to a particular 7.x version of FrameMaker
FrameMaker 10 | Version FM10TSC1.3 | October 5, 2011 | Structapps10.ZIP
|
FrameMaker 9 | Version FM9TSC1.2 | October 4, 2011 | Structapps9.ZIP
|
FrameMaker 8 | Version FM8TSC1.1 | September 22, 2008 | Structapps8.ZIP
|
FrameMaker 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2 | Version FM7.0TSC4.01 Version FM7.1TSC2.01 Version FM7.2TSC1.01 | March 16, 2006 | StructApps.zip
|