EDD Template (Metatemplate)
A metatemplate is a template for other templates. In FrameMaker, a
metatemplate is a template for EDDs. Although most EDD developers
use the metatemplate that comes with FrameMaker, it is possible to
modify the distributed metatemplate by changing its formatting and adding
additional documentation elements. Text Structure Consulting, Inc. uses a
metatemplate that differs from the one provided with FrameMaker
in several ways, including:
- Comments are permitted throughout an element definition instead
of only at the beginning or the end
- Numbering of subrules allows for 6 levels of nesting (instead of
only 3). This metatemplates numbers "if"
and "else if" clauses as well as complete format rules (FrameMaker 7 and later)
- Additional documentation elements List, Note, and CommentTable
are available
- Section heads are formatted differently for outer sections and
nested sections (10 numbered levels supported since FrameMaker 8)
- Color is used to distinguish element definitions for containers
from those of graphics, tables, cross-references, etc. Instead of
assigning colors in the meta-EDD, colors called Table, Marker,
Equation etc. are now defined in the metatemplate. Users can
therefore change the color scheme just by editing definitions of
these colors.
- Page breaks within an element definition are minimized
- Running headers show the tag of the current element
definition and head of the current section
- Various context labels on the Tag element make it possible to generate
lists of element definitions for particular object types (for example, an
alphabetized list of all cross-reference elements) or for format change lists.
- Elements CommentElement and CommentFormatChangeList allow element
definitions and format change lists to be “commented out” (since FrameMaker 7)
- Attributes Filter1 through Filter10 are defined on most elements. These
attributes can be used to define filter expressions so that filter
by attribute can be used as well as conditional text to define variations
of an EDD. (FrameMaker 9 and later)
- A brightly colored arrow marks elements defined to be valid at the highest
level (the character and character format used are configurable). (FrameMaker 8
and later)
- Several elements have descriptive tags (FrameMaker 10).
- Element type SGMLFragment is defined to facilitate use of
text insets within an EDD
A zip file with the metatemplate for different versions of FrameMaker along with its EDD, and a test file
can be downloaded with the links below. Directions for using the metatemplate and a more complete description of
changes are written in comments at
the beginning of the EDD.