Conversion basics

You can define how the FrameMaker formats are converted to RoboHelp styles on the project level. All FrameMaker format definitions in the FrameMaker document appear in the Conversion Settings dialog box, even if they aren’t used. For structured documents, FrameMaker formats that are mapped to elements in the structured template are listed. You specify the following:

• FrameMaker template used for conversion. This step is optional.

• RoboHelp style sheet for style mapping.

If the FrameMaker document that you are importing is an unstructured FrameMaker book, you can define a single FrameMaker template for conversion. For example, suppose the documentation set contains a Getting Started Guide, Installation Guide, User Guide, and an Administration Guide. These documents can have different page layouts and formats in print, none of which are relevant for online output. In such cases, you can define one template that contains format definitions for all documents you want to convert.

You can then specify this template as the project template, which overrides the formats of individual documents at the RoboHelp project level. You can also reuse the conversion settings across other projects by exporting the conversion settings.

1. Select File > Project Settings.

2. Click the Import tab of the Project Settings dialog box. Select Apply FrameMaker Template Before Import.

3. Click Browse to select the FrameMaker template you want to use for the project.

You can select the cascading style sheet (CSS) that RoboHelp uses to map the FrameMaker formats to RoboHelp styles. By default, RoboHelp uses the RHStyleMapping.css file for the project. You can also use a custom CSS. You can later edit the styles either in RoboHelp or in an external CSS editing application such as Adobe® Dreamweaver®.

1. Select File > Project Settings.

2. Click the Import tab of the Project Settings dialog box. Do one of the following:

   • Select the CSS file from the CSS For Style Mapping menu.

   • Click Add next to the CSS for Style Mapping pop-up menu, and select a CSS file.

     Use this option to specify a custom CSS for the project. When you select this option, RoboHelp copies the selected CSS file into the root folder of the project, and uses the selected CSS for style mapping.

RoboHelp 7 allowed document-level conversion settings for the FrameMaker documents that you added to a RoboHelp project. With RoboHelp 9, the conversion settings are applied project-wide, allowing you to have a consistent set of conversion parameters. If you are opening a RoboHelp 7 project that had FrameMaker documents added by reference or by copy, you can retain the document-specific settings defined in RoboHelp 7 project.

When you upgrade a RoboHelp 7 project, you can either retain the earlier document-level settings or convert to the project-level settings supported in RoboHelp 9. After you upgrade your project, you cannot open the project in RoboHelp 7.

If you choose to retain the RoboHelp 7 settings, you can add or remove documents to an upgraded project with the document-level conversion settings. You can define document-level conversion settings for the newly added FrameMaker documents also. This option allows you to retain the RoboHelp 7 behavior for your upgraded project. However, to take advantage of the enhanced features of RoboHelp 9 and its integration with FrameMaker, you should upgrade the project completely. For example, RoboHelp 7 provided limited mapping options for autonumbering and list styles. On the other hand, RoboHelp 9 allows you to map complex autonumber formats and multilevel list styles to RoboHelp styles or HTML lists.

You can enforce a hierarchical structure and grouping within the book. You can also include child books within a book, and create folders and groups within a book.

When you link or import a FrameMaker book, the Project Manager pod in RoboHelp shows the FrameMaker book’s hierarchy. When linked or imported into RoboHelp, child books inherit the TOC, index, and glossary from the parent book.

View full size graphic

Hierarchy of FrameMaker book reflected in the Project Manager pod when you link a FrameMaker book into RoboHelp

By default, all cross-reference styles in the source document are used in the generated topics without mapping. Define the mapping of these formats because FrameMaker documents can contain page and volume references in cross-references that are not relevant to Help formats.

1. Select File > Project Settings.

2. In the Import tab of the Project Settings dialog box, click Edit under FrameMaker Document.

3. Select a cross-reference format from the Cross Reference group in the Conversion Settings dialog box.

4. Select a RoboHelp style to map to it, or type the RoboHelp style field to redefine the cross-references in the FrameMaker document.

5. Double-click a building block to append it to the RoboHelp cross-reference definition.

Text or files that you have inserted into the FrameMaker documents as content references appear as part of the topics where they are referenced. They do not appear as references in the online Help outputs.

You can create a standard set of conversion settings for importing FrameMaker content into RoboHelp projects and then use these settings consistently across multiple projects.

You define these settings once. For subsequent projects, import these settings to the project. In this way, you can quickly set up the project environment and publish FrameMaker content in several online formats.

These settings include:

• Specified FrameMaker template

• Cascading style sheets (CSS) for RoboHelp projects

• Style mapping between FrameMaker formats and RoboHelp styles

• Format conversion settings, image conversion settings, and other settings