DITA Open Toolkit

The DITA Open Toolkit (DITA-OT) is a set of Java-based, open source tools that provide processing for DITA maps and topic content. FrameMaker has out-of-the-box support for DITA Open Toolkit 2.1. DITA OT transforms DITA content (maps and topics) into deliverable formats.

By default, FrameMaker allows you to output your DITA content to the following three outputs:

1)PDF2

2)XHTML

3)CHM (Install HTML Help Workshop to generate CHM)

You can also generate output for formats such as Docbook, Java help, and RTF. To enable other output formats, see Change the output type list.

Generate output using DITA OT

1)With the appropriate DITA file in focus, select DITA > Generate DITA OT Output.

The Generate DITA-OT dialog is displayed.

Generate DITA-OT Output dialog

2)Select an output type.

3)By default, the DITA-OT is installed when you install FrameMaker. However, if you have sepa­rately installed the toolkit, you can specify the install location in the DITA-OT Directory field. The change to the field is only applicable for the current output. The next time you open the Generate DITA-OT Output dialog, the directory is reset to the FrameMaker default. To change the default directory, see Use a different DITA-OT package.

4)Choose a DitaVal file to specify conditional filtering of content using attribute-value pairs defined in the DitaVal file. For more information on using DitaVal files, see DITAval.

If you plan to use the same DitaVal file when generating out for multiple documents, you can specify the file name and location in the ditafm.ini. In this case, you do not need to choose a DitaVal file every time you generate the output.

note:  If you specify a DitaVal file in both locations (ditafm.ini and Generate DITA-OT dialog), the file chosen in the Generate DITA-OT output dialog takes precedence.

5)Click Build.

FrameMaker invokes DITA-OT and generates the output in the same folder as the source topic or map.

Change the output type list

By default, FrameMaker allows you to use the DITA-OT to generate output for PDF2, XHTML, and HTML help. However, you can use the toolkit to generate output for a number of other formats. To generate output in other formats, you need to update the ditafm.ini.

important:  The following procedure requires changes to the ditafm.ini file. Before making any changes, you are recommended to take a backup of this file.

1)Open the ditafm.ini file. (<Fm_install_location>\fminit\ditafm\ditafm.ini)

2)Locate the following text in the file:

Count=3
DitaDir=%FMHOME%\fminit\ditafm\DITA-OT
1=xhtml
2=htmlhelp
3=pdf2

note:  The numbered list above is the same as the list of output formats available in the Generate DITA-OT Output dialog.

3)To add or remove output types from the Generate DITA-OT Output dialog, you need to specify the Count as the number of types to display in the list.

4)The following list is the list of all available output types that you can include. To include one or more of the following types, you need to add these to the numbered list and ensure that the number sequence is maintained:

•docbook

•eclipsecontent

•eclipsehelp

•htmlhelp

•javahelp

•net.sourceforge

•html

•odt

•pdf

•tocjs

•troff

•wordrtf

•xhtml

note:  The output type entries in the ditafm.ini file are case-sensitive. You need to make the entries as list above.

The following example adds the Eclipse help and Word RTF formats to the existing list.

Count=5
DitaDir=%FMHOME%\fminit\ditafm\DITA-OT
1=xhtml
2=htmlhelp
3=pdf2
4=eclipsehelp
5=wordrtf

note:  You can completely change the list to include any set of output types.

5)Restart FrameMaker for the changes to take effect.

Use a different DITA-OT package

FrameMaker has integrated DITA Open Toolkit 2.1. If you already have a different version of DITA Open Toolkit installed, you can customize the DITA Open Toolkit path by editing the dita initial­ization file. For a one-time change, you can change the directory path when you generate the output using the DITA Open Toolkit.

To change the FrameMaker default DITA-OT directory:

1)Open the ditafm.ini file. (<Fm_install_location>\fminit\ditafm\ditafm.ini)

2)Locate the following text in the file:

DitaDir=%FMHOME%\fminit\ditafm\DITA-OT

3)Modify the value of DitaDir to point to the alternative DITA-OT folder.

For example, c:\DITA-OT1.7.5_standard_bin.

4)Restart FrameMaker.

The new DITA OT path is populated in the DITA Generate Output dialog.