Auto-generate unique ID attributes for elements

Understand how you can setup Adobe FrameMaker to automatically assign unique ID attribute values to elements and work with the Config File Maker.

FrameMaker allows you to define the elements in your Structured Application for which you want it to auto-assign unique IDs.

For example, say your Structured Application includes a <section> element that has an @id attribute. You can create a rule that ensures that whenever you add the <section> element to your structured document, FrameMaker will auto-generate a unique ID. FrameMaker will then automatically assign a unique ID to the @id attribute of the <section> element.

To define the auto-generation rules for a Structured Application, do the following:

1. Choose Element > Launch Config File Maker.

2. In the Configuration File Settings dialog, you define the ID generation rules.

3. Click Save or Save As to save the ID generation rules to a configuration (.xml) file.

   To load the set of rules defined in an existing configuration file, click Load Configuration File.

4. You can then include this configuration file to your Structures Application.

The following settings can be configured in the Configuration File Settings dialog:

ID Prefix

A text and number combination that will be prefixed to the ID that FrameMaker auto-generates.

Assign ID to Attribute

The name of the attribute to which FrameMaker will assign the auto-generated ID.

Choose <auto> to allow FrameMaker to decide to which attribute the ID is assigned.

Note: You can specify any attribute to which FrameMaker will assign the ID.

For Elements

Specify the names of elements to which FrameMaker will assign an ID to the attribute specified in Assign ID to Attribute described above.

Note: The list of elements will increment as you enter an new element name. This allows you to enter any number of elements to which to assign IDs for the specified attribute.

For Elements having Attributes

You can also choose to specify elements by their attribute values.

This implies that you can define an attribute name to ensure that FrameMaker assigns an ID to any element that contains the specified attribute. For example, you can ensure that FrameMaker will assgin an ID to all elements that have the attribute @audience. However, the ID is assigned to the attribute that is specified in the Assign ID to Attribute field described above.

You can also add attribute values to the above attribute rule. For example, you can ensure that FrameMaker will assgin an ID to all elements that have the attribute @audience and the value admin.

Also, you can specify multiple values and FrameMaker will assign the ID based on any one of the values. For the @audience example, you can specify the value as admin or end-user. In this case, the ID is assigned if the element contains the @audience attribute and the value of the attribute is either admin or end-user.