Frame 2 Html filter
Frame2html version 0.8.9
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This program has been made as part of my work at Norwegian Telecom Research
(now Telenor Research). All rights to the filter belong to Telenor Research.
Please notice the COPYRIGHT file for details about use of this program.
The current version of the program is accessed through a number of scripts:
o fm2html - The main program. Converts FrameMaker files in FrameMaker
document format or FrameMaker Interchange Format (MIF). Book
files are also converted. The program converts figures and
tables as well as text. The main limits of the conversion
process is HTML, as HTML does not allow as advanced formatting
as FrameMaker.
o miftags - Creates a tags file that is used by fm2html in the conversion
process.
o ps2gif - Script that converts PostScript files to gif. Used by fm2html.
o mif2mif - Script that renames the names of paragraph and character formats
in a FrameMaker MIF file.
o mifchk - Script that checks a FrameMaker document for invalid
cross-references
and imports.
o mifren - Script that renames FrameMaker documents.
o mif2fm - Script that converts files in MIF format to the Framemer document
format.
o mif2gif - Script that converts MIF files to PostScript. Used by fm2html.
o underline2bold - Script that converts HTML underline to bold. Used on HTML
files.
Included due to browsers not handling underline.
o underline2italics - Script that converts HTML underline to italics. Used on
HTML files.
Included due to browsers not handling underline.
For further information about the different scripts, please refer to the man
pages. Most scripts have their own man page.
This program was originally made for internal use only. Due to the great
demand for the program, I have tried (with help from people on the net) to
make the program more portable. However, people with rare systems may
have some problems installing it. Please remember to edit the Makefile to
suit your system.
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Specs:
o Handles frame files and books in FrameMaker and MIF format.
o Is customable, through a tags file mapping frame tags to
logical tags used by the filter.
o All frame X-refs become html links.
o An index can be automatically generated based on chapter
headings in the frame documents.
o The file structure of the frame document is kept in the
html document. Single frame files become single
html files. Frame books become multiple html files,
one html file for each frame file. FrameMaker generated
files are removed.
o Graphics and maths are separated to files, which are then
translated to postscript and ultimately gif.
o Tables are handled through the <pre> html tag and can also be viewed with a
PostScript viewer.
o Italics and bold parts of paragraphs are handled.
o The converter can be set up so that FrameMaker saves
in HTML 'directly'.
Problems and bugs:
o Characters in frame not in html, including Greek character.
o Documents that are divided into sections using the FrameMaker
'frame'.
o FrameMaker documents which do not use tags and operate on
text directly (these are converted, but do not give an
optimal result.
o Very large pictures are not handled well (bigger than an A4)
o Only anchored frames are handled well. Other graphics may be lost.
o Some colour figures are not translated well.
Acknowledgement:
A number of people have contributed to this software. I would like to
thank them for their effort. Especially, I would like to thank Duncan Fraser
of MacDonald Detwiller. His contribution has been substantial.
Others that have contributed include:
Geir Ivarsoey and Ole Gunnar Westgaard of Norwegian Telecom Research,
Randy Roesler of MacDonald Detwiller,
Daniel K.Schneider of TECFA (Educational Technologies and Learning),
Jan van der Steen of Computer Lab, Amsterdam,
Stephen Martin of LSI Logic Corporation of Canada,
Russ Rew of UCAR Unidata Program,
Michael McIlrath of MIT,
Anthony Thyssen of Griffith University,
Eric Richards of Intel Supercomputer Systems Division,
Roar Smith of L. M. Ericsson A/S,
Kjetil Ullaland of University of Bergen,
Marcus Wittig of GMD FOKUS,
John Stewart of NASA Ames Research Center,
Brian Atkins,
Graham Dumpleton,
Mark Haynie,
Matt Mettler,
Rob Kooper,
Bob Jackson,
Phil Hooper,
Yen Lee,
John Silva
Availability:
ftp.nta.no/pub/fm2html/Frame2html-x.y.z.tar.Z
Disclaimer:
Use this program at your own risk.
Copyright:
See the COPYRIGHT file.
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Useage:
See the man pages.
Warning:
The filter operates in the current version on
your local directory. It uses a lot of memory and will
very easily run out of space, unless you give it a lot
of swap space.
Some comments:
The file fm2html.v*.tar.Z is tarred and compressed. To extract
the archive:
- uncompress <file>
- tar xf <resulting file>
If you got the file with Mosaic or another web browser,
the file may already be uncompressed. Then you only need
to untar it.
The tags files describe the connection between FrameMaker
tags and the internal tags of the filter. These internal
tags are mapped to HTML tags. When the filter program is
run, it checks whether there exists a file called <filename>.htags,
where <filename> is the name of the file or book to
translate. If no such file is found, the filter uses the default
htags file.
The tags file uses TABs to separate internal tags and
FrameMaker tags. To see a list of the internal tags,
have a look at the tags file.
You may have to change the line in the start of the perl
scripts identifying the location of the perl interpreter.
Do this in the Makefile.
You must edit the destination location for files
(LIBDIR and BINDIR) to a suitable
directory. Then run 'make install'.
You can include links to other html documents in your FrameMaker
document by using Markers of the type 'Hypertext'. The marker
text is assumed to be an URL, e.g. "http://www.nta.no/".
Any text following the marker (until the end of the line or until
another marker or such in the text) becomes a link in your HTML
file to the file given by the marker text. Tip: To avoid having too
much text highlighted, have a marker (not Hypertext)
denoting the end of the text to be highlighted. FrameMaker newlink,
openlink and gotolink are now also supported.
Any paragraphs of the type 'TITLE' will become the title of
the document and will be moved to the top of the document
(or of the book document, if the file being translated
is a book).
Have a look at the Demo.bok, Demo1.doc and Demo2.doc files to get an
idea of what can be achieved.
It is possible to save FrameMaker documents in HTML directly (Do save
the file as a FrameMaker document as well, though). Here is what must
be done:
1. Make a .fminit2.0 or such directory.
2. Edit the MifWrite shell script or copy the
one provided to the .fminit2.0 directory.
After that you can save HTML documents by:
1. Choose 'Save As'.
2. Select 'Maker Interchange Format'.
3. Change the file extension to '.html'.
4. Save.
The output from the converter will come in the directory from which
FrameMaker was started.
When converting MAC documents, make sure that the documents are
converted correctly from MAC to UNIX format. Especially consider
end of line characters. If these are incorrect, you will get
a scanner overflow.
When converting books: remember to do an update on the book before
doing a translation. Otherwise some of the references and links
may be incorrect.
Frequently asked questions:
o Where can I find the netpbm (pnm and ppm filters) package?
For example at ftp.nta.no/pub/fm2html.
o Where can I find flex?
For example at ftp.nta.no/pub/fm2html.
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Research Scientist
Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner
Norwegian Telecom Research
PBox 83, 2007 Kjeller, Norway
Telephone : +47 63809384
Telefax : +47 63810076
Email: Jon.Tetzchner@tf.tele.no, jons@nta.no
Programs:
fm2html - FrameMaker to HTML converter.
MultiTorg Opera - Web client.