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FrameMaker DITA Feature Comparison

This document provides a comparison of the features in the default FrameMaker 8 and 9 DITA support, and DITA-FMx 0.0 (free), 1.0, and 1.1. Note that DITA-FMx 0.0 supports FM 7.1 and FM7.2, DITA-FMx 1.0 supports FM7.2 and FM8, and DITA-FMx 1.1 supports FM7.2, FM8 and FM9.

Updated 21 October 2009

Table 1. DITA Map Support
Feature FM8 DITA FM9 DITA DITA-FMx 0.0 DITA-FMx 1.0 DITA-FMx 1.1
DITA map authoring (structure application provided) YES YES YES YES YES
Tree-structured collapsible structure view YES YES YES YES YES
Tags-on/tags-off view YES YES YES YES YES
Drag and drop interface YES YES YES YES YES
Edit referenced topics and maps by clicking topicref YES YES YES YES YES
Visual notification of missing references LIMITED LIMITED YES YES YES
Create and edit relationship tables YES YES YES YES YES
Open all referenced files in map YES YES YES YES YES
Insert new topic as topicref YES YES YES YES YES
Update all topicref labels in map YES YES YES YES YES
Topicref label options (title, file name, or both) NO NO NO YES YES
Search for content in referenced files NO NO NO YES YES
Generate a FM book (for search and spell check) that contains all referenced XML files NO NO NO YES YES
Generate a report of all referenced files NO NO NO NO YES
Generate an archive of all referenced files NO NO NO NO YES
Visual labeling of linking and collection-type attribute values NO NO NO NO YES
Table 2. New File Creation
Feature FM8 DITA FM9 DITA DITA-FMx 0.0 DITA-FMx 1.0 DITA-FMx 1.1
Create new topic or map based on type YES YES YES YES YES
Automatically generate topic file name based on title text NO NO NO YES YES
Specify custom template for new topic or map NO NO NO YES YES
Insert prolog data on file creation NO NO NO YES YES
Create a DITA map and topic files from a tabbed FrameMaker file NO NO NO YES YES
New DITA file from “File” menu NO NO NO YES YES
Ability to overwrite an existing file on file creation NO NO NO YES YES
Ability to create new topic folders based on topic type on file creation NO NO NO YES YES
Table 3. Topic Authoring Support
Feature FM8 DITA FM9 DITA DITA-FMx 0.0 DITA-FMx 1.0 DITA-FMx 1.1
Tree-structured collapsible structure view YES YES YES YES YES
Tags-on/tags-off view YES YES YES YES YES
Drag and drop interface YES YES YES YES YES
Dynamic “conref” creation and management YES YES YES YES YES
Automatically assign IDs to required elements YES YES YES YES YES
Dynamic “xref” creation and management YES YES YES YES YES
Auto smart-spaces NO NO YES YES YES
Auto smart-quotes NO NO NO NO YES
Context sensitive Help for element structure NO NO YES YES YES
Limit the number of files opened when resolving references (results in faster reference resolving) NO NO YES YES YES
Provide support for multiple selection of filtering attribute values NO NO NO YES YES
Dynamic “link” (in related-links section) creation and management NO NO NO YES YES
Strip XML padding from pretty-printed files NO NO NO YES YES
Supports “pgwide” tables NO NO NO YES YES
Properly round-trips column widths in simpletable and choicetable elements NO NO NO YES YES
Automatically, insert prolog data on file save NO NO NO YES YES
Determine where an element or topic is referenced (Where Used command) NO NO NO YES YES
Validate manually updated ID attributes NO NO NO YES YES
Convert conrefs to text NO NO NO YES YES
Support index-see, index-see-also, and index-sort-as elements NO YES NO NO YES
Provide custom management of index-see, index-see-also, and index-sort-as labels in index entries NO NO NO NO YES
Support indexterms as markers and as a container (to allow for complex element nesting) NO NO NO NO YES
Whitespace normalization for easier transfer between XML editors NO NO NO NO YES
Support graphic overlay objects NO NO NO NO YES
Support multiple marker types NO NO NO NO YES
Support optional columns in properties tables NO NO NO NO YES
Display only the available element types when inserting a conref or xref NO NO NO NO YES
Support topic-based DTDs rather than “ditabase” if needed NO NO NO NO YES
Optionally use GUID IDs NO NO NO NO YES
Automatically set the @status for new and changed elements NO NO NO NO YES
Support separate sizing of images when rendered in FM vs. the OT NO NO NO NO YES
Integration with the XDocs 2.x CMS NO NO NO NO YES
Table 4. Open Toolkit Output Support
Feature FM8 DITA FM9 DITA DITA-FMx 0.0 DITA-FMx 1.0 DITA-FMx 1.1
Generate output from the DITA Open Toolkit YES

(Extra plugin needed.)

YES

(Extra plugin needed.)

YES

(Integrated.)

YES

(Integrated.)

YES

(Integrated.)

Specify ditaval file for DITA-OT output NO NO YES YES YES
Easy integration with OT 1.4/1.5 NO NO YES YES YES
Integrated ditaval file creation/management NO NO NO YES YES
Table 5. FM (PDF) Output Support
Feature FM8 DITA FM9 DITA DITA-FMx 0.0 DITA-FMx 1.0 DITA-FMx 1.1
Generate a single FM document from all topics in the map YES YES NO NO NO
Map to book (aggregates all topics into FM chapters for PDF output) YES YES YES

(Except on FM7.1)

YES YES
Map to book output can be generated at any location in the file system NO NO YES YES YES
Map to book output supports any source folder structure NO NO YES YES YES
Apply filtering to generated book based on ditaval file NO YES YES YES YES
Integrated ditaval file creation/management NO NO NO YES YES
Generate related links from reltable NO YES NO NO YES
Attribute values on topic referencing elements in map are passed on to topics in the generated FM files NO NO NO NO YES
Move indexterms in prolog to topic title NO NO NO NO YES
Automatically apply numbering and pagination to generated FM files NO NO NO NO YES
Automatically generate FM lists (toc, index, etc.) from “booklist” files NO NO NO NO YES
Automatically include FM binary files in generated book NO NO NO NO YES
Move figure titles so they follow the image NO NO NO NO YES
Use “real” FM table titles (for tables that wrap pages and include the Table Continuation variable) NO NO NO NO YES
Automatically apply a custom template to each unique bookmap component NO NO NO NO YES
Automatically run a custom FDK client or FrameScript during the book-build process NO NO NO NO YES