14.11.2 Specifying a treatment for FrameMaker variables
To specify a treatment for FrameMaker user variables and a few FrameMaker system variables in DITA XML:
; VariableType = Text (default),
; Entity (for compatibility with DITA-FMx import),
; or Conref (referring to a variable library file).
This setting affects all FrameMaker user variables in your document and also the following FrameMaker building-block system variables:
Section Number (FrameMaker version 9+)
Subsection Number (FrameMaker version 9+)
When VariableType=Text (the default), FrameMaker variables are converted to text before they are included in DITA XML output.
When VariableType=Entity, each FrameMaker variable used in a topic becomes an entity. The entity name is the name of the variable, with spaces and any punctuation removed; case is preserved. The entity definition is plain text only; character formatting present in the FrameMaker definition of the variable is omitted. Each topic contains entity declarations only for the entities actually used in that topic. This method allows DITA-FMx to recognize FrameMaker variables on re-import of the generated DITA files.
When VariableType=Conref, the following four settings are effective:
; VariableFile = file for referencing variables
; VariableTopicID = topic ID for the single topic in the VariableFile
; VariableElement = wrapper element for variables,
; WriteVariableFile = No (default) or Yes (write a file containing all
; variables defined in the Frame file after processing that file).
The VariableFile file for referencing variables contains a single topic, with a single definition list in the <body>:
<dd><ph id="varname">variable content</ph></dd>
Each definition term is the name of a variable with spaces and punctuation removed. The corresponding description has an ID identical to the name, and content identical to the FrameMaker variable definition, except in plain text only.
Re-importing to FrameMaker, you would see (for example):
<ph conref="varfile.dita#varsetid/varname"></ph>
If the file name and topic ID match your setting, you can be sure that varname is a FrameMaker variable, and you can retrieve its definition.
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