Enhanced Tool Bar for FrameMaker 9p255 (9.0.4)

See also: Deutsche version; English version for FM 7.2/FM8.0; FM 10

Shlomo Perets from MicroType provides the Express Customization for FrameMaker/Win 9.0 files to add useful commands and menu items. This page is about the integration of these commands into a Tool Bar for FM-9 and a modification of the appearance of all tool bars.

Overview

Precondition
Tool Bars
Workspaces
Coloured cursors and tab indicators
Difference to MictoType's implementation
  Context menu "Insert special symbols"
  Documents
Download and installation
Uninstallation

"Standard" in this text refers to the original FrameMaker installation. $HOME is the installation directory of FrameMaker.

Precondition

The installation of the Enhanced Tool Bar requires that the Express Customization has been purchased. This is checked during installation.

A complete description of the Enhanced Tool Bar can be found in FM9-etb-en.pdf.

Tool Bars

The standard Tool Bars of FM-9 are gray in normal state and coloured only when hovered over. Hence it is difficult to recognise buttons on a large screen instantly.

The Enhanced Tool Bar exchanges the icons in the standard Tool Bars so that the normal appearance is coloured and the buttons are gray in hovered state: align_object, object_properties, para_format, quick_access, table_format, text_format and trackchanges.

To cope with the additional capabilities of the Express Customization for FrameMaker and to save space on laptops, new Tool Bars are defined:

DDD quick access ws	Only file and edit related buttons left here, document related moved to Extra, Paragraph and Character bar. Flyout for special symbols removed (more symbols available with context menu).
DDD quick access lt	Only hard to acces items left here to save space.
DDD paragraph bar	Paragraph catalogue, copy ¶ format , repeat last ¶ command, paragraph format drop down list, text alignment menu, tabulation menu, paragraph actions.
DDD character bar	Character catalogue, copy ƒ format, repeat last ƒ command, character format drop down list, convert text to lower case, mixed case, upper case.
DDD tables bar	Standard table commands + copy column width
DDD extra	unstructured structured View items: Edit view, print view, jump back, jump next, previous screen, next screen. Find/replace, find next, spelling checker Equations palette, unwrap equation/frame, shrink wrap equation/frame, insert anchored frame, insert footnote, insert table. Copy conditional text settings, show/hide condition indicators. Structure items are visible only in structure mode: Structure view, element catalogue, edit element attributes, copy element attributes, repeat last element command. Display vertical tool palette.

Tool tips for all Tool Bars show keyboard shortcuts where applicable.

Vertical Tool Bar

With the Enhanced Tool Bar the vertical Tool Bar is back to FM-9. For better handling the switching has been changed from 4 to 2 levels. Unfortunately no tool tips are available, hence this description of the buttons. The top right button is a dummy. To leave the Tool Bar click on the X-button.

Workspaces

Two additional work spaces are defined: DDD_LT for laptops with at least 1200 pixels width, and DDD_WS for workstations with larger screens.

DDD_LT

DDD_WS

Coloured cursors and tab indicators

Optionally coloured cursors and TAB indicators can be installed to make them better visible.

Difference to MictoType's implementation

In the D+DD implementation a variant of the MicroType menu is integrated into the Help Menu and some additional documents are available also. The superfluous original menu items Clip Art and Samples are removed, because they just open a folder, while the Enhanced Tool Bar offers better access. Clip art for scales and grids for diagrams is added.

Context menu "Insert special symbols"

The standard button for inserting special symbols is removed from the Tool Bar, because the new context menu offers a much larger set of symbols from the FM-7 Character set.

In the D+DD implementation the menu Insert Special Character is extended with the following four symbols:

‘ left single quote  \xd4
’ right single quote \xd5
“ left double quote  \xd2
” right dobule quote \xd3

Documents

The ToolbarPlus Express and the Enhanced Tool Bar provide additional documentation, which partly is standard FM-9 documentation, but hidden. For curious people even some still valid documents from FM-7 are provided.

Title in menu	MT	D+DD	Description (partly form the document)
Function Key Chart (PDF)	yes	yes *)	Table with all functions and commands of the MT customization. The second page lists all buttons with their commands which are specific to the MT customization (and hence the Enhanced Tool Bar)
Special Characters Chart (PDF)	yes	yes	Five pages with the set of characters and symbols which can be reached with ESC sequences and special short cuts, such as CTRL+Q, x. The following fonts are considered: Windows standard characters; Symbol; Dingbats; Wingdings and Webdings.
Standard Shortcuts	yes	yes *)	PDF with list of shortcuts by category (Navigating, Files, Tables, Graphics, Quick Keys and Text Editing)
Escape Shortcuts	yes	yes *)	PDF with list of ESC commands by category (Files/Documents, Pagination, Para. Formatting, Tables, Char. Formatting, Special, View, Highlighting, Close Dialog Box, Find and Replace etc.), 2 pages
Structured Escape Shortcuts	yes	yes	PDF with list of ESC commands in structure view by category (element, view, focus in, close, validate, move insertion pt, select and miscellaneous). 1 page.
Templates, Samples & Clipart	yes	yes	Read-only FM file with hyperlinks to the various sample files and clip art files (MT special). Clip art for diagrams (scales, grids) are added.
Getting Started Guide (FM–9)	yes	yes	PDF with the same content as chapter 1 in the User Guide
User Guide	yes	no, already in Help	Link to PDF with the same content as the Help system.
Character Sets (FM–9)	no	yes	This document describes support for the Unicode character sets in Adobe® FrameMaker® 9 When you open a FrameMaker 7.x document in FrameMaker 8 or FrameMaker 9, font encoding is used to convert the characters to Unicode encoding.
MIF Reference (FM–9)	no	yes	MIF (Maker Interchange Format) is a group of ASCII statements that create an easily parsed, readable text file of all the text, graphics, formatting, and layout constructs that Adobe® FrameMaker® understands. Because MIF is an alternative representation of a FrameMaker document, it allows FrameMaker and other applications to exchange information while preserving graphics, document content, and format.
MML Reference (FM–7)	no	yes	FrameMaker ® includes support for a markup language called MML (Maker Markup Language). You can use any standard text editor to create an MML file. Later, you can open the MML file as a FrameMaker document or import it into a FrameMaker template. In a department where different people are responsible for writing and formatting documents, writers can use MML statements to mark up manuals in progress; at the same time, graphic designers can create the formatting specifications in FrameMaker templates.
Customizing FrameMaker (FM–7)	no	yes	This manual describes how to customize Adobe® FrameMaker® by changing settings in initialization files and creating custom menu configurations. This information applies to the Windows platforms: Windows® 98… Windows XP

*) Since some of the commands are no more valid, this PDF displays them with strike through.

Download and installation

1. You may wish to read the documentation (1MB) before you decide about the installation.
2. The Express Customization is a prerequisite. Purchase it here (USD 25.-) .
3. Download Express Customization for FrameMaker/Win 9.0 from Kagi Store, but do not follow further installation advice from the e-mail you got from Kagi/MicroType!
4. Expand the downloded ZIP to any location (to be memorised). This will only store one file FM9-Customization-MicroType.zip.
5. Close FrameMaker. if necessary.
6. Download Inst-FM9-toolbars-en.zip (3.5MB)
   

   Version	Date	Changes
   2.0	2011-07-30	Installation checks established; added optional installation of coloured cursors
   1.5	2011-01-12	Corrected: existing xml files in USER/toolbars now overwritten; uninstall streamlined.
   1.4	2010-02-17	Structure the items on the Tool Bars more logical (?); more individual icons for the new functions.
   1.3	2010-02-10	Installation: support multiple FM-users; remove option "install without MT enhancements". Tool bars: correct handling of characters "degree" and "multiply"; vertical tool bar added; description enhanced
   1.2	2010-01-15	Tool Bars slightly modified; description modified
   1.1	2009-12-21	Change installation process to protect MT's work; remove alternative installation of MT package
   1.0	2009-07-24	First issue of installation program

7. Expand the downloaded ZIP to any location. This will only store one file Install-FM9-toolbars-en.exe
8. Execute this self extracting archive, which expands its files to C:\SystemMods\FM9-toolbars-en\ and then starts the the installation program.
   

   File structure set up in C:\SystemMods\FM9-toolbars-en\ DDD Icons Tool Bars WorkSpaces FM-puzzle.ico Install-FM9-etb.exe

    
9. Fill in the location of the MicroType ZIP file from step 4 (or browse for its location).
10. The password for the Force option is only communicated to known people for special cases, because I do not want to sacrifice the work of Shlomo Perets for the Express Customization.
11. A message box indicates successfull installation (see first note below).

Notes

• Although step 11 may indicate successful installation, it sometimes happens that the self extracing ZIP does not extract all files properly. In such cases just repeat the installation.
• To install the Enhanced Tool Bar for another FrameMaker user on the same machine, see the documentation.
• All software from D+DD is Donationware - if you find it helpful for your work, think about supporting my work.

What is installed on your computer ?

• A shortcut (De)Installation FM9-tool bars en is placed in the Start Menu folder All Users\Programs. You may move the shortcut to any sub folder.
• The Microtype file is moved to C:\SystemMods. (to keep it)
• The following files are copied to the required locations:
  • The Tool Bars to %APPDATA%\Adobe\FrameMaker\9\toolbars
  • Additional icons to %APPDATA%\Adobe\FrameMaker\9
  • The workspaces to %APPDATA%\Adobe\FrameMaker\9\WorkSpaces\UnStructured
  • The customisation file and documents to $HOME\fminit\configui
  • The vertical tool bar to $HOME\fminit
  • The additional clip art to $HOME\clipart

%APPDATA% is the symbolic name for the User area C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data.
$HOME is the installation directory of FrameMaker.

Uninstallation

If you want to get rid of the enhancement and go back to the original FM installation:

1. Start the installation with the shortcut in the Start Menu and click Reset FM-GUI to original .
2. All files of this installation will be removed (tool bars, work spaces, icons, config files, clip art, add. documentation).
3. FrameMaker 9 will copy the original tool bars into the user area at its next start.
4. Since this is not a Windows un-installation, you must delete the installation directory and the short cut manually to get rid of all items. On the other hand this allows to install the Enhanced Tool Bar again later.