Conditional cross references (an easier way?)

Question

Hi gurus,
Forgive me if this is an absurdly simple problem, but our team just isn't figuring out an elegant solution.
What we need is two types of crossreference formats - one for print, one for PDF/the web/any other hyperlinkable medium.
We would like the crossrefs to appear as follows:
Print:
[some arbitrary block of text] (see page xx)
PDF
[some arbitrary block of text]
As far as we can tell, FM's crossreferences always GENERATE text based on the building blocks, whereas FM's hyperlinks allow an arbitrary chunk of selected text to serve as the "active" text.  The hyperlink behavior is what we want, in both cases.  We're not interested in pulling the name of the target paragraph, or the page number, or anything else - we just want the text we typed to serve as the link, no matter the format.
The only solution we've been able to figure out is to actually create both a hyperlink AND a crossreference, and then conditionalize the crossreference (show in print, hide in PDF.)  But this feels unnecesarily complicated.
Is there a cross-ref building block that stands for "just use the selected text?"  Or even "don't do anything at all?"  It seems both of these solutions would allow us to just build the links using crossreferences, rather than needing to build links via two different formats?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Until then, we'll just be here, weeping quietly.
Thanks,
Dennis

Answer 1

ddsbleton wrote:
Hi gurus,
Forgive me if this is an absurdly simple problem, but our team just isn't figuring out an elegant solution.
What we need is two types of crossreference formats - one for print, one for PDF/the web/any other hyperlinkable medium.
We would like the crossrefs to appear as follows:
Print:
[some arbitrary block of text] (see page xx)
PDF
[some arbitrary block of text]
As far as we can tell, FM's crossreferences always GENERATE text based on the building blocks, whereas FM's hyperlinks allow an arbitrary chunk of selected text to serve as the "active" text.  The hyperlink behavior is what we want, in both cases.  We're not interested in pulling the name of the target paragraph, or the page number, or anything else - we just want the text we typed to serve as the link, no matter the format.
The only solution we've been able to figure out is to actually create both a hyperlink AND a crossreference, and then conditionalize the crossreference (show in print, hide in PDF.)  But this feels unnecesarily complicated.
Is there a cross-ref building block that stands for "just use the selected text?"  Or even "don't do anything at all?"  It seems both of these solutions would allow us to just build the links using crossreferences, rather than needing to build links via two different formats?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Until then, we'll just be here, weeping quietly.
Thank
Dennis
You have two purposes, so you need two kinds of references, and two distributable documents, one for each need. Because a FM cross-reference content can't be broken into pieces, say one piece that displays "some arbitrary block of text," and a piece that displays "(see page xx)," you need two cross-references. Create one cross-reference for print, and point it to the source paragraph; use it with a cross-reference format with the "<$paratext> " building block to capture the text portion of the source, add the text "(see page) " and the <$pagenum> building block. For Web, create another cross-reference to the same source paragraph with only the <$paratext> building block. Create conditions for both cross-references; a print condition, and a Web condition. In the text, apply the appropriate condition to the corresponding cross-reference. Show or hide the condition you need, and create a PDF for one purpose, then reverse the visible/hidden condition settings, and create another PDF for the other purpose.
Because the cross-references in text are different lengths, keep a sharp eye on text reflow in the different conditionalized documents. You can use File > Utilities > Compare Documents in FM, or Acrobat's document comparison features, to check the reflow, but also use your eyes in the real text to confirm what the comparison tools tell you.
Search Google, if necessary, for terms like "importing conditional text settings to framemaker books," without quotes, for more about managing applying conditions to multiple-file books.
HTH
Regards,
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices