Framemaker and XML

Question

Hi! Sorry for my English.
As far as I know, FM supports import of XML-files only in "Structure FrameMaker". But what should I do to correctly import an XML-file?
I\ve read thar there is full support of DITA, but I couldn't correctly import nighter DITA-xml nor any other XML-file. Maybe I do something wrong?
Or maybe there is some way to convert XML to MIF?
And if I finally could do it and an XML-file will import correctly, is it possible to edit imported XML file with Framemaker, without other text editor?
Thank you.

Answer 1

Yes, you can create a separate BookVars file for each book. I create a
separate BookVars file for each book I produce. For example, I populate
it with variables for title, author, ISBN, copyright date, contact info,
etc. and assign the proper values to the variables. When I create new
books, I include a copy of a front matter template file that already has
pages created with all these variables in place and already formatted.
So all I have to do is import the variables from the BookVars file and
it populates the pages with the correct values for that book. Everything
is already formatted and ready to go without further work.
The great thing about using variables is that you can change their
values and easily propagate them throughout the entire book in every
spot that it needs changing without doing an individual search/replace
for each term (assuming your authors remembered to use a variable where
appropriate, instead of just typing in the text). So the "Title"
variable not only puts the title on the title page, it also populates it
into the page headers throughout the book, and anywhere into the text
where the title variable may have been inserted. Easy!
Be sure to update the book afterward, as changing the values of
variables can cause the text to reflow and change the page count. This
could lead to cross-references pointing to the old page position instead
of the new one.