Framemaker XML Output Issue

Question

I have an issue with an attribute not being exported to XML from FM8.
Here is the excerpt from the DTD:
<!ELEMENT std.table.header (std.table.row+)>
<!ATTLIST std.table.header
  cols CDATA #REQUIRED
  rowsep CDATA "1"
>
The first issue I had was "cols" not showing up as an attribute in the Structured View. I solved with issue (with the help of MarttiP) by adding it to the EDD as shown below:
Element (Container): std.table.header
General rule: std.table.row+
Attribute list
Name: cols  Integer  Required
Now the issue I am having is on export of the XML, the "cols" attribute is not being exported and I am getting an error "required attribute 'cols' not provided". Any suggestions?

Answer 1

The std.table.header element will need to be mapped to a new table structure in FrameMaker. While FrameMaker handles CALS tables without the need for additional read/write rules, you will have to provide a full set of rules to create the correct FrameMaker table mapping.
The std.table.header is only a part of a table, it's used in many places as the header for a variety of non-CALS tables. For each of these tables you will need to define a new FrameMaker table structure. I'll attempt to provide the solution for the first of these special tables...
In the DTD the following structure is defined:
<!ELEMENTaal (title, std.table.header, (aal-category+ | aal-entry+))>
<!ATTLISTaal
  %frameatt;
>
<!ELEMENTaal-category (title, aal-entry+)>
<!ATTLISTaal-category
  %frameatt;
>
<!ELEMENTaal-entry (nsn+, dcpno, ui, qty)>
<!ATTLISTaal-entry
  %bodyidatt;
>
The aal element is probably intended to be displayed as a table. The std.table.header must be fitted into a suitable structure for FrameMaker, for example:
In this example new FM table part elements have been added to the EDD to provide the required table structure. On import from XML FrameMaker will create the missing elements, Read/Write rules must be used to drop them on export. The table parts used in the example are:
Element name
FM element type
aal
Table
std.table.header.title
Table title
std.table.header
Table header
std.table.header.row
Table row
std.table.header.entry
Table cell
aal.table.body
Table body
aal-category
Table row
entry.title
Table cell
aal-entry
Table cell
nsn, dcpno, ui, qty
Container
You may ask whether it's worth putting this much effort into formatting data as tables, in this example maybe not, but there will be times when it's the only way to go.
One of the problem areas are elements that have to be defined as different FM element types depending on context. In this example aal/title has to be reneamed to std.table.header.title and aal-category/title is renamed to entry.title. I would use XSLT to transform the elements on XML import and export.
The easier alternative t all of this is to forget about using tables and format the data as simple lists.
I hope this has been useful.
Regards
Ian