What is the correct way to format file paths and names in the structapp file?

Question

I am trying to create a structured application to export fm files as xml, and probably read the xml back to fm.
In the structured application file (structapp), I need to specify the locations of the various files (DTD, read/write, template, etc). I would like to place these files on a shared server so others can use the same structapp file (that is, a cop of it). What is the correct way to format the file paths and names? Can folders folder names and file names have spaces in them? I tried the following, for example:
\\serverName\shareName\folder 1\folder 2\file name.dtd
I use the same format for the template file and the read/write rules file.
When I try to save an fm file to xml, FrameMaker says that it cannot read the DTD; however, the resulting xml file appears to be well-formed. The DOCTYPE element in the resulting xml is formatted with forward slashes and spaces replaced with %20.
I tried using forward slashes and replacing spaces with %20, but then I get an error about reading the read/write rules.
NOTE: I have another structured application to read xml into fm. This application does not have a DTD file. The template and read/write rules files are specified as above. Except for complaining about a lack of a DTD, the application works fine; it even applies an XSLT in the process. Again, when I DO add a DTD to this latter application, I get the same complaint about not being able to read the DTD.
I am using fully patched FrameMaker 9 in Windows XP.
Thanks,
Van

Answer 1

Hi Van,
The XML parser and FrameMaker are not the same thing. The Error Log says which component created which message. The XSL processor is another option that can throw messages. The "\\server\path\some.dtd" syntax in structapps.fm seems to be fine for some tools, as Internet Explorer with XML tools successfully finds the DTD which appears as "//server/path/some.dtd" in the XML. But apparently Xerxes, the XML parser bundled with FrameMaker, does not like this notation.
If you have a path with a drive letter, "H:\path\some.dtd", FrameMaker turns that into "file:///H:/path/some.dtd". It seems, Xerces would like to see "file:/" in front of absolute paths.
This is what I have in structapps.fm:
Template: \\server\path\projecttemplate.fm
DTD: some.dtd
Read/write rules: \\server\path\projectrules.txt
DOCTYPE: …
Entity locations
  Entity search paths
    1: \\server\path\
In the structapps.fm I have the DTD without path information. The resulting XML (without XSL postprocessing) then contains just the file name with a relative path back to the book folder (when saving a book as XML). It therefore requires the DTD to be available at this place. I handle this using an event script that fires for NotePreSaveXml and copies the DTD to the folder of the original document.
As I always use XSL postprocessing and using XSLT1 it is not possible to have the doctype-system as a parameter I have this in my XSL stylesheet:
<xsl:output doctype-system="some.dtd" />
For the resulting XML the DTD is expected to be in the same folder as the XML file. This is handled by the same event script as above, it therefore copies the DTD to the source and the target folder.
Bottom line: If you want/have to use UNC paths, you have to do some programming to work around a FrameMaker bug.
- Michael