Generating multiple files from FOSI

[ptc-953343]

I have a multi-volume tech manual (milspec) that uses a FOSI to
produce PDF. I need to support cross-volume links for both editing as
well as PDF generation I also wantt to produce multiple PDF files
from this content.

Currently I'm configured with a single hubfile that links all the
chapters together and indicates where the volumes and parts will
fall. With this my writers can produce and valdiate the required
xrefs to link to data through out the entire tech manual. This
satisfies the need to valdiate the links while auhtoring although it is slow.

Note that I also produce an IETM from this content that uses XSLT to
generate HTML and associated indexs to produce a purely electronic
version. This is our current deliverable, we now want to add the PDF
version from this same source and break the PDF up into volumes that
have linked cross-references and bookmarks. I have a FOSI that is
already configured to produce a single PDF file from this content.

I guess my first question/issue is, is it possible to output multiple
files from a FOSI? To make the links work I will have to have known
file names so I figure to just name them vol1.pdf, vol2-pt1.pdf, etc.
- if I can write multiple files.

I could make separate hubfiles for each volume if the FOSI is not
capable of multi-file output. I will have to come up with a way to
get the volume information in this situation as the FOSI will not
have access to the other sections.

My constraints are shown below, which add some complication to this
process. Any ideas?

Constraints:
-----------
- working with SGML files
- DTD cannot be modified
- DTD and FOSI used to produce the PDF files will be delivered along
with the source SGML files - customer should be able to repeat our results
- I can have my way with the SGML content and the FOSI

[bibach]

Hey, Dan...

I worked on an application with similar requirements, though the
source data was all XML, including our version of the hubfile.
However, we published to paper via a FOSI written for an SGML DTD.

Once the user selected the portion of the book (whole book, volume,
part, etc.), we ran a transforms (XSLT and/or DSSSL) to gather up all
the pieces and construct a monolithic SGML file to be formatted by the
publishing engine.

What method does your hubfile use to reference the chapters?

-Brandon 🙂

[ptc-953343]

At 08:00 PM 2/8/2010, you wrote:
>I worked on an application with similar requirements, though the
>source data was all XML, including our version of the hubfile.
>However, we published to paper via a FOSI written for an SGML DTD.
>
>Once the user selected the portion of the book (whole book, volume,
>part, etc.), we ran a transforms (XSLT and/or DSSSL) to gather up all
>the pieces and construct a monolithic SGML file to be formatted by the
>publishing engine.
>
>What method does your hubfile use to reference the chapters?

It is just simple entity references. Your confirming what my initial
thoughts which were - I was going to have to pre-process the content

..dan
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Danny Vint

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