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3 - WebMaker

3.3 - The WebMaker configuration language

The rules for the mapping of a FrameMaker template into HTML are specified in the WebMaker configuration language. FrameMaker documents using the same template may therefore use the same mapping and more than one mapping may be developed for the same template, if this is desirable.

The configuration program is divided into three parts:

  1. The rules governing WWW node generation

    The aspects of a generated HTML node are described here. These include specification of a navigation panel, information about the HTML elements TITLE, ISINDEX, ADDRESS, etc. Each general type of node requires one set of node rules.

  2. Paragraph format mapping rules

    Rules specifying how to map each FrameMaker paragraph tag to an HTML construct, if actions different than the default are desired.

  3. Character highlights mapping rules

    Rules that associate a FrameMaker character format tag with an HTML character highlight tag.

Qualities of the configuration language are that it is easy to read, easy to write and it provides as much flexibility as HTML allows. HTML elements are referred to logically and not by raw HTML. This means that a programmer does not need to remember details of HTML syntax and guarantees the output of correct HTML.

3.3.1 - Example

Suppose we want to translate the FrameMaker paragraph format SpecialNote. An example of one in FrameMaker may be:


We would like this paragraph to be translated to:

<HR>
<EM>A "SpecialNote" paragraph is enclosed between two horizontal lines.</EM><P>
<HR>
The code in the configuration file that does this is:

PARAGRAPH SpecialNote TYPE Normal { 
   ACTIONS 
   { 
        write(*,hrule());
        write(*,paragraph(emphasise(text())));
        write(*,hrule());
   }
}
Paragraphs are assigned a type of paragraph that they are to be mapped into, in this case Normal. The `*' in the write statements tells WebMaker to write into the current node file. The predefined function hrule() specifies the HTML markup for horizontal rule. The predefined function text() contains the text of the paragraph being currently translated. The predefined function emphasise() maps the string returned by the function text(), to the emphasised character highlight. The predefined function paragraph() maps the value of the string parameter, emphasise(text()), to a simple paragraph in HTML.

First International WWW Conference, May 1994

BR, MR - CERN PTG - 31 May 1994

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