To make the most of the authoring and publishing features in DITA-FMx, some elements must be set up in a specific manner. This topic describes those requirements.
The easiest way to get up and running with DITA in Frame is to use the default structure applications provided with DITA-FMx; they will “just work” right out of the box. Once you’re comfortable with things and want to make some adjustments to fit your house style or want to specialize, you can either clone the apps provided, use some DITA apps provided by someone else, or make your own from scratch. If you want to customize the apps provided with DITA-FMx, refer to the topic Developing Custom Structure Applications. If you want to use other applications or want to make your own, just be sure that they adhere to the requirements expected by DITA-FMx. In order to implement certain DITA features in DITA-FMx, the applications must be set up in a very specific way.
The information in the following topics describes the requirements that need to exist in a DITA structure application so that it functions properly with DITA-FMx. All of the modifications described affect the structure application files only (EDD, template, rules file), no modifications need to be made to the DITA DTD files. The items are grouped by feature, some of these features require the addition of multiple elements or structure application modifications. If you don’t want to make use of a given feature, you can skip the modifications described in that section. There are many other rules and EDD modifications that are needed for proper use of DITA files in FrameMaker, these are not discussed; only those features that are required or used by DITA-FMx are documented at this time.
The easiest way to set up these features in your custom application is to copy and paste from the default DITA-FMx applications.