Macromedia FrameMaker - 9.0 User Guide

ADOBE® FRAMEMAKER® 9

MIF REFERENCE

Adobe® FrameMaker® 9 MIF Reference

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Why use MIF? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Using this manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Style conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Overview of MIF statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

MIF statement syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 2: Using MIF Statements

Working with MIF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Creating a simple MIF file for FrameMaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Creating and applying character formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Creating and formatting tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Specifying page layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Creating markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Creating cross-references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Creating variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Creating conditional text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Creating filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Including template files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Setting View Only document options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Applications of MIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Debugging MIF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Other application tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Where to go from here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

iii

Chapter 3: MIF Document Statements

MIF file layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

MIFFile statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Control statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Macro statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Track edited text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Conditional text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Boolean expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Filter By Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Paragraph formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Character formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Cross-references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Global document properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Graphic objects and graphic frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Text flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Text insets (text imported by reference) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Chapter 4: MIF Book File Statements

MIF book file overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

MIF book file identification line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Book statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Chapter 5: MIF Statements for Structured Documents and Books

Structural element definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Attribute definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Format rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Format change lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Filter By Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

XML data for structured documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Preference settings for structured documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Text in structured documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Structured book statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

MIF Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Chapter 6: MIF Equation Statements

Document statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Math statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

MathFullForm statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Chapter 7: MIF Asian Text Processing Statements

Asian Character Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Combined Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Kumihan Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Rubi text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Chapter 8: Examples

Text example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Bar chart example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Pie chart example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Custom dashed lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Table examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Database publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Chapter 9: MIF Messages

General form for MIF messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

List of MIF messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Chapter 10: MIF Compatibility

MIF syntax changes in FrameMaker 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Changes between version 6.0 and 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Changes between version 5.5 and 6.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Changes between version 5 and 5.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Changes between versions 4 and 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Changes between versions 3 and 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Chapter 11: Facet Formats for Graphics

Facets for imported graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Basic facet format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Graphic insets (UNIX versions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

General rules for reading and writing facets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Chapter 12: EPSI Facet Format

Specification of an EPSI facet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Example of an EPSI facet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Chapter 13: FrameImage Facet Format

Specification of a FrameImage facet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Specification of FrameImage data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Differences between monochrome and color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Sample unencoded FrameImage facet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Sample encoded FrameImage facet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Chapter 14: FrameVector Facet Format

Specification of a FrameVector facet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Specification of FrameVector data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Sample FrameVector facet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Chapter 1: Introduction

MIF (Maker Interchange Format) is a group of ASCII statements that create an easily parsed, readable text file of all the text, graphics, formatting, and layout constructs that Adobe® FrameMaker® native representation of a FrameMaker document, it allows FrameMaker and other applications to exchange information while preserving graphics, document content, and format.

understands. Because MIF is an alter-

Why use MIF?

You can use MIF files to allow FrameMaker and other applications to exchange information. For example, you can write programs to convert graphics and text into MIF and then import the MIF file into FrameMaker with the graphics and text intact. You can also save a FrameMaker document or book file as a MIF file and then write a program to convert the MIF file to another format. These conversion programs are called filters; filters allow you to convert FrameMaker document files into foreign files (files in another word processing or desktop publishing format), and foreign files into FrameMaker document files.

You can use MIF files with database publishing applications, which allow you to capture changing data from databases and format the data into high-quality documents containing both text and graphics information. You use the database to enter, manipulate, sort, and select data. You use FrameMaker to format the resulting data. You use MIF files as the data interchange format between the database and FrameMaker.

You can also use MIF files to do the following:

• Share documents with earlier versions of FrameMaker

• Perform custom document processing

• Set options for online documents in View Only format

These tasks are described in “Applications of MIF” on page 47. You can use other FrameMaker to perform some of these tasks. See “Other application tools” on page 51.

Using this manual

This manual:

• Describes the layout of MIF files.

• Provides a complete description of each MIF statement and its syntax.

• Provides examples of how to use MIF statements.

• Includes MIF statements for version 7.0 of FrameMaker

To get the most from this manual you should be familiar with FrameMaker. For information about FrameMaker and its features, see the documentation for your product. In addition, if you are using MIF as an interchange format between FrameMaker and another application, you should be familiar with the tools needed to create and manipulate the other application, such as a programming language or database query language.

This chapter provides basic information about working with MIF files, including opening and saving MIF files in FrameMaker. It goes on to provide detailed information about the MIF language and its syntax.

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 9

MIF Reference

For an introduction to writing MIF files, read , “Using MIF Statements.” You can then use the statement index, subject index, and table of contents to locate more specific information about a particular MIF statement.

For a description of a MIF statement, use the table of contents or statement index to locate the statement.

For a description of the differences between the MIF statements for this version of FrameMaker and earlier versions, see , “MIF Compatibility.”

Style conventions

This manual uses different fonts to represent different types of information.

• What you type is shown in

text like this.

• MIF statement names, pathnames, and filenames are also shown in

text like this.

• Placeholders (such as MIF data) are shown in

text like this

• For example, the statement description for PgfTag is shown as:

<PgfTag

• Yo u r ep la ce

This manual also uses the term FrameMaker, (as in FrameMaker document, or FrameMaker session) to refer to FrameMaker and to refer to structured or unstructured documents.

tagstring

with the tag of a paragraph format.

Overview of MIF statements

When you are learning about MIF statements, you may find it useful to understand how FrameMaker represents documents.

How MIF statements represent documents

FrameMaker represents document components as objects. Different types of objects represent different components in a FrameMaker document. For example, a paragraph is considered an object; a paragraph format is considered a formatting object. The graphic objects that you create by using the Tools palette are yet another type of object.

Each object has properties that represent its characteristics. For example, a paragraph has properties that represent its left indent, the space above it, and its default font. A rectangle has properties that represent its width, height, and position on the page.

When FrameMaker creates a MIF file, it writes an ASCII statement for each object in the document or book. The statement includes substatements for the object’s properties.

For example, suppose a document (with no text frame) contains a rectangle that is 2 inches wide and 1 inch high. The rectangle is located 3 inches from the left side of the page and 1.5 inches from the top. MIF represents this rectangle with the following statement:

<Rectangle # Type of graphic object

# Position and size: left offset, top offset,

# width, and height

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 9

FrameMaker also treats each document as an object and stores document preferences as properties of the document. For example, a document’s page size and page numbering style are document properties.

MIF Reference

FrameMaker documents have default objects

A FrameMaker document always has a certain set of default objects, formats, and preferences, even when you create a new document. When you create a MIF file, you usually provide the objects and properties that your document needs. However, if you don’t provide all the objects and properties required in a FrameMaker document, the MIF interpreter fills in a set of default objects and document formats.

The MIF interpreter normally provides the following default objects:

• Predefined paragraph formats for body text, headers, and table cells

• Predefined character formats

• A right master page for single-sided documents and left and right master pages for double-sided documents

• A reference page

• Predefined table formats

• Predefined cross-reference formats

• Default pen and fill values and dash patterns for graphics

• Default colors

• Default document preferences, such as ruler settings

• Default condition tags

Although you can rely on the MIF interpreter to provide defaults, the exact properties and objects provided may vary depending on your FrameMaker configuration. The MIF interpreter uses default objects and properties that are specified in setup files and in templates. In UNIX® versions, these templates are

plate

. You can modify these default objects and document formats by creating your own version of ASCIITem-

plate

or NewTemplate or by modifying your setup files.

For more information about modifying the default templates and setup files, see the online manual Customizing FrameMaker for UNIX versions of FrameMaker. For the and Windows® version, see the chapter on templates in your user manual.

ASCIITemplate and NewTem-

Current state and inheritance

FrameMaker has a MIF interpreter that reads and parses MIF files. When you open or import a MIF file, the interpreter reads the MIF statements and creates a FrameMaker document that contains the objects described in the MIF file.

When the interpreter reads a MIF file, it keeps track of the current state of certain objects. If the interpreter reads an object with properties that are not fully specified, it applies the current state to that object. When an object acquires the current state, it inherits the properties stored in that state.

For example, if the line width is set to 1 point for a graphic object, the interpreter continues to use a 1-point line width for graphic objects until a new value is specified in the MIF file. Similarly, if the MIF file specifies a format for a paragraph, the interpreter uses the same format until a new format is specified in the file.

The MIF interpreter keeps track of the following document objects and properties:

• Units

• Condition tag properties

• Paragraph format properties

• Character format properties

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 9

MIF Reference

• Page properties

• Graphic frame properties

• Text frame properties

• Fill pattern

• Pen pattern

• Line width

• Line cap

• Line style (dash or solid)

• Color

• Text line alignment and character format

Because the interpreter also provides default objects for a document, the current state of an object may be determined by a default object. For example, if a document does not provide any paragraph formats, the interpreter applies a set of default paragraph properties to the first paragraph. Subsequent paragraphs use the same properties unless otherwise specified.

How FrameMaker identifies MIF files

A MIF file must be identified by a MIFFile or Book statement at the beginning of the file; otherwise FrameMaker simply reads the file as a text file. All other statements are optional; that is, a valid MIF file can contain only the

MIFFile statement. Other document objects can be added as needed; FrameMaker provides a set of default objects

if a MIF file does not supply them.

MIF statement syntax

The statement descriptions in this manual use the following conventions to describe syntax:

token data

descriptions later in this manual, and Markup statements are always delimited by angle brackets (< > ); macro statements are not. For the syntax of macro statements, see “Macro statements” on page 56.

A token is an indivisible group of characters that identify a reserved word in a MIF statement. Tokens in MIF are case-sensitive. A token cannot contain white space characters, such as spaces, tabs, or newlines. For example, the following MIF statement is invalid because the token contains white space characters:

When the MIF interpreter finds white space characters that aren’t part of the text of the document (as in the example MIF statement, statement, the MIF interpreter ignores the white space characters between the left angle bracket (<) and the first character of the token, the interpreter reads and parses the data portion of the statement. If the token is not valid, the interpreter ignores all text up to the corresponding right angle bracket (>), including any nested substatements. The interpreter then scans the file for the next left angle bracket that marks the beginning of the next MIF statement.

All statements, as well as all data portions of a statement, are optional. If you do not provide a data portion, the MIF interpreter assigns a default value to the statement.

where

token

represents one of the MIF statement names (such as Pgf) listed in the MIF statement

data

represents one or more numbers, a string, a token, or nested statements.

< Units Uin >), it interprets the white space as token delimiters. When parsing the example

Units. After reading the token, the MIF interpreter checks its validity. If the token is valid,

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 9

MIF Reference

Statement hierarchy

Some MIF statements can contain other statements. The contained statements are called substatements. In this manual, substatements are usually shown indented within the containing statements as follows:

<Document

The indentation is not required in a MIF file, although it may make the file easier for you to read.

A MIF main statement appears at the top level of a file. A main statement cannot be nested within other statements. Some substatements can only appear within certain main statements.

The statement descriptions in this manual indicate the valid locations for a substatement by including it in all of the valid main statements. Main statements are identified in the statement description; for the correct order of main statements, see “MIF file layout” on page 52.

MIF data items

There are several general types of data items in a MIF statement. This manual uses the following terms and symbols to identify data items.

This term or symbol Means

string

tagstring

pathname

boolean

integer

dimension

degrees

percentage

metric

W H

Left quotation mark ( ` ), zero or more standard ASCII characters (in FrameMaker 9, you can also include UTF-8 characters), and a straight quotation mark ( ' ).

Example: `ab cdef ghij'

A string that names a format tag, such as a paragraph format tag. A unique; case is significant. A statement that refers to a

tagstring

acter set.

A string specifying a pathname (see “Device-independent pathnames” on page 7).

A value of either Yes or No. Case is significant.

Integer whose range depends on the associated statement name.

Integer that specifies a unique ID. An ID can be any positive integer between 1 and 65535, inclusive. A statement that refers to an ID must exactly match the ID.

Decimal number signifying a dimension. You can specify the units, such as 1.11", 72 pt, and

8.3 cm. If no units are specified, the default unit is used (see “Units statement” on page 54).

A decimal number signifying an angle value in degrees. You cannot specify units; any number is interpreted as a degree value.

A decimal number signifying a percentage value. You cannot specify units; any number is interpreted as a percentage value.

A dimension specified in units that represent points, where one point is 1/72 inch (see “Math

values” on page 6). Only used in MathFullForm statements.

Pair of dimensions representing width and height. You can specify the units.

value. A

tagstring

value can include any character from the FrameMaker char-

tagstring

must exactly match the

value must be

X Y

L T R B

L T W H

Coordinates of a point. Coordinates originate at the u pp er- le ft c or ner of t he pag e o r gr aph ic fra me. You can specify the units.

Coordinates representing left, top, right, and bottom indents. You can specify the units.

Coordinates representing the left and top indents plus the dimensions representing th e width and height of an object. You can specify the units.

This term or symbol Means

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 9

MIF Reference

X Y W H

keyword

<token…>

Coordinates of a point on the physical screen represented by X and Y plus dimensions describing the width and height. Used only by the DWindowRect and DViewRect statements within the

Document statement and the BWindowRect statement within the Book statement. The

values are in pixels; you cannot specify the units.

A token value. The allowed token values are listed for each statement; you can provide only one value.

Ellipsis points in a statement indicate required substatements or arguments. The entire expanded statement occurs at this point.

Unit values

You can specify the unit of measurement for most dimension data items. The following table lists the units of measurement that FrameMaker supports and their notation in MIF.

Measurement unit Notation in MIF Relationship to other units

point pt or point 1/72 inch

inch " or in 72 points

millimeter mm or millimeter 1 inch is 25.4 mm

centimeter

pica

didot

cicero

cm or centimeter

pc or pica

dd or didot

cc or cicero

1 inch is 2.54 cm

12 points

0.01483 inches

12 didots

Dimension data types can mix different units of measurement. For example, the statement

> can be written as either of the following:

<CellMargins

L T R

Math values

The MathFullForm statement uses

metric

inch). The

type is a 32-bit fixed-point number. The 16 most significant bits of a

metric

values in formatting codes. A

metric

unit represents one point (1/72

metric

value represent the digits before the decimal; the 16 least significant bits represent the digits after the decimal. Therefore, 1 point is expressed as hexadecimal

0x10000 or decimal 65536. The following table shows how to convert

metric

values into

equivalent measurement units.

To get this unit Divide the metric value by this number

point 65536

inch 4718592

millimeter 185771

centimeter 1857713

pica 786432

didot 6997

cicero 839724

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 9

MIF Reference

Character set in strings

MIF string data uses the FrameMaker character set (see the Quick Reference for your FrameMaker product). MIF strings must begin with a left quotation mark (ASCII character code (ASCII character code

0x27). Within a string, you can include any character in the FrameMaker character set.

However, because a MIF file can contain only standard ASCII characters and because of MIF parsing requirements, you must represent certain characters with backslash ( \ ) sequences.

Character Representation

Tab \ t

>\>

0x60) and end with a straight quotation mark

`\Q

\\\

nonstandard ASCII \x

Note: The \xnn character is supported only for legacy MIF files.

All FrameMaker characters with values above the standard ASCII range (greater than

string by using

notation, where nn represents the hexadecimal code for the character. The hexadecimal digits

\x7f) are represented in a

must be followed by a space.

When using special characters in a variable definition, you can also use a hexadecimal notation or Unicode notation. In the previous example, the hexadecimal notation for the paragraph symbol (¶) is \xa6. Alternatively, you can use the \u00B6 Unicode notation to represent the same character.

The following example shows a FrameMaker document line and its representation in a MIF string.

In a FrameMaker document In MIF

Some `symbols': > \Ø¿!

You ca n a ls o us e th e

Char statement to include certain predefined special characters in a ParaLine statement (see

`Some \Qsymbols\q: \> \\Ø¿!'

“Char statement” on page 125).

Device-independent pathnames

Several MIF statements require pathnames as values. You should supply a device-independent pathname so that files can easily be transported across different system types. Because of MIF parsing requirements, you must use the following syntax to supply a pathname:

`<code\>name<code\>name<code\>name…'

where

name

is the name of a component in the file’s path and

The following table lists codes and their meanings.

code

identifies the role of the component in the path.

Code Meaning

Root of UNIX file tree (UNIX only)

Volume or drive (Windows)

Host (Apollo only)

Component

Code Meaning

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 9

MIF Reference

Up one level in the file tree

When you specify a device-independent pathname in a MIF string, you must precede any right angle brackets (>) with backslashes (\), as shown in the syntax above.

Absolute pathnames

An absolute pathname shows the location of a file beginning with the root directory, volume, or drive. The following table specifies device-independent, absolute pathnames for the different versions of FrameMaker.

In this version The pathname appears as this MIF string

UNIX

Windows

`<r\><c\>MyDirectory<c\>MySubdirectory<c\>Filename'

`<v\>c:<c\>mydir<c\>subdir<c\>filename'

Relative pathnames

A relative pathname shows the location of a file relative to the current directory. In all FrameMaker versions, the device-independent, relative pathname for the same file is:

`<c\>Filename '

Chapter 2: Using MIF Statements

MIF statements can completely describe any Adobe® FrameMaker® document, no matter how complex. As a result, you often need many MIF statements to describe a document. To learn how to use MIF statements, it helps to begin with some simple examples.

This chapter introduces you to MIF, beginning with a simple MIF example file with only a few lines of text. Additional examples show how to add common document objects, such as paragraph formats, a table, and a custom page layout, to this simple MIF file.

The examples in this chapter are also provided in online sample files. You can open these examples in FrameMaker and experiment with them by adding additional MIF statements. Look for the sample files in the following location:

In this version Look here

UNIX $FMHOME/fminit/

as usenglish

Windows The MIF directory under the samples directory

language

/Samples/MIF, where

language

is the language in use, such

Working with MIF files

A MIF file is an alternate representation of a FrameMaker document in ASCII format. MIF files are usually generated by FrameMaker or by an application that writes out MIF statements. You can, however, create MIF files by using a text editor or by using FrameMaker as a text editor. This section provides some general information about working with MIF files regardless of the method you use to create them.

Opening and saving MIF files

When you save a FrameMaker document, you usually save it in Normal format, FrameMaker’s binary format for document files. To save a document as a MIF file, choose Save As from the File menu. In the Save Document dialog box, choose Interchange (MIF) from the Format pop-up menu. You should give the saved file the suffix distinguish it from a file saved in binary format.

When you open or import a MIF file, FrameMaker reads the file directly, translating it into a FrameMaker document or book. When you save the document in Normal format, FrameMaker creates a binary document file. To prevent overwriting the original MIF file, remove the suffix).

If you use FrameMaker to edit a MIF file, you must prevent it from interpreting MIF statements when you open the file by holding down a modifier key and clicking Open in the Open dialog box.

In this version Use this modifier key

.mif file suffix and replace it with a different suffix (or no

.mif to

UNIX Shift

Windows Control or Shift

Save the edited MIF file as a text file by using the Save As command and choosing Text Only from the Format popup menu. Give the saved file the suffix to place carriage returns. For a MIF file, choose the Only between Paragraphs option.

.mif. When you save a document as Text Only, FrameMaker asks you where

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 9

MIF Reference

In UNIX versions, FrameMaker saves a document in text format in the ISO Latin-1 character encoding. You can change the character encoding to ASCII by changing the value of an X resource. See the description of character encoding in the online manual Customizing FrameMaker. In the Windows version, press Esc F t c to toggle between FrameMaker’s character encoding and ANSI for Windows.

Importing MIF files

You can use the File menu’s Import>File command to import MIF files into an existing document, but you must make sure that the imported statements are valid at the location where you are importing them. A MIF file can describe both text and graphics; make sure that you have selected either a place in the text flow (if you are importing text or graphics) or an anchored frame (if you are importing graphics).

For example, to import a MIF file that describes a graphic, first create an anchored frame in a document, select the frame, and then import the MIF file (see “Bar chart example” on page 220).

When you import or include MIF files, make sure that object IDs are unique in the final document and that references to object IDs are correct (see “Generic object statements” on page 105). The object IDs must be unique for all objects (TextRect, TblId, Group, and AFrame use the ID for identification) in the document.

Editing MIF files

You normally use a text editor to edit a MIF file. If you use FrameMaker to enter text into a MIF file, be sure to open the MIF file as a text file and turn off Smart Quotes. If you leave Smart Quotes on, you must use a key sequence to type the quotation marks that enclose a MIF string ( straight quotation mark, type Control-'.

Although MIF statements are usually generated by a program, while you learn MIF or test and debug an application that generates MIF, you may need to manually generate MIF statements. In either case, you can minimize the number of MIF statements that your application needs to generate or that you need to type in.

The following suggestions may be helpful when you are working with MIF statements:

• Edit a MIF file generated by FrameMaker.

• You can edit a MIF file generated by FrameMaker or copy a group of statements from a MIF file into your file

and then edit the statements. An easy way to use FrameMaker to generate a MIF file is to create an empty document by using the New command and then saving it as a MIF file.

• Te st o n e o b j ec t at a ti m e.

• While testing an object in a document or learning about the MIF statements that describe an object, work with

just that object. For example, if you work with a document that contains both tables and anchored frames, start by creating the MIF statements that describe tables. Then add the statements that describe anchored frames.

• Use the default properties provided by FrameMaker.

• If you are not concerned with testing certain document components, let FrameMaker provide a set of default

document objects and formats.

`'). To enter a left quotation mark, type Control-`. To enter a

MIF file layout

FrameMaker writes the objects in a MIF document file in the following order:

This section Contains these objects

File ID MIF file identification line (MIFFile statement)

Units Default units (

Units statement)

This section Contains these objects

Catalogs Color

Condition

Paragraph Format

Element

Font or Character Format

Ruling

Table Format

Views

Formats Variable

Cross-reference

Objects Document

Dictionary

Anchored frames

Tab le s

Pages

Tex t flo ws

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 9

MIF Reference

FrameMaker provides all of these objects, even if the object is empty. To avoid unpredictable results in a document, you must follow this order when you create a MIF file.

Creating a simple MIF file for FrameMaker

Note: The rest of this chapter explains how to create some simple MIF files for FrameMaker by hand. These instructions do not apply to structured documents, which require that you create elements first.

The most accurate source of information about MIF files is a MIF file generated by FrameMaker. MIF files generated by FrameMaker can be very lengthy because FrameMaker repeats information and provides default objects and formats for all documents. You may find it difficult to determine the minimum number of statements that are necessary to define your document by looking at a FrameMaker-generated MIF file.

To better understand how FrameMaker reads MIF files, study the following example. This MIF file uses only four statements to describe a document that contains one line of text:

<MIFFile 8.00> # The only required statement <Para # Begin a paragraph

<ParaLine # Begin a line within the paragraph

<String `Hello World'># The actual text of this document

> # end of Paraline #End of ParaLine statement

> # end of Para #End of Para statement

The MIFFile statement is required in each MIF file. It identifies the FrameMaker version and must appear on the first line of the file. All other statements are optional; that is, FrameMaker provides a set of default objects if you specify none.

Comments in a MIF file are preceded by a number sign (#). By convention, the substatements in a MIF statement are indented to show their nesting level and to make the file easier to read. The MIF interpreter ignores spaces at the beginning of a line.

ADOBE FRAMEMAKER 9

MIF Reference

This example is in the sample file hello.mif. To see how FrameMaker provides defaults for a document, open this file in FrameMaker. Even though the MIF file does not specify any formatting, FrameMaker provides a default Paragraph Catalog and Character Catalog. In addition, it provides a right master page, as well as many other default properties.

Save this document as a MIF file and open the FrameMaker-generated MIF file in a text editor or in FrameMaker as a text file. (For information on how to save and open MIF files, see “Opening and saving MIF files” on page 9.)

You’ll see that the MIF interpreter has taken the original 6-line file and generated over 1,000 lines of MIF statements that describe all the default objects and their properties. To see the actual text of the document, go to the end of the file.

This example demonstrates an important point about MIF files. Your MIF file can be very sparse; the MIF interpreter supplies missing information. Most documents are not this simple, however, and require some formatting. The following sections describe how to add additional document components, such as paragraph and character formats, a table, and custom page layouts, to this minimal MIF file.

Creating and applying paragraph formats

In a FrameMaker document, paragraphs have formatting properties that specify the appearance of the paragraph’s text. A paragraph format includes the font family and size, indents, tab stops, the space between lines in a paragraph, and the space before and after a paragraph. In a FrameMaker document, the end of a paragraph is denoted by a single carriage return. You control the amount of space above and below the paragraph by modifying the paragraph’s format, not by adding extra carriage returns.

In a FrameMaker document, you store paragraph formats in a Paragraph Catalog and assign a tag (name) to the format. You can then apply the same format to many paragraphs by assigning the format tag to the paragraphs. You can also format a paragraph individually, without storing the format in the Paragraph Catalog. Or, you can assign a format from the Paragraph Catalog and then override some of the properties within a particular paragraph. Formats that are not stored in the Paragraph Catalog are called local formats.

Creating a paragraph

In a MIF file, paragraphs are defined by a Para statement. A Para statement contains one or more ParaLine statements that contain the lines in a paragraph; the actual text of the line is enclosed in one or more

<Para # Begin a paragraph

<ParaLine # Begin a line within the paragraph

<String `Hello World'># The actual text of this document

> # End of ParaLine statement

> # End of Para statement

String statements:

The Para, ParaLine, and String statements are the only required statements to import text. You could use this example to import a simple document into FrameMaker by placing each paragraph in a paragraph text into a series of break up text lines within a

String statements contained in one ParaLine statement. It doesn’t matter how you

Para statement; the MIF interpreter automatically wraps lines when it reads the MIF file.

Para statement. Break the

Some characters must be represented by backslash sequences in a MIF string. For more information, see “Character

set in strings” on page 7.

Creating a paragraph format

Within a FrameMaker document, you define a paragraph format by using the Paragraph Designer to specify the paragraph’s properties. In a MIF file, you define a paragraph format by using the

The

Pgf statement contains a group of substatements that describe all of a paragraph’s properties. It has the

following syntax:

Pgf statement.

<Pgf

property value

...

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> >

MIF Reference

A Pgf statement is quite long, so learning how to relate its substatements to the paragraph’s properties may take some practice. Usually a MIF statement name is similar to the name of the setting within a dialog box. The following examples show the property dialog boxes from the Paragraph Designer with the related

Pgf substatements.

Suppose you have created a paragraph format for a numbered list item with Basic properties defined as follows in the Paragraph Designer.

Basic properties

The following table shows the corresponding MIF statements:

In MIF file In Paragraph Designer

Paragraph Tag

First Indent

Left Indent

Right Indent

Alignment

Space Above ¶

Space Below ¶

Line Spacing (leading is added to font size)

In MIF file In Paragraph Designer

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MIF Reference

<TabStop

Line Spacing (fixed)

Number of tab stops

Begin definition of tab

Tab position

Tab type

Tab leader (none)

> # end of TabStop

Turn off Next ¶ Tag feature

Next ¶ Tag name (none)

The Default Font properties are defined as follows in the Paragraph Designer.

Font properties

The following table shows the corresponding MIF statements:

In MIF file In Paragraph Designer

<PgfFont

Family

Size

In MIF file In Paragraph Designer

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MIF Reference

> # end of PgfFont

Angle

Weig ht

Language

Variation

Color

Spread

Stretch

Underline

Overline

Strikethrough

Change Bar

Superscript/Subscript

Capitalization

Pair Kern

Tsume (Asian systems only)

The Pagination properties are defined as follows in the Paragraph Designer.

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MIF Reference

Pagination properties

The following table shows the corresponding MIF statements:

In MIF file In Paragraph Designer

Start

Keep With Next Pgf

Keep With Previous Pgf

Widow/Orphan Lines

Format (paragraph placement)

Run-in Head Default Punctuation (a period followed by an em space)

The Numbering properties are defined as follows in the Paragraph Designer.

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MIF Reference

Numbering properties

The following table shows the corresponding MIF statements:

In MIF file In Paragraph Designer

Turn on Autonumber

Autonumber Format (a number followed by a period and a tab)

Character Format (Default ¶ Format)

Position (Start of Paragraph)

The Advanced properties are defined as follows in the Paragraph Designer.

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MIF Reference

Advanced properties

The following table shows the corresponding MIF statements:

In MIF file In Paragraph Designer

Automatic Hyphenation (on)

Max. # Adjacent

Shortest Word

Shortest Prefix

Shortest Suffix

Minimum Word Spacing

Optimum Word Spacing

Maximum Word Spacing

Allow Automatic Letter Spacing

Frame Above ¶

Frame Below ¶

The Asian properties are defined as follows in the Paragraph Designer.

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MIF Reference

Asian properties

The following table shows the corresponding MIF statements:

In MIF file In Paragraph Designer

<PgfMinJRomanLetterSpace

<PgfOptJRomanLetterSpace

<PgfMaxJRomanLetterSpace

<PgfMinJLetterSpace

<PgfOptJLetterSpace

<PgfMaxJLetterSpace

<PgfYakumonoType

percentage

string

percentage

Minimum (Western/Asian Spacing)

Optimum (Western/Asian Spacing)

Maximum (Western/Asian Spacing)

Minimum (Asian Character Spacing)

Optimum (Asian Character Spacing)

Maximum (Asian Character Spacing)

Asian Punctuation

The Table Cell properties are defined as follows in the Paragraph Designer.

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MIF Reference

Table cell properties

The following table shows the corresponding MIF statements:

In MIF file In Paragraph Designer

Cell Vertical Alignment

Cell Margins

Top

Bottom

Left

Right

Adding a Paragraph Catalog

In a MIF file, you define a Paragraph Catalog by using a PgfCatalog statement. The Paragraph Catalog contains one or more paragraph formats, which are defined by

<PgfCatalog

<Pgf…> # A paragraph format description <Pgf…> # More paragraph formats

> # end of PgfCatalog

The Pgf statement describes a complete paragraph format. For example, the sample file pgfcat.mif stores the paragraph format 1Heading in the Paragraph Catalog:

<MIFFile 8.00> # Hand generated

Pgf statements. A PgfCatalog statement looks like this:

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<PgfCatalog

<Pgf

<PgfTag `1Heading'> <PgfUseNextTag Yes > <PgfNextTag `Body'> <PgfAlignment Left > <PgfFIndent 0.0"> <PgfLIndent 0.0"> <PgfRIndent 0.0"> ...

> # end of Pgf

> # end of PgfCatalog

MIF Reference

If you open pgfcat.mif in FrameMaker, you’ll see that the Paragraph Catalog contains a single paragraph format called 1Heading. If you supply a Paragraph Catalog, the paragraph formats in your catalog replace those in the default catalog; they do not supplement the default formats.

If you do not supply a Paragraph Catalog in a MIF file, the MIF interpreter provides a default Paragraph Catalog with predefined paragraph formats.

Pgf statement provides only the name of a paragraph format, the MIF interpreter supplies default values for the

If a rest of the paragraph properties when it reads in the MIF file.

Applying a paragraph format

To apply a format from the Paragraph Catalog to a paragraph, use the PgfTag statement to include the format tag name within the the following statements:

<Para

<PgfTag `1Heading'> <ParaLine

> # end of ParaLine

> # end of Para

To apply a format from the Paragraph Catalog and then locally override some properties, use a partial Pgf statement within the alignment:

<Para

<PgfTag `1Heading'> <Pgf

> # end of Pgf <ParaLine

> # end of ParaLine

> # end of Para

To locally define a paragraph format, include a complete Pgf statement within the Para statement:

<Para

<Pgf

> # end of Pgf <ParaLine

Para statement. For example, to apply the previously defined format 1Heading to a paragraph, use

Para statement. The following MIF example applies the paragraph format 1Heading, then changes the

<PgfTag `2Heading'> <PgfUseNextTag Yes > <PgfNextTag `Body'> <PgfAlignment Left > <PgfFIndent 0.0"> <PgfLIndent 0.0"> ...

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> # end of ParaLine

> # end of Para

MIF Reference

For a complete description of Pgf property statements, see page 61.

How paragraphs inherit properties

Paragraphs can inherit properties from other paragraphs in a MIF file. If a Pgf statement does not provide values for each paragraph property, it acquires any property values explicitly defined in a previous the MIF interpreter sequentially reads MIF files, it uses the most recently defined

Pgf statement that occurs before

the current statement in the file.

For example, the following MIF code applies the default format named Body to the first paragraph in a document and locally overrides the paragraph font:

<Para

<Pgf

<PgfTag `Body'> <PgfFont

> # end of PgfFont > # end of Pgf <ParaLine

<String `First paragraph in document.'> > # end of ParaLine

> # end of Para <Para

<ParaLine

<String `Second paragraph in document.'> > # end of ParaLine

> # end of Para

The previous example is in the sample file pgffmt.mif. If you open this file in FrameMaker, you’ll find that the second paragraph also has the new font property.

A paragraph property remains in effect until the property value is changed by a subsequent MIF statement. To change a paragraph property to another state, supply a

Pgf statement containing the paragraph property statement

set to the new state.

Thus, in the previous example, you could change the font from Bold to Regular in a

Para statement:

<Para

<Pgf

<PgfFont

> # end of PgfFont > # end of Pgf <ParaLine

<String `Second paragraph in document.'> > # end of ParaLine

> # end of Para

To summarize, paragraphs inherit formats as follows:

• Formats in the Paragraph Catalog inherit properties from the formats above them.

• Locally defined paragraph formats inherit properties from previously specified formats.

• Text lines in anchored frames inherit font properties from previously specified formats, including the last

format in the Paragraph Catalog and previous text lines.

Pgf statement. Because

Pgf statement in the second

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MIF Reference

Tips

The following hints may help you minimize the MIF statements for paragraph formats:

• If possible, use the formats in the default Paragraph Catalog (don’t supply a PgfCatalog statement). If you

know the names of the default paragraph formats, you can tag paragraphs with the

PgfTag statement.

• If you know that a document will use a particular template when it is imported into a FrameMaker document,

you can just tag the paragraphs in the text flow. Don’t create a new Paragraph Catalog in MIF; it’s easier to create catalogs in FrameMaker document templates.

• If you need to provide a full Paragraph Catalog in a MIF file, you can still use FrameMaker to ease the task of

creating a catalog. Create a template in FrameMaker, save the template as a MIF file, and include the Paragraph Catalog in your document. For instructions, see “Including template files” on page 44.

Creating and applying character formats

You can define character formats locally or store them in the Character Catalog and apply the formats to text selections. Creating and applying character formats is very similar to creating and applying paragraph formats as described in the previous section. Because the two methods are similar, this section just summarizes how to create and apply character formats.

In a MIF file, the Character Catalog is contained in a named character formats in a list of

<FontCatalog

<Font...> # Describes a character format <Font...> # Describes a character format

> # end of FontCatalog

Font statements. A FontCatalog statement looks like this:

A Font statement specifies the properties of a character format; these are the same properties specified in the Character Designer. The

Font statement is just like the PgfFont statement that you use to define the default font in

a paragraph format. See “PgfFont and Font statements” on page 66 for a complete description of a

To apply a predefined character format to text, use the

<MIFFile 8.00> # Hand generated <FontCatalog

<Font

<FAngle `Italic'> > # end of Font

> # end of FontCatalog <Para

<PgfTag `Body'> <ParaLine

<Font

<FTag `Emphasis'> > # end of Font <String `applying'> <Font

> # end of ParaLine

> # end of Para

Remember to include a second Font statement to end the scope of the applied character format.

FontCatalog statement. The FontCatalog statement contains

Font statement.

FTag statement:

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Body rows

Footing row

Table 1: Coffee Inventory

Coffee Bags Status Price per bag

Brazil Santos 50 Prompt $455.00

Celebes Kalossi 29 In Stock $924.00

Colombian 25 In Stock $474.35

$1,853.35

Heading row

Title

MIF Reference

To locally define a character format, use a complete Font statement:

<Para

<PgfTag `Body'> <ParaLine

<String `You can also format characters by '> <Font

…character property statements

> # end of Font <String `applying'> <Font

> # end of ParaLine

> # end of Para

…

Like paragraph formats, character formats inherit properties from previously defined character formats. Unlike paragraph formats, however, a character format ends at the close of a

See the sample file

charfmt.mif for examples of using character formats.

Para statement.

Creating and formatting tables

You can create tables in FrameMaker documents, edit them, and apply table formats to them. Tables can have heading rows, body rows, and footing rows. Each row consists of table cells that contain the actual contents of the table.

Tables are like paragraphs in that they have a format. A table format controls the appearance of a table, including the number and width of columns, the types of ruling or shading in rows and columns, and the table’s position in a text column. Table formats can be named, stored in a Table Catalog, and applied to many tables. A table format can also be defined locally.

In a FrameMaker document, tables appear where they have been placed in the text flow. A table behaves like an anchored frame, so a table flows with the surrounding text unless you give it a specific location. In a MIF file, the document’s tables are collected in one place and a placeholder for each table indicates the table’s position in the text flow.

You create a table in a MIF file as follows:

• Specify the contents of the table by using a Tbl statement. An individual table is called a table instance. All table

instances are stored in one

Tbls statement. Assign each table instance a unique ID number.

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MIF Reference

• Indicate the position of the table in the text flow by using an ATbl statement. The ATbl statement is the place-

holder, or anchor, for the table instance. It refers to the table instance’s unique ID.

• Specify the table format by using a TblFormat statement. Formats can be named and stored in the Table

Catalog, which is defined by a

TblCatalog statement, or locally defined within a table.

Creating a table instance

All table instances in a document are contained in a Tbls statement. The Tbls statement contains a list of Tbl statements, one for each table instance. A document can have only one the table anchors in the text flow.

Tbl statement contains the actual contents of the table cells in a list of MIF substatements. Like other MIF state-

The ments, this list can be quite long. The following is a template for a

<Tbl

<TblID…> # A unique ID for the table <TblFormat…> # The table format <TblNumColumns…> # Number of columns in this table--required <TblColumnWidth…> # Column width, one for each column <TblH # The heading; omit if no heading

<Row # One Row statement for each row

<Cell…> # One statement for each cell in the row > # end of Row

<TblBody # The body of the table

<Row…> # One for each row in body

> # end of TblBody <TblF # The footer; omit if no footer

<Row…> # One for each row in footer

> # end of TblF

> # end of Tbl

The TblID statement assigns a unique ID to the table instance. The TblFormat statement provides the table format. You ca n u se t he

TblFormat statement to apply a table format from the Table Catalog, apply a format from the

catalog and override some of its properties, or completely specify the table format locally. Because the tables in a document often share similar characteristics, you usually store table formats in the Table Catalog. Table instances can always override the applied format.

TblNumColumns statement specifies the number of columns in the table instance. It is required in every table.

The

The TblH, TblBody, and TblF statements contain the table heading, body, and footer rows. If a table does not have a heading or footing, omit the statements.

Here’s an example of a simple table that uses a default format from the Table Catalog. The table has one heading row, one body row, and no footing rows:

Tbls statement, which must occur before any of

Tbl statement:

Coffee Price per Bag

Brazil Santos $455.00

You can use the following MIF statements to create this simple table:

<MIFFile 8.00> <Tbls

<Tbl

<TblID 1> # ID for this table <TblTag `Format A'> # Applies format from Table Catalog <TblNumColumns 2> # Number of columns in this table <TblColumnWidth 2.0"> # Width of first column <TblColumnWidth 1.5"> # Width of second column

+ 274 hidden pages

Macromedia FrameMaker - 9.0 User Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Why use MIF?

Using this manual

Style conventions

Overview of MIF statements

How MIF statements represent documents

FrameMaker documents have default objects

Current state and inheritance

How FrameMaker identifies MIF files

MIF statement syntax

Statement hierarchy

MIF data items

Unit values

Character set in strings

Device-independent pathnames

Chapter 2: Using MIF Statements

Working with MIF files

Opening and saving MIF files

Importing MIF files

Editing MIF files

MIF file layout

Creating a simple MIF file for FrameMaker

Creating and applying paragraph formats

Creating a paragraph

Creating a paragraph format

Adding a Paragraph Catalog

Applying a paragraph format

How paragraphs inherit properties

Tips

Creating and applying character formats

Creating and formatting tables

Creating a table instance