Where are the variables?

[Guest]

I recently upgraded from FM9 to FM12 running on Windows 7. When I open an FM9 doc in FM12 and save it as FM12, I don't see any of the previous varialbles in the Variables list. I can Find them when searching for Any Variable, but they are listed, so I can't edit them.

Steve

[Arnis_Gubins]

Have you fully scrolled through the Variables pod? Note: not all system variables are displayed if you are on a Body page, but you will see them when on a Master page.

Can you please explain (and include a screen capture - use the camera icon) as to what you mean by: you can find the variables using search but can't edit them because they are listed?

If you find a variable using the Find, double-clicking on it will display it in the pod. You then need to click on the Edit icon (the pencil) to open the Variable editor.

[Guest]

I wrote it wrong. I can't see the Variables listed in the Variables Pod on a Body page. I can find them in Find > Any Variable. I have not scrolled through the Variables Pod, because there are NO variables there. No system variables, no custom variables. If I double-click on a variable in the Body page, nothing happens. Note the highlighted variable in the picture.

[Winfried Reng]

Hi Steve,

Very strange. It's not that your variables are not listed, but the whole content of the variable pod with the icons is not shown.

I test FrameMaker 12, and for me everything works as it should. Variable pod is there with icons and list of variables.

The variable pod is docked. This is the same setup with which you have problems.

I use the structured interface, but it works also with the non-structured interface.

I do not have an explanation for your problem.

Best regards

Winfried

[Lynne A. Price]

Steve,

    Just yesterday, I noticed the same behavior. I pulled the Variables pod out of the dock and the expected contents appeared.

             --Lynne

[Guest]

Well, that is interesting. When I reported this problem, I was working from home on the company laptop I use. Now I am at the company on the same laptop, and lo! the variables are there!

When you say you pulled it out of the doc, do you mean you hauled it up from the several tabbed pods along the bottom (in my case) and they appeared?

-- Steve

[Lynne A. Price]

Steve,

   Yes, that's what I meant. I dragged it so that it was in the middle of the screen instead of docked to an edge of the main FM wndow.

                --Lynne

[Lynne A. Price]

Ah ha! I am getting the same behavior in FM 12. It seems that whether anything appears in panels docked at the bottom of the FM window depends on the width of open pods docked on the right side of the window. In particular, if the Structure View is docked on the right and is the full height of the FM window, the contents of the conditional text or variables panel disappears or reappears as I drag the left edge of the Structure View to the left or right.

          --Lynne

[Guest]

What a super sleuth you are, Lynne. I don't use structered, but I'm glad to see that someone duplicated the problem. Sounds like a bit of a bug to me. I haven't had it happen since 2/4, but if it does, I'll just move things around till it goes away.

-- Steve

[Lynne A. Price]

Steve,

   Thanks for the compliment! I agree that this bug is not specific to structured FM. It seems that the minimum width for the bottom dock is wide enough for several columns in the variable panel.

          --Lynne

[Arnis_Gubins]

Lynne & Steve,

Is this happening when your FM application window is maximized or floating? I can get the pod to blank when the FM window is floating, but as soon as I maximize it, the pod content appears. I can drag the docked panels at the sides to their maximum then, but the pod content still shows. Regardless, this still looks like a bug and may be a function of the screen size (I'm using 1600x1200).

[Arnis_Gubins]

I just checked this in older versions of FM. For FM10, 11 and 12, the pods go blank at some critical size, however, in FM9 (the original version of the OWL interface) the pod content stays visible. Looks like its been broken for three releases and no one seems to have noticed until now...

[Lynne A. Price]

Arnis,

    I am using a 1280 x 800 laptop screen. I see the problem whether or not the FM window is maximized.

--Lynne

[Arnis_Gubins]

It must be some critical size (no. of pixels ?) of the pod window that triggers this. Since I use a larger resolution monitor, I haven't stumbled across this until now.

I've logged a bug on this behaviour and pointed out that it worked as expected in FM9 and went wonky with FM10.

[Guest]

I always, or almost always, use FM12 with the app window maximized. The docs are in tabs. I haven't experimented with it much lately. My goal, naturally, is to get my documents out on time and in good shape. I have docked panels left -- the books with their docs -- and right -- Find, Markers, Anchored frame and the like.

-- Steve