System Variables

[ddwhite]

We are working on technical publications that require the use of MIL-STD-40051 for the US Army, some of the Frame files we have have master pages that are set up to use certain system variables such as <$filename> to display what would be the work package number, this is great because the the filename is the work package number, the problem is this also displays the file extension which is not good and we need to eliminate otherwise we are then having to go and create a file that has no extension in order to make sure this doesn't appear, we would like to just use the .fm files to make this happen but unless we can modify this to not show the file extension we are left doing extra work. Any assistance would be great on finding a fix for this.

Thanks,
David

[Bob_Niland]

Let's assume that later versions of FM don't have any enhancements on this that I don't know about, and that there are no aftermarket or DIY API fixes.

What's the problem with having filenames with no extensions?

Framemaker (largely due to its Unix origins, and the utter lack of even suggested extension conventions until FM4 or so) doesn't care.

You could always create a "shortcut" to each file, using the same_name.fm

I just tested a shortcut 123456.fm linked to actual file 12345, and the "Filename (Short)" variable reports "123456".

Do the renaming from the Book menus.

The reverse, by the way, doesn't work (assembly of a book using no-extension shortcut files, linked to .fm files).

[ddwhite]

Ok, so here is an example of what I am trying to eliminate as this affects hundreds of WPs across several books we are working on. Highlighted pieces are what we are trying to get rid of as they appear in the pages of the WP and we don't want them to be there.

[Bob_Niland]

Other than the sheer file count, what's the problem with renaming each component file?
(e.g. 0009.fm to 0009 with no file extension, and which must be done from the Book menu)

[ddwhite]

In the end the issue is the MIL-STD we are doing these technical publications to has specific requirements, and  being new to the use of FM I want to make sure that I can eliminate the .fm from these areas as if it remains it is in violation of the MIL-STD, so it cannot appear in the final product.

[Bob_Niland]

If you rename the book's component files so that they have no ".fm" file extensions, the system variable will work exactly the way you want, and the only "problem" that might result is that Mr.Bill's excuse for an operating system won't know what icon to display for the file, nor what to do if you double-click it (and if that matters, see the earlier suggestion to have parallel hard links or symlinks that do have the extension).

Looking at your example, where you show the 0009.fm appearing only in page headers and footers, there might be another approach. If the filename only appears on Master Pages, and is a fixed length in characters, put each instance, left-justified, in a text frame that is not wide enough for the ".fm" (and not tall enough, as it will wrap to the next line in that frame). The ".fm" will be there, but will not "appear". You can also accomplish the same trick by simply placing a masking rectangle on top of the .fm, set to page color (usually white) or as some named color set to "Cutout" in Color Views prior to render.