S1000D CSDB

[binar0101]

Fellow Forum Members,

Does FrameMaker offer a S1000D specification publishing solution that includes a Common Source Data Base (CSDB)? And outputs an Interactive Electronic Technical Publication (IETP) as well as a PDF? 

Any info will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance

[Arnis_Gubins]

Adobe does not, but you might want to check the offerings from:

• Absolute Data Group in Australia ( http://www.absolutedata.com/what-we-do/solutions/s1000d-solutions )
• Mekon in the UK (http://www.mekon.com/index.php/pages/services/xml_and_content_services/xml_and_content_services)
• SDL (http://www.sdl.com/technology/s1000d/)
• Inmedius (http://www.inmediuss1000d.com/)
• Corena (http://www.corena.com/what_we_offer/products/corena_s1000d/)

[binar0101]

Arnis,

Thank you very much for your post. I have already looked at Inmedius and Corena and PTC as well.  The one common denominator is that they are all very expensive options. 

Let me provide some more info of where I'm at:  I am a newbie at S1000D authoring.  Therefore, I would very much like to practice at home my S1000D coding skills on my home PC.  So what I need is a S1000D authoring solution that is designed for an individual and not an enterprise level solution designed for a corporation.

I was hoping Adobe would offer a basic CSDB that would validate my S1000D practice code and then transform it to a PDF.  The S1000D Specification PDF user guide is around 3,500 pages long.  In other words, there is a lot of learning involved with this specification. In short, to be able to practice at home will help me a lot.

Does anyone out there know of an Open Source S1000D CSDB authoring solution?  I would very much like to get my hands on an open source CSDB that will let me validate my S1000D practice code and transform it to a PDF. 

Lastly,  does FrameMaker support S1000D authoring well enough so I can practice S1000D coding on it?   Any info will be greatly appreciated.

[Arnis_Gubins]

You might want to private message Ian Proudfoot through the Forum "Your Stuff > Private Messages" if he doesn't jump in on this. He wrote the S1000D plug-in for FM and would be able to give you a more definitive answer.

[Paperless2k]

Hi

I always think that the term CSDB that you see in the S1000D specification is misleading. From the spec point of view the CSDB is just a folder full of Data Modules. It has no intelligence built in.

Certainly Adobe provide a free applicatin which works with Issue 4.0.1 but if you are considering authoring with any other version of S1000D you will not be able to do that with this application.

If you just want to practice generating S1000D data modules that is fine. The CSDB;s that you have quoted are applications that enable you to take complete control of the generation of data module, management of a project which keeps track of the different issues and in-work (this latter part can amount of quite large numbers of versiosn of each Data Module). They can also create publicatin modules, data despatch notes, data module reaquirement lists all of which are probably more than you need to start with - and yes they are expensive - and yes some are better than others. I would guess that using one of these is way beyond where you are right now.

Mekon, whilst not having a CSDB at present, do provide a plug-in for FrameMaker (7.0 through to 11) which allows edting of SGML and XML files as appropriate for issues 1.6 through to 4.1 of S1000D. the part of the website that you may find interesting is that associated with their aerospace and defence department (http://www.aerospace-defence.com/).

Please feel free to contact me if you want any more information or help. Starting up with S1000D is rather daunting.

[rhondah72399316]

Do you know where I can fin a TABLE that would automatically alphabetize the refdes entries, I would really appreciate it.

[rhondah72399316]

FrameMaker 2017 does NOT include a Common Source Data Base (CSDB).  FrameMaker 2017 DOES  output the document (module) to an Interactive Electronic Technical Publication (IETP).  AND it does output the same text as PDF.