Frontmatter in a PDF target

[JennyQ]

Hi,
I cannot find a specific description of how to set up a typical frontmatter section on top of the usual set of online topics. Do I need to define a unique page layout (.flpgl) for each page of the frontmatter? (This would be a typical documentation use case to describe in Flare online help.)

My objective is a 4-page frontmatter section: title, legal notices, support links, and a blank. So, I defined a single page layout file with a title page and inserted boilerplate into a decorator frame on the left page to display the required legal notices, and other boilerplate into a right page decorator frame to display the support text. I don't need body text flow from one page to the next. I enabled the blank page filler to get a blank before the TOC begins.

There is a second page layout (.flpgl) that I used to format the single-sourced topics with normal body flow frames on the left/right pages. So, I have two separate page layouts, but it seems that one should be enough with custom pages added for the front matter. I'd be ok with using two if the frontmatter page layout worked well, but it doesn't. The order isn't right and interspersed blank pages are not ok.

Any tips or insight?
JennyQ

[todd.richardson]

Our print layout to PDF involves five different page layouts, the first of which is, essentially, a frontmatter page layout consisting of three pages: one for the cover art (First), one for the copyright and trademark info (Left), and one blank (Right).

In the outline TOC, this page layout is associated with two different topic files:
- The first contains variable text that feeds a text frame on the cover page with the title and subtitle of the book. This topic is linked to the First page (cover art) of the page layout described above.
- The second entry in the outline TOC contains the copyright/trademark info, and is linked to the Left page in the page layout

This results in the cover being first and the copyright/trademark info second (on a left page) in the output.

Following a similar logic, I'm guessing you could accomplish what it is you are trying to do. But perhaps you could further explain the problem(s) you are seeing? Why (and where) are there 'interspersed blank pages'? How is the oder incorrect? Have you specified the correct Page Type in the Print Output properties?

[DocuWil]

Hi Jenny,

I had also problems in the beginning with this kind of stuff.
Until I came on the idea to run the sample book from Flare (I named this project also Sample).
That helped me a lot.

From this I created the following Page Layouts:
Cover : A Title page and an Empty page (containing the Copyrights)

TOC : A Left page, a Right page (these 2 pages contain a Header Frame with an image) and an Empty page

Content : A Left page, a Right page (these 2 pages are as the TOC page but on top of the images a Decoration Frame with Heading.Level1 is defined) and an Empty page.

Index : A Left page and a Right page. Exactly as Content but without the Empty page.

Next I made 3 topics:
Title.htm containing a Page wide picture with variables (Company, address, author and allthat kind of stuff)
Content.htm containing the TOC proxy
Index.htm containing the Index proxy

Finally I have a Master TOC in the following sequence and with the following Printed Output properties:
Title
Chapter Break: checked
Page Layout: Cover
Page Type: Title
Auto-end on 'left' page: Enabled

Content
Chapter Break: checked
Page Layout: TOC
Page Type: Right
Auto-end on 'left' page: Enabled

Then I have a lot of topics describing my stuff.
Every chapter I want to have started at right side (most times an h1, but sometimes also an h2):
Chapter Break: checked
Page Layout: Content
Page Type: Right
Auto-end on 'left' page: Enabled

Index
Chapter Break: checked
Page Layout: Index
Page Type: Right
Auto-end on 'left' page: Enabled

Note that I didn't check 'Start a new section'.
Also Note that it was not so smart from me to name the page layout Content to be used for all my topics, while the topic content.htm contains all my stuff.
Maybe I will rename it the page layout to Stuff or something like that.

I hope this will help you and maybe other propellers react on this post and have additional tips.

[tputkey]

Hi Wil,

I applied your steps as you outlined and it worked like a charm.
I'm SO glad I didn't have to sit here for hours and figure this out (I had spent two, was fed up, and decided to look on the forum).

i've decided that the topic "Specifying Chapter Breaks and Page Layouts" doesn't work.
Also, I'm not totally sure how you figured this one out! There are so many settings to go through that affect the page layouts. How did you figure out how to get the automatic page break and which setting is it specifically?

Cheers again!
Theresa

[DocuWil]

Hallo Theresa,

Nice to here that my post helped you. That's where the forum is setup for, isn't it?
To answer your question how I did it:
First of all I learned it from the sample book as I said before.
You have to ask yourself questions looking at the TOC, like:
If I create a book there, where should the book begin. At the right side, at the left side or should it just continue from the previous one.
If you choose the latter one, you don't need to do anything, just leave as it is.
If you choose the right side you have to force your book to do so.
This is the moment to ask yourself: Do I have a Page Layout that is setup like this. If not, create it with a Left page, a Right page and an Empty page.
Then go back to your book in the TOC and set the Chapter Break, select your (just created) Page Layout, set Page Type to Right and set Auto-end on 'left' page to Enabled. If there is no need to start at the right side for this book, you can leave it to default.

More or less, this is it. The Madcap guide describes it good and you understand it better if you look at the sample book. The Madcap guide looks to me that it is written in a more technical way. Others in the forum are working on a kind of guide which will be more hands-on, so to speak. And with tips and tricks. I assume also with more practical examples.

Last advice: Invest a little bit time to exercise. Then you will love it. I even have setup writing test protocols like this with Test Groups, Test Subjects, Test Items and actions. I created snippets to automate several tasks. But the books are set up in the same way.