Adobe FrameMaker: Custom Dashes

by Barbara Binder 

I don't need dashed lines very often in FrameMaker, but when I do, sometimes I need something different than the standard fare found in the Dashed Line Options dialog box (you can display this dialog box by clicking the set Dashed Line Pattern button on the Drawing Toolbar).

If you'd like to have custom dashes appear in the dialog box shown above, you can customize dashes and lots of other cool stuff by editing the FrameMaker initialization file called maker.ini. This file is read each time FrameMaker is started and any changes you make to maker.ini will affect FrameMaker from that point forward. A word to the wise, however: back up the maker.ini file before you make any changes. You may need to restore it later if your edits don't work.

Here's how you can edit the maker.ini file:

Open C:\Program Files\Adobe\FrameMakerX\

Find and open maker.ini in a text editor like Notepad.

Scroll down until you find the following text:

[DashPatterns]
;———————- Dash Pattern Definitions ——————
1=Dash, 8, 6
2=Hidden, 4
3=Longdash, 16, 10
4=Dot, 2, 4
5=Dash-Dot, 12, 6, 2, 6
6=Dash-Dot-Dot, 12, 6, 2, 6, 2, 6
7=Chain, 12, 6, 6, 6
8=Phantom, 20, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

You can change any of the text by using numbers representing the line lengths and gaps (in points). For example:

[DashPatterns]
;———————- Dash Pattern Definitions ——————
1=BasicDash, 4, 4
2=ShortDash, 2,4
3=LongDash, 8, 2
4=ReallyLongDash, 16, 2
5= TooManyDots, 1,1
6=DashDotDashDash, 12, 6, 2, 6, 12, 6,12,6
7=TheBarbBinderDash!, 12, 8, 2, 2, 12, 6
8=Chain, 12, 6, 6, 6

Save the make.ini file and resart FrameMaker. Display the Dashed Line Options dialog box and voila! Your custom dashes appear in the Dashed Line Options dialog box. Cool!

Need some more help with FrameMaker? I've got an online Introduction to FrameMaker 9 class coming up October 22-23, 2009. Sign up today.

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