36.5.4 Troubleshooting failed runfm processes
Before you use runfm to automate a process, first try the same operation manually, from within FrameMaker. Watch for errors. If the operation does not work manually, runfm will not work either!
Note: Mif2Go must be installed to use runfm successfully.
Get diagnostics and a log file
You can tell runfm to write more diagnostics by adding this option to the runfm command line:
You can save the diagnostic messages to a file with this command-line option:
New messages are appended to the log file, so you can use the same file for many sessions. If you specify -log with no name, Mif2Go writes to a file named mif2go.log, in the current directory.
PDF output does not always report errors
If you are using runfm to produce PDF output, some of the possible errors you can get might not be documented at all for the FDK functions involved, so you will have to do the usual type of troubleshooting for PDF problems. For example, sometimes Acrobat Distiller does not like a particular graphic. If you get an error when you make the PDF manually in FrameMaker (by printing to the Adobe PDF printer, not via SaveAs PDF), try cutting the file in half, and see which part still has the problem. Repeat until you identify the exact point of trouble.
A missing output file means an error occurred
Acrobat Distiller always writes PDF output to the default Windows document directory for the user who is currently logged in, such as My Docments on Windows XP. If Distiller fails, an error message might not be returned from the FDK, and the output file will simply not be present. However, if Mif2Go does find the file, Mif2Go moves it to the destination you specified.
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