How to style DITA xrefs in structured Framemaker

Question

In the middle of a conversion project from unstructured Framemaker to DITA-compliant, structured Framemaker. Customer wants xrefs to be underlined in the output. Seems straightforward enough, but I've been all over the documentation and all over the internet and can't find what I need. The EDD file shows that we should be using the "link.external" style, which makes perfect sense, but for the life of me I can't figure out where link.external is defined. I've found one piece of documentation in all my searching that sort of comes close to what I need, but the process for styling an xref, according to this document, is long and laborious. I just can't believe that applying a simple style to an element is so hard. Where would I look for the definition of the "link.external" style (or any other style, for that matter)? What obvious point am I missing?

Answer 1

You apply the style in the Cross-Reference panel using building blocks in the cross-reference format(s).

For example:

Section 2.3.4, Volcanoes.

would be styled using the x-ref format below:

Section <$paranumonly>, <Emphasis><$paratext>.

Therefore, to underline all of the x-refs, create an underline character format such as Underline, and use it in a building block within every x-ref format that you have.

<Underline>“<$paratext>” on page\ <$pagenum>

The change only applies to the x-ref, not to the following text.