Different auto-numbering schemes in vols or sections of PDF?

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bwofficer
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Posts: 57
Joined: Tue May 12, 2020 2:16 am

Different auto-numbering schemes in vols or sections of PDF?

Post by bwofficer »

Can I change the heading autonumbering scheme at volume or section breaks? Can I number the h1 headings of my top level topics 1, 2, 3, etc. in one volume or section but A, B, C,etc. in another volume or section? What I'm trying to do is have a 1, 2, 3 numbering in the main part of the PDF but switch to Appendix A, Appendix B, Appendix C, etc. in the appendices. Ideally I'd like a topic to "know" whether it's being used as a main body topic or an appendix top by where I've stuck it in the TOC, and number itself appropriately.

I'm a beginner when it comes to creating an architecture for large documents in Flare, so it's quite possible that I'm going about this the wrong way.
NorthEast
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Posts: 6359
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:33 am

Re: Different auto-numbering schemes in vols or sections of

Post by NorthEast »

Yep, say you have a h1.chapter style that's used in topics on the first page of a new chapter/appendix, to add numbering to the heading.

Code: Select all

h1.chapter
{
   mc-auto-number-format: '{chapnum}. ';
}
As the autonumber format is {chapnum}, it'll display the chapter value that you've set in the TOC.

So, where you've inserted each of your chapter first pages in your TOC, open the TOC item properties.
On the Printed Output tab, set Break type: Chapter break.
On the Auto-numbers tab, set the number value if required, and set the appropriate Format for that numbering such as decimal or alpha.

I'd suggest looking at Flare's help, as it has a lot of coverage in this area.
bwofficer
Propeller Head
Posts: 57
Joined: Tue May 12, 2020 2:16 am

Re: Different auto-numbering schemes in vols or sections of

Post by bwofficer »

Dave Lee wrote:Yep, say you have a h1.chapter style that's used in topics on the first page of a new chapter/appendix, to add numbering to the heading.

Code: Select all

h1.chapter
{
   mc-auto-number-format: '{chapnum}. ';
}
As the autonumber format is {chapnum}, it'll display the chapter value that you've set in the TOC.

So, where you've inserted each of your chapter first pages in your TOC, open the TOC item properties.
On the Printed Output tab, set Break type: Chapter break.
On the Auto-numbers tab, set the number value if required, and set the appropriate Format for that numbering such as decimal or alpha.

I'd suggest looking at Flare's help, as it has a lot of coverage in this area.
I hadn't thought about using chapnum-based numbering. I created my numbering scheme in the stylesheet first, and I just assumed that's where all number-related stuff should be. I'd been assuming that what I needed to do was to define two alternative numbering schemes within the stylesheet, then somehow set a point in the TOC where the output would switch from using one numbering scheme to using the other. I hadn't realised that TOC entry property chapter breaks were what incremented chapnums, nor that they could also reset the numbering and change its format.

Looking at the TOC entry properties > auto-numbers tab, as you've prompted me to do, I see I can see now how chapter breaks and chapnum resets/reformats work together. Despite chapnum-based numbering being covered in the Flare help, the point of the feature just hadn't jumped out at me.

Unfortunately I don't think it solves my problem. I want to have the word "Chapter" appear before the chapter number for main body topic h1 numbers but have the word "Appendix" appear before the appendix topic h1 letters. The TOC entry properties > auto-numbers tab doesn't seem to let me enter text before the chapter number. I probably should have mentioned this requirement before, but I'd been assuming that the format was always defined in the stylesheet, where it IS possible to add text before or after an autonumber.

Another problem (though less serious) with using chapnum resets/reformats on a chapter break is that it pushes me in the direction of building the switchover to appendix numbering into the first chapter of the appendices. That's all well and good until I start shuffling chapter-level topics about. It puts the onus on me to go back into the properties of all chapter-level topics afterwards and check the auto-numbering is correct. If I swap Appendix A and Appendix B around, then what was Appendix B becomes the last chapter of the main body, not the new first chapter of the appendices. I'd much prefer it if the main body to appendices break was a separate entity in the TOC, not part of any topic. It just sits better with how I think. I guess I could create a blank, un-linked chapter-level TOC entry to hold the reset to A, B, C chapnums property, but that would result in the first true chapter of the appendices being B, not A, wouldn't it? That's really why I was wondering about volumes or sections. If I understand what these are for, they are containers at a level above chapters aren't they? It seemed to me that there might be mileage in having two volumes to my document, the first equating to the main body and the second to the appendices. But looking again at how they are auto-numbered, they don't seem that different.

Thanks for your pointers, though. They've helped me understand the problem better. I now either need to experiment some more....

...or maybe I need to learn to let go of my natural desire to control every detail of my document! (Nah. That would require a personality reset, which is even tougher than chapter and volume resets.)


Regards,

Bruce
bwofficer
Propeller Head
Posts: 57
Joined: Tue May 12, 2020 2:16 am

Re: Different auto-numbering schemes in vols or sections of

Post by bwofficer »

P.S. my question here came out the same frustration that prompted my other post here: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=33987. They should maybe be merged. They started as separate threads only because I was looking at the same basic problem in two different ways.
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