Page numbers aren't behaving in PDF/Flare 10.2.2

[mlezak]

I've got a very tiny PDF target (2 pages with a cover and a TOC [I know that's kind of silly, but it's a test project for a new stylesheet]) for which the numbering has decided that:

a) It really really wants to be in roman format (i, ii, ...), and
b) It's going to completely ignore any request to reset to 1 (never mind resetting to decimal).

I have set up my topics as follows:

Cover:
Printed output: Break type = None, Increment Number
Auto-numbers -- defaults

TOC:
Printed output: Break type = Chapter, Page Layout /FrontMatter, Reset to 1, Format = roman
Auto-numbers: Chapter number = Reset to 1, Format" roman

Chapter 1 (and only):
Printed output: Break type = Chapter, Page Layout /Chapters, Reset to 1, Format = Decimal
Auto-numbers: Chapter number = Reset to 1, Format = decimal

What I get is a blank Title page, followed by page i (Contents), page ii (should be page 1), page iii (should be page 2).

Why all the iis? Any brilliant iideas?

Aye yiyi!!!

Miriam

[Nita Beck]

For your chapter 1's chapter break, when you associated it with the Chapter page layout, what particular page within that layout did you select? Sounds like it might be defaulting to the Title page in the Chapter page layout. What happens if you select Normal or Right or First Right (assuming that last one is present in the layout)?

[mlezak]

Thanks Nita --

An excellent guess, but the page is already associated with /Chapters > First Right.

For what it's worth, it's picking up the rest of the footer correctly, so I know I'm pointing to the right place -- it's just that the numbering is being inordinately stubborn.

Phooey.

Thanks --

Miriam

[jasonsmith]

What happens if you try the following?

Cover:
Printed output: Break type = None, Increment Number
Auto-numbers -- defaults

TOC:
Printed output: Break type = Chapter, Page Layout /FrontMatter, Reset to 1, Format = roman
Printed Output: Page number = Reset to 1, Format" roman

Chapter 1 (and only):
Printed output: Break type = Chapter, Page Layout /Chapters, Reset to 1, Format = Decimal
Printed Output: Page number = Reset to 1, Format = decimal

[mlezak]

Hi Jason --

I get the following numbering:

A blank Title page, followed by page i (Contents), page ii (should be page 1), page iii (should be page 2).

However, even more bizarrely... If I set the Contents to decimal, I STILL get roman....

It's beginning to look like a bug.

Miriam

[jasonsmith]

Hi Miriam

I can't reproduce this behavior. I noticed that you don't have a Chapter Break on your cover. I tried the following Setup:

Cover: Printed Output: Break Type: Chapter Break - Page Number: Reset to : 1 Format: Roman
TOC : Printed Output: Break Type: Chapter Break - Page Number: Reset to : 1 Format: Decimal

and it gave me the numbering that you are looking for.

[mlezak]

Thanks Jason --

I am completely befuddled --

I just rebuilt the TOC, and I'm still getting the same output.

I've set all of my number formats to decimal, but I'm still getting roman.

The folks at Madcap seem to be able to run it with no problem....

I'm completely stumped (but this is rather unacceptable).

Miriam

[jasonsmith]

Hi Miriam

could you post the XML of your TOC fltoc file? Right-click on the TOC file in the Project organizer and select Open with > Internal text Editor.

[mlezak]

Sure -- here you go -- I think for some reason, this is working properly for everyone except me....

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CatapultToc
Version="1">
<TocEntry
Title="TitlePage"
Link="/Content/Frontis/TitlePage.htm"
BreakType="chapter"
AutoEndOnLeftPage="disabled"
PageType="title"
PageNumberReset="reset"
PageNumberFormat="decimal"
StartSection="false"
PageNumber="1"
PageLayout="/Content/Resources/PageLayouts/FrontMatter.flpgl" />
<TocEntry
Title="Contents"
Link="/Content/Frontis/Contents.htm"
BreakType="chapter"
PageType="continue"
AutoEndOnLeftPage="disabled"
PageNumberReset="continue"
PageNumberFormat="decimal"
StartSection="false"
PageNumber="1"
PageLayout="/Content/Resources/PageLayouts/FrontMatter.flpgl" />
<TocEntry
Title="Using the Data Generators"
Link="/Content/UserGuide/UsingTheGenerator.htm"
BreakType="chapter"
PageType="first"
AutoEndOnLeftPage="disabled"
PageNumberReset="continue"
PageNumberFormat="decimal"
StartSection="false"
PageNumber="1"
PageLayout="/Content/Resources/PageLayouts/Chapters.flpgl" />
</CatapultToc>

[jasonsmith]

I recreated your Project and this works for me
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CatapultToc
Version="1">
<TocEntry
Title="TitlePage"
Link="/Content/Frontis/TitlePage.htm"
BreakType="chapter"
AutoEndOnLeftPage="disabled"
PageType="title"
PageNumberReset="reset"
PageNumberFormat="lower-roman"
StartSection="false"
PageNumber="1"
PageLayout="/Content/Resources/PageLayouts/FrontMatter.flpgl"
SectionNumberReset="continue"
VolumeNumberReset="same"
ChapterNumberReset="continue" />
<TocEntry
Title="Contents"
Link="/Content/Frontis/Contents.htm"
BreakType="chapter"
PageType="continue"
AutoEndOnLeftPage="disabled"
PageNumberReset="reset"
PageNumberFormat="decimal"
StartSection="false"
PageNumber="1"
PageLayout="/Content/Resources/PageLayouts/FrontMatter.flpgl" />
<TocEntry
Title="Using the Data Generators"
Link="/Content/UserGuide/UsingTheGenerator.htm"
BreakType="chapter"
PageType="first"
AutoEndOnLeftPage="disabled"
PageNumberReset="continue"
PageNumberFormat="decimal"
StartSection="false"
PageNumber="1"
PageLayout="/Content/Resources/PageLayouts/Chapters.flpgl" />
</CatapultToc>

One last thought, are you using the right variable for your page number, that is PageNumber instead of PageCount?

[mlezak]

Thanks Jason --

It should work (and yes, I"m using the correct variable). But it just doesn't.

For my next trick, I'm just going to recreate the project and see if that fixes it.

Miriam

[mlezak]

Solved! Sort of.

Before rebuilding the entire project, I decided to just rebuild the Target. Oddly enough, that seemed to work.

I still have no idea what was broken or why. But I did figure out how to deal with the problem.

Thanks all!

Miriam

[Rona Kwestel]

I had this same problem, albeit in a much later version of Flare (2017 r3) and for a different reason, but I thought it might be helpful to post here in case anyone else finds themselves scratching their heads over ways this can go wrong.

The first topic where the page number format was meant to change from roman to decimal (right after the TOC pages) was inadvertently conditioned out of the output. The next topic had the format set to "default", so it just continued the roman numerals from the previous page, which was the now the TOC instead of the page that was meant to be there.

While it seems like it should have been obvious, I wasn't really focused on that first page content, so didn't notice it right away, and instead got all tangled up in the TOC settings, which wasn't the source of the problem at all. As soon as I noticed and turned off the condition on that first topic (not in the TOC, but on the actual topic file in the content folder), everything went back to the way it was supposed to be.

[doc_guy]

I imagine that could also happen if the page is conditioned out in the Project Organizer, but not in the TOC, so you wouldn't even see in the TOC that the item had been conditioned out.

[Rona Kwestel]

Paul, did you mean in the Content Explorer rather than the Project Organizer? That was the case I encountered. I mistakenly conditioned out the topic file in the Content Explorer, so it got left out of the built output even though it was included in the TOC, and that topic was the one that was set to switch between the page number formats, so the switch never happened.

[doc_guy]

Yes. Content Explorer. Thanks for the clarification.

[armplinker]

Flare 2018 before today's patch release.


I guess I am in the right discussion but please excuse me if I have stomped on a thread. I have been having a really hard time getting the PDF page numbers to follow the logic of the h1 and h2 auto-numbering.
My Chapters and Appendices are all numbered right at the h1 and h2 levels, but the numbering for printing is sequential or actually, because every chapter has a chapter break and numbering reset, page numbering starts at 1 in each chapter and appendix, which is correct, except the chapter or appendix prefix is absent

What I get (all h1 and h2 auto-numbering appears to be fine)
(these leader dots are not exact -sorry)

Chapter 1 ......................................................................1
1.1 A h2 section.......................................................1
1.2 A h2 section.....................................................5


What I want is as follows:

Chapter 1 .............................................................1-1
1.1 A h2 section........................................................1-1
1.2 A h2 section..................................................1-5
...
...
more stuff in Chapter 1
...
...
Chapter 2 .............................................................2-1
2.1 A h2 section........................................................2-1
2.2 A h2 section..................................................2-5
...
...
more stuff in Chapter 2
...
...

Appendix A .............................................................A-1
A.1 A h2 appendix sec ..................................................A-1
A.2 A h2 appendix sec ..................................................A-5
...
...
more stuff in Appendix A
...
...
There does not appear to be anyway to use the chapnum in the printed out page number format that is set with the MadCap custom css directive mc-page-number-format
I realize this is open-ended but there must be some thing I can do to make the printed PDF TOC use the numbering convention of chapter - pagenum_within_chapter

I am in a bit of a desperate situation. I would hate to have to go sequential for this but if that is my only option for PDF then please let me know.

[Nita Beck]

Armplinker, you’ll find the answer buried in this Flare Help topic (and sorry, it’s from 2017 r3 but should still work for 2018 r-whatever): http://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare201 ... ndexes.htm. You set the page number format on the TOC properties for each topic that starts a chapter. HTH. Sorry, I’ve had only a minute...

[armplinker]

Well I'll be damned. All the Googling in the world never stumbled on this. I shall give this a whack with a big stick.

Thank you, Ms. Beck-the-Magnicent-and-All-Powerfui.

UPDATE: Confirmed.

Now I just have to figure out how to format the integer page numbers so they align in the TOC instead of wandering around in the vertical column depending on # of digits.