Why is 'autonum' there and then again gone?

InesF · Post by **InesF** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 12:42 am

Hi,

I don't understand a particular behavior of Flare:
We are a team of three people, everyone using the latest version of Flare.
Our Flare projects are hosted in GIT, so everyone uses the same files (including stylesheet).

The behavior I don't understand is: Let's say, we have a topic which initially contains headings with an additional 'MadCap:autonum=1' (h1 MadCap:autonum="1"). Now I work on that topic, not touching the headings or stylesheet. But when I do a diff before checking in the changes, I see, that magically Flare has removed all the autonum texts from the headings (<h1>).
Shortly after that, a colleague checks the file out, changes something and - voilÃ - when doing a diff, the autonums are back in!

Why is that?

Thanks to anyone who can clarify this.

kwag_myers · Post by **kwag_myers** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 5:38 am

I use auto-numbering for notes, tips, and occasionally for headings. I've never used the Show Differences feature, but I have noticed that the XML Editor doesn't always display the auto-number text and I've never been able to figure out what triggers the behavior. If I look at the syntax in the Text Editor, the text is in the tag and always in the output. It's just the XML Editor that seems inconsistent.

ChoccieMuffin · Post by **ChoccieMuffin** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:31 am

I don't use auto-num on headings, but I sometimes notice my numbered bullets do a disappearing act, and then come back again later, usually if I've changed to text editor and back to XML editor. No idea why, just offering my sympathies.

Post by **Nita Beck** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 12:39 pm

A few questions.

Does the project produce different targets and does the stylesheet have mediums? Are the auto-numbers defined in one medium but not another (for example, are the auto-numbers only in the print medium)?

If the answers to these questions are Yes, then it's probably that you and your colleagues have set a different primary target as you work in Flare. If your colleagues' primary target is the target that uses the medium that has the auto-numbers, they will see the auto-numbers as they edit. If your primary target is the target that uses the medium that does not define auto-numbers, then you won't see the auto-numbers as you edit.

This is all a hunch on my part about the root cause of the behavior.

InesF · Post by **InesF** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 12:42 am

Hi Nita,

thanks, I think your explanation makes sense for us. We all sometimes switch between which target is primary. So if the problem was only what we _see_ during editing, I would not complain. What I really dislike is that the actual file (source code) is being changed. So we end up with changes in files (that may also need to be merged) that are no real changes.
And what makes it even more unnecessary is that the PDF output looks the same regardless if the target was primary or not.

I'm thinking of opening a support ticket for this behavior.

Msquared · Post by **Msquared** » Fri Oct 03, 2014 4:45 am

I agree. I don't think Flare should change topic content unless it's a real content change or a real style change. There's MadCap:lastHeight and MadCap:lastWidth in the <html> tag too that get changed on occasions.

This makes it very hard to identify genuine changes that will be replicated in output. It also makes extra work for translators too as the files are flagged as having changed, when they haven't. If Flare really needs to store meta-data about a file, for efficiency, or for some other reason, it should be stored elsewhere (perhaps in one of the temporary files), and not in the .htm file itself.

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Why is 'autonum' there and then again gone?

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