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A
Anonymous
May 26, 2009
Question

Customizing Autonumbering

  • May 26, 2009
  • 2 replies
  • 2484 views

I have been trying to customize the paragraph autonumbers so they start at 01 (i.e.  <n=01>) instead of just 1, but without success. They default to the single digit. I still need them to increment in subsequent paragraphs.

Any ideas? (yes I know it is idiotic but the customer is always right!)

I am using FM8.0p277 on Windows.

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    2 replies

    A
    Art Campbell
    Inspiring
    May 26, 2009

    The procedure that Peter remembers was by Lester Smalley, in 2005, on the Framers' email list:

    "Lester C. Smalley to Framers 6/24/05
       
    If you are working in a structured document, there are ways to handle
    this in the EDD, but you  can do this is unstructured files relatively
    easily as well.

    Under the Numbering properties for the paragraph, define an
    autonumbering format of the form:

           \t<n+>\t

    where the \t is a tab character, and the <n+> is the standard numbering
    building block.

    In the basic properties, set two tab stops, the first RIGHT aligned,
    with a custom leader character of  0 (zero), and the second left aligned
    to neatly line up whatever follow the generated numbers.

    Based on the font size and typeface, you will have adjust the position
    of the first tab stop to allow the desired number of leading zeros."

    I've used another method with two tags -- one that includes a leading zero for items 0-9 and a second for 10 and up, so you have a couple ways to go.

    Art


    Art Campbell                                                                          art.campbell@gmail.com
      "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
                                                          No disclaimers apply.
                                                                   DoD 358

    A
    Anonymous
    May 26, 2009

    Art,

    Thank you for that. I now have the problem that due to the leader having a default space before it begins, that my para numbering is now indented from the margin. Similarly, if I insert the chapter number before the paragraph number there is a gap between the two figures, i.e. para 02 of chpater 01 appears as 01  02 instead of the desired 0102. Any ideas??

    Thanks in anticipation.

    Stu

    A
    Art Campbell
    Inspiring
    May 26, 2009

    Are you using the <$chapnum> variable in the autonumbering string?

    And to make it work correctly, have you set and updated the numbering properties of all the chapters in the book file (selecting the chapters in the book, right-clicking, and selecting Numering > Chapters)?

    P
    peter minneapolis
    Participating Frequently
    May 26, 2009

    I remember reading long ago - back when FM ran on steam - about a leading-zero solution that used a combination of tab stops with leaders; instead of periods, the leader character was a zero. Somehow the tab stops were set up to display leading zeros until the number of auto-number digits expanded to squeeze them out.

    If nobody on the forum can retrieve this nugget of magic, try searching Google for framemaker leading zeroes with tab leaders and similar phrases.

    HTH

    Regards,

    Peter Gold

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