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dauphinb
dauphinb
Inspiring
Oct 17, 2019 5:15 PM UTC
Question

Heading Autonumber Conundrum

I'm working on a document that requires uppercase alpha numbering for subheads (not our typical standard, but a customer requirement for this specific project). As it happens, there are more than 26 headings at this level, which gets me to double-letter "numbers." I have learned (because this is the first time it's come up in my 25 years of FrameMaker use!) that FM's default scheme is AA, AB, AC, etc., but my customer requires AA, BB, CC.... Is there a setting somewhere that I can toggle to get what I need, or will I have to resort to a Brute Force and Ignorance™ method involving separate counters and forced values?

 

Help me Obi Wan Community: You're my only hope!

 

PS: Yes, I know this is an ugly and unwieldy way to number headings, but it's a hard customer requirement; "Don't do that!" isn't an option.

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4 replies

FieryPantone
Legend
Oct 23, 2019 5:58 AM UTC

As politicians traditionally say, "I'm glad you asked me that question!" But I truly am, because it got my brain started … and I do believe I may have found a possible answer for you. Here's the result:

The first list uses H:< ><A+>< >.\t (based on existing styles in the first document I reached for)

The paragraph "faked double-alpha …" uses H:< =0>< =0>< =0> to reset the counters

The second list uses H:<A+><A+>< >.\t (not entirely logical, but <A+><A> returns A zero)

Of course, this probably isn't an exact match for your client's extraordinary requirement :-} For a continuous list, you might end up needing three styles: A-Z, first AA, subsequent BB. By the way, what comes after ZZ?

 

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    dauphinb
    dauphinbAuthor
    Inspiring
    Oct 31, 2019 8:24 PM UTC

    I apologize for dropping this question here and then disappearing: The project that prompted the question quickly turned into an all-consuming nightmare. (That could never happen to an editor, right?)

     

    In the press of time, I was forced to resort to the aforementioned Brute Force and Ignorance™ solution, which was not exactly the same as yours, but similarly involved using multiple counters to imitate a "two-digit" alpha label. I had been hoping there was a way to change the default behavior of the <A+> counter for values >26 (apparently, AA, BB, CC... is the default scheme in Word, and my internal customer was demanding that I emulate the numbering scheme of his customer's requirements document... which was created in Word, because Word is the hammer everybody has, making every document a frickin' nail... but I digress....). The moment has passed, though, and I profoundly hope I never need to wonder about this again!

     

    BTW, my answer to "...what comes after ZZ?" is "a very stern talking-to about outlines."  ;^)

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    FieryPantone
    Legend
    Nov 4, 2019 7:40 AM UTC

    > BTW, my answer to "...what comes after ZZ?" is "a very stern talking-to about outlines." ;^)

    Indeed! good luck with that :-}

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    frameexpert
    Community Expert
    frameexpertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Oct 17, 2019 5:56 PM UTC

    Can you post a visual of the whole hierarchy of numbering? Are there any heading above the A, B...AA, BB headings? Thanks.

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