Update List of Figures

Van,

I did get the LOF to work using the FigureTitle element. I'm not sure what changed. I revisited a number of things in my set-up (in the document, on Reference pages, and in my EDD). I totally deleted the LOF and set up a new one using the FigureTitle element as I had before and it worked.

I had wondered if the instance of just the page numbers was because FM views the figure as a paragraph without text and that was the reason nothing but page numbers were listed.

I wish I knew what specifically corrected the problem so I could pass this revelation on to others who experience something similar. I suppose I should just be happy that I got it to work again.

Thanks again,
Janice

Janice,

Because you have your figure title after the figure, basing your LOF on the Figure element lists the first paragraph in the element, which in this case is NOT the figure title but the figure itself, which has no text content; hence nothing is listed but the page numbers.

On the other hand, I have no clue why an LOF based on the FigureTitle element does not update properly. It should work.

Van

Van,

In my document, I have the figure title after (below) the figure. Selecting the Figure itself only produced a list of the page numbers. (Another thing that confused me, but I won't worry about it now.)

I'm not really sure what worked because I have been tinkering with my document set-up all afternoon, including the Reference Pages settings. In any case, something I did worked using the FigureTitle element. It would be nice if I knew what changed, but I'm just happy that it did. I have changed a couple of Figure titles since and regenerated the list to be sure it is working. Success! Thanks again for your direction.

Janice

Janice

Did you try using the Figure element itself, rather than the FigureTitle element. The Figure element should pull in the first paragraph of the element, which is the figure title.

In my case, I tried both and both worked, though I did not try adding figures.

It MAY have something to do with which element has an ID attribute, which is needed to create hyperlinks from the LOF. Again, just a guess...another experiment to try.

Van

Van,

I got an idea based on one of your earlier comments and created a LOF from the book file, but used the paragraph FigureTitle instead of the FigureTitle element and that works. I don't understand why it doesn't work using the FigureTitle element. The important thing is it works from the book file this way, which is what I was trying to achieve. Thanks for all your help.

Janice

Van,

Initially, I created the LOF from the book file as discussed (Add>List of>Figures and included the FigureTitle element). It does create a separate LOF file in the book and I assumed it would select all FigureTitle elements in the book, but it didn't pick up new figures added. It's like it doesn't update even when I update it, so I deleted the new LOF file from the book.

Instead, from within the document in the book that has all the figures in this case, I created the LOF by Special>List of Figures. When prompted, "This document is in the book xxx.book. You can create a standalone List of Figures for just this document, or add one to the book. Do you want to create a standalone List of Figures for this document?" I respond "Yes", (because answering "No" doesn't catch new figures. I tried.). When I respond "Yes", FM creates a file including all figures (new and old) which I then add to the book and save the book with the new LOF file attached.

This works for now, but if I add another document containing figures to the book in the future, it won't contain all figures like I need it to because I generated the file from the document instead of from the book. I hope this makes more sense. I know this isn't the right way; it's just the way that works for now.

Janice

Janice,

I doubt the EDD is the problem, because I cannot think of what one would do to an EDD that would cause what you are seeing.

I am a little confused from your terminology. You say you created a stand-alone LOF from the document containing the figures, THEN added that file to the book. I am not sure what you mean by stand-alone.

If you create the LOF as I said in the previous post, you are creating a separate file that is part of the book. It is NOT something that is IN the book file. It is a separate file, a document file, that is part of the book.

Van

Van,

Yes, I tried Add>List of Figures from the book file. That creates a list, but doesn't pick up new figures added. If I delete the LOF from the book file and create a stand-alone from the document containing the figures, that works. I can then add the stand-alone file to my book file and all is ok. That's why I suspect the EDD (which I created myself and I'm new to this process. So it wouldn't surprise me if I've done something wrong).

It's not that I can't get it to work. I just can't get it to work like I think it should. I'll continue to review the way I set this up in my EDD when time allows. In the meantime, I'll just use my work-around. Thanks for the suggestions though.

Janice

Janice,

Is the LOF part of the book? That is, in the book file, select Add > List of Figures, which should add the LOF to the book file. NOTE however, the first time you create the LOF (using the above method), the file is created but NOT SAVED to disk. If you close the LOF file without saving it, then there is nothing to update.

If never use LOFs, but I tried the above on one of my books, and it works correctly. So, my guess now is that you are not attaching the LOF to the book correctly.

Van

Thanks for the insight, Van, but before I resorted to creating a stand-alone LOF, I did check that I had generated the list based on the FigureTitle element. Because a stand-alone LOF picks up the additional figures, but updating the list and updating the book did not, I suspect my EDD is flawed somehow.

Janice