How to populate a table column with marked text?

[mandrill22]

I hate searching and typing so I was just wondering if there was a solution to the following problem.

I have a document that contains 5-character defect codes in the body of the text (in numbered steps). At the end of the document I have a table which summarizes these codes: the codes make up one column and the other columns contain information related to these codes (page number, area, actions to be taken, criteria for defect etc.).

Is there a way for me to mark the codes such that I could import all of them into the defect code column?

I was leaning towards generating a list of some kind and then pasting it in the column but I can't seem to paste my generated list into multiple cells. FM will only allow me to paste the whole list in one cell. Am I using the wrong approach or maybe missing a step in between?

[Arnis Gubins]

Any reason you can't use cross-refs (in the summary table) to the actual contents to get them in that way?

Otherwise, use the convert to table function to change the codes list into a one-column table, copy the column, paste it in to the summary table and then revert the list (or delete it or whatever) back to paragraphs.

[Van Kurtz · Accepted solution]

I suggest Arnis's second approach, especially if a particular code is

used in more than one place in the text. If so, you could do an INDEX of the codes, instead of a

list, which would give you all the pages where each code appears (following each code). This avoids having to organize the list.

Van

[mandrill22]

Thanks, that is what I wound up doing since it met my criteria for minimal clicking and typing. Basically, I wish this document would just write itself without my intervention.

[mandrill22]

Thank you! that was very helpful and it solves my problem to a great degree. I didn't think of converting the list to a table--now I just have to delete the page numbers, since they are included in the table, but in another column

FYI, I couldn't use cross-reference markers because the defect code (according to the style guide.) is written at the end of the instruction, on the same line without a hard return. Cross referencing brought in all the text in that paragraph if I used a <paratext> building block to define my cross-reference format. I lack the knowledge to create a cross-reference format that would just give me the last five characters of the paragraph. These tables tend to be long and even if I could do that, for each row, I would have to click about seven or eight times per entry 

Thanks again.

[Arnis Gubins]

FYI, if you used a run-in paragraph construction, where the last five characters were a separate paragraph, and the previous paragraph was run-in to the five-character paragraph, then you would be able to use the x-ref <$paratext> building block to get the required info.

[mandrill22]

Thanks Arnis,

That's an interesting concept. For some reason I have never used run-in paragraphs so I never thought of constructing my paragraph that way. But I still wouldn't be able to avoid clicking in each cell, searching for the code in my cross-reference markers and inserting it in the table...or am I missing something about the benefit of using cross-references in this particular case?

To me it's less monotonous to mark the codes with index markers as I create the document, generate one list, convert it to a table column, cut and paste all codes into my summary table.

[Arnis Gubins]

You mention that your summary table contains items such as page number, area, etc. When using x-refs, which initially may seem like a bit more work, it makes document maintenance easier if things are updated, items changed, re-assigned, etc. If this is a one-shot document, then it isn't that much of a benefit...

You can also use custom markers, instead of Index to accomplish the same, just in case you ever need to have an Index in the documentation set. Also, if you need to, you could use FrameScript to pick up these custom markers to automatically generate (most of) the summary table.

[mandrill22]

I agree with your assessment of document maintenance. The static items in the table are typed in, but the page numbers which will change with future revisions have all been cross-referenced. I am intrigued by the idea of custom markers; I had installed a trial version of FrameScript to try out but unfortunately never got the time to play with it much. Based on what you say, I will have to look into it some more to build more automation into my revision procedure. Thanks again for your input and advice! Very helpful.