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Participant
January 20, 2010
Answered

Is there any logic to the order of files in x-ref box?

  • January 20, 2010
  • 3 replies
  • 924 views

A pet peeve of mine: When working with documents with dozens of chapters, making cross-references is always a pain, because the list of files in the cross-reference box follows no logic I can see. Some of the file are in the order in which they were opened, but not all. I'd be ahhpy if the list were alphabetized, or in some consistent order.

Does anyone understand the logic here?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Russ Ward

    Hi Jim,

    Internally, FM keeps a list of open document handles and it apparently follows no particular order. Sometimes it generally follows the order in which you opened them, but no guarantee. Pretty much anywhere there is a list of files in the GUI, it will be in this unpredictable order as the app retrieves its internal list. As an FDK developer, I bump into this all the time as I retrieve the list of open documents for my dialog boxes. I like your idea of alphabetizing and I think I'll begin to implement that where applicable. As Mike suggests, though, you might have to beg Adobe for a long time to do it on their end .

    Russ

    3 replies

    Russ WardCorrect answer
    Legend
    January 21, 2010

    Hi Jim,

    Internally, FM keeps a list of open document handles and it apparently follows no particular order. Sometimes it generally follows the order in which you opened them, but no guarantee. Pretty much anywhere there is a list of files in the GUI, it will be in this unpredictable order as the app retrieves its internal list. As an FDK developer, I bump into this all the time as I retrieve the list of open documents for my dialog boxes. I like your idea of alphabetizing and I think I'll begin to implement that where applicable. As Mike suggests, though, you might have to beg Adobe for a long time to do it on their end .

    Russ

    Jim RoyalAuthor
    Participant
    January 21, 2010

    Thanks very much for the info, Russ. I was hoping that there might be some underlying pattern, but it seems not. Much appreciated.

    Inspiring
    January 20, 2010

    Consider putting in a feature request at:

    http://www.adobe.com/support/feature.html

    Jeff_Coatsworth
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 20, 2010

    I think they just display in the order in which they occur in the document (at least that's what mine seem to be displaying in FM9)

    Inspiring
    January 20, 2010

    Correct as far as I can see. They are in the order the document is in.  The first cross reference in the box for each para tag that has a cross reference is the first used in the document and continues throughout the document in order.

    Jeff_Coatsworth
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    January 20, 2010

    I use mostly markers for my x-refs. I'd really love to see a wider window and some sorting added to the x-ref box. Oh well, I'd better write it up for the wishlist or nobody will ever do anything about it at Adobe ;>)