section division and numbering

[Pieter_van_de_Sande]

Hi all,

I'm trying something new to me as the manual I have composed must now be divided by topic into sections. I have tried added blanks landscape sized pages to act as divider tabs, but that disarranges auto-numbering as i cannot seem to get the book to accept different text flows (chapters starting with C, while making a new tag based on the chapter tag for divider tabs starting with S) By now I have rearranged the chapters of my book into groups and am trying to have those groups displayed and act as dividers which does not seem to work for my 'section' tab in the numbering pod remains inactive no matter what i do.

• How do I configure the book to recognize multiple textflows and thus display several levels of chapter numbering? Example:

Chap 1

chap 2

sect 1

chap 3

chap 3

sect 2

Chapt=chapter, sect=section, which would be two seperate numbering flows.

• How do I activate the section tab of the numbering pod in the book file?

I now realize that sections are possibly only within a document and not to divide a book into sections as one would a chapter. Still, any suggestion is more than welcome. I am using FM9.

[FieryPantone]

This looks like a tricky problem, and I've not yet had to work with sections … but I might be able to suggest one possible approach to your numbering question, if I've understood it correctly. As you probably know, you can set a named counter that keeps track of several variables; what it took me a while to get my head round after that, is the fun you can have with increments.

See if this example is any help! It uses the same named counter for two styles, but leaves the value for Section unchanged when incrementing the value for Chapter (and vice versa)

• chapter style numbering defined as N:<n+> < >
• section style numbering defined as N:< ><n+>

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Section 1
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Section 2

[Art_Campbell1]

This is actually, or should be, pretty easy.

One way to do it is to keep everything as normal files, and you DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO USE DIFFERENT TEXT FLOWS. That makes it more complicated, not less. And if you use just the system counters, <$chapnum> and <$volnum>, you do not need to specify a numbering flow.

Assuming that each of your components is a discrete file, you'd just include all the files -- Section pages are probably just a single page -- in a book.

For each file in the book, right click and select Numbering. Chapters are pretty standard -- set each one to either increment chapter numbering or continue it from the previous file.

Sections -- more on this below, but I use the Volume numbering counter <$volnum> to count these. Just hightlight the file, right-click, and set it the same way you would a chapter.

***

The way it's supposed to work in FM 9, but which I've never been able to get it to work, is to use new organizational tools first available in 9: Folders and Groups. Contrary to what you'd expect, a Folder is NOT a real folder -- it's just a logical divider (and, IMHO, a really poorly named one). You can insert Folders and Groups into your book file, and then group files or chapters under them.

If a file is part of a Folder, then you can use the Section numbering tab.

If a file is part of a Group, Section is not available.

As it says in the online help, inclusion in a Folder breaks sequential Chapter numbering. Inclusion in a Group does not, but you can't use the Section numbering.

***

I have never been able to get numbering to work using this system. I don't know if it's a bug (I suspect it is) or something in my setup, or a step that I'm missing, but I would recommend the first solution.

***

Art

[Pieter_van_de_Sande]

Hi,

Haven been working on division and numbering all day and would like some comments on the result (which works). Haven't yet applied your tips but will look into them soon.

Thanks