(Newbie) Structured FM Question: Notes, Tips, etc.

[Steve Rickaby]

At 17:00 -0700 19/4/06, Lin Surasky wrote:

>Okay... So here's my structured question, in case anyone's still
>reading.

Lin - welcome to the wonderful world of structured authoring ;-)

>What's the best way to implement this and still get the same end result? Should I not be using tables? The closest I can get is inserting a table with the same paragraph format assigned to both table cells, which I don't want.

I tackled an almost identical problem recently. I modeled the tables in the EDD as far as was possible (i.e. you can't include custom rules, or at least I couldn't find a way to), then set up SiliconPrairie's Autotext plug-in with all the required tables *exactly* as they should appear. This allows writers to access named tables (and any other stuff you include) from a menu. I commend this solution to you, which the authors liked - although there may be others.

>How do you specify one paragraph format for one column and a different format for the second column?

Got me there. You can do simple formatting using context rules, for example:

Element (Table Cell): SpecialCell
General rule:	(Para | <etc> )+

Element (Container): Para
General rule:	(<TEXT> | <etc> )*
...
In all contexts.
Use paragraph format: Body
...
If context is: SpecialCell    (A)
Use paragraph format: YahDeYah

You might be able to insert more complex rules at A - but I leave it to the True Gurus to tell you how. I'd be interested to know how others approach this problem. Certainly tables were the most contentious part of my particular job.
-- 
Steve