Variables

[Steve Rickaby]

At 12:27 pm +0200 29/1/06, Patricia Carmel wrote:

>Is there a way to create a variable that will display the book's title
>in the master page footer?  I've used Running H/F 8 using the same
>method I used for other variables but the footer is blank. The most
>likely reason is that the variable doesn't know to look at the front
>cover for the text - is there a way of directing the variable to a
>different file in the book?

I don't think so. If you create a para tag called, say, 'Title' that formats the book's title, then you can reference it in the same way as any other para:

$paratext[Title]

But... it only works within the current document, as you have found. I suppose this could be seen as a deficiency of FrameMaker.

To create any text that is uniform throughout a book, one way is to create a custom variable to hold the book's title, copy it throughout the book, and then insert it wherever you need it. There might be others, but this is the way I handle book titles. Sometimes you need two variables, one with a long version of the book's name, and another with a shorter version for header/footers.
-- 
Steve