Question on external formats and question on TOC settings

[Paul Pehrson]

Wow!

Thanks to all who replied both on- and off-list. I'm so excited! The
reference page solution was perfect. I need to learn more about reference
pages, I think. That thought never occurred to me, the solution is
beautiful. I'm so excited about it!

And I had no idea you could import formats into multiple files in the book
at once. That is an acceptable solution. It's much easier than opening each
chapter individually. I don't mind so much applying the formats to all
chapters in a book at once.

Again, thanks everybody! I look forward to participating in this list in the
future.

Wow! Yay!

-Paul Pehrson
Midvale, UT



On 10/18/06, Art Campbell <art.campbell at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Applying formats...
> I maintain a chapter template file (actually two templates, one for
> fully-numbered content chapters and one for front matter & Prefaces)
> separate from all books and make tag modifications and additions in
> those.
> When I need to make a change, I apply the template file to either all
> the appropriate chapters in the target book file or to all the members
> of a meta-book that contains all chapters of all books.
>
> Inserting a tab in the TOC...
> Two things need to be done. First, on the Reference Page that defines
> the format for the TOC, locate the line that defines the element.
> It'll contain variables such as <$chapnum>, <$paratext> and
> <$pagenum>. Put the cursor in the string where you want the tab to
> appear and press the Tab key to insert it.
> Second, the element's appearance will be controlled by a para tag with
> a TOC suffix: a name something like H2TOC. Open the paragraph designer
> and make sure the tag contains the appropriate tab stop; if it
> doesn't, create it and Update All.
>
> Then Save the files and update the book to generate a new TOC.
>
> Art
>
> On 10/17/06, Paul Pehrson <paulpehrson at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello fellow Frame users,
> >
> > This is my first post to the list; I joined yesterday. I've been using
> Frame
> > for about two years, but I only recently started a job where I'm a lone
> > writer, in charge of all documentation for my organization. Previously,
> I've
> > been using Frame, but my supervisor was the one who created/updated all
> > templates, formats, etc., so I didn't really learn to use a lot of
> Frame's
> > features.
> >
> > I'm excited to be on this list and to learn from your collective
> experience.
> >
> > Today I come with two questions. First: is there a way to use an
> external
> > formats document similar to a CSS style sheet using unstructured Frame?
> >
> > I have four books that I'm developing concurrently. The average book has
> 6
> > chapters, so I've got a good number of individual .fm documents I'm
> working
> > with. As I go, I'm encountering new format needs. I modify the format
> > accordingly, but then I have to import that document's formats into all
> the
> > other documents I'm working with. I'd like to know if Frame has an
> external
> > formats document that can be referenced, such that formats changed in
> that
> > document are automatically reflected across all documents that link to
> that
> > formats doc. Does that make sense? Do you know any way to make Frame do
> > this? (I'm stuck with Frame 7.0 for now.)
> >
> > Second: When you build a TOC, is there a way to get Frame to insert a
> tab
> > between the heading text and the page number? I'm having to do this
> manually
> > every time I build the book files (which is daily, because I'm making my
> > in-process work available to our internal developers and support
> people).
> > I'm just sure there must be some place where I can tell Frame that I
> want a
> > tab between the heading text and the page number. I just can't find it.
> Any
> > help available?
> >
> > Thanks. I look forward to participating in the Framers online community.
>
>
> --
> Art Campbell
> art.campbell at gmail.com
>   "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
>                and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
>                              No disclaimers apply.
>                                      DoD 358
>



-- 
Paul Pehrson
Midvale, UT
AIM: nelspaul2004     MSN: paulpehrson(at)gmail.com
www.paulpehrson.com     blog.paulpehrson.com