getting confused about xref variables and paragraph tags

[Jim Owens]

OK, I feel a bit confused, too. I have just deleted a black T from a 
heading in one of my documents, to see what happens.  There is a 
cross-reference to the heading in a different chapter. Here's what I've 
observed:

When you open the chapter containing the cross-reference, a message 
appears, saying that the chapter contains unresolved cross-references.

If you open the chapter and double-click the broken xref, and the broken 
xref is to another chapter which is not currently open, then a message 
appears, asking if it's OK to open the other chapter.

If you click OK, the other chapter opens, and a cross-reference dialog 
box appears.  In its right pane, the dialog box shows any 
cross-references markers that currently exist in the other chapter. None 
of them are selected.

If all this happens in your case, then you need to click the Source Type 
button in the dialog box, and select "Paragraphs" from the list that 
appears. Then, in the left pane of the dialog, you need to select the 
paragraph tag for the heading.

Then, in the right pane, you need to select the paragraph.

If all this is irrelevant to your situation, then I need more details.


Deirdre Reagan wrote:
> Yes, that big black T confounds me.
> 
> I went to the broken cross reference, clicked on it, and it opened the
> title page and displayed, via the dialog box, that it knew exactly
> where it was supposed to go to find its source.  So the cross
> reference knows what its source is, and the source is there, patiently
> waiting, but updating the book doesn't seem to get these two piece to
> work, without that black T.
> 
> I think there are several things going on that I haven't quite sorted out.
> 
> But I've gotten good advice here so far, so I'll keep coming back!
> 
> Deirdre
> 
> On 6/17/08, Jim Owens <jowens at magma.ca> wrote:
>> That big "T" is a marker used by the cross-references to find the target
>> paragraph. You seem to be aware of this.
>>
>> If you've removed it from a paragraph, the cross-references to that
>> paragraph will be unresolved.
>>
>> As far as I can tell from your description, the cross-references are still
>> set to use the "Company Name" tag, but they are not pointing to any
>> particular paragraph tagged "Company Name."
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Deirdre Reagan wrote:
>>> Hi all:
>>>
>>> FM 8.0 on Windows XP.
>>>
>>> I have inherited a multi-chapter book template and it's giving me trouble.
>>>
>>> On the title page, most of the lines of text are variables.  I double
>>> click the text, up pops the variable dialog box, I change the generic
>>> information to the specific information, I close the variable dialog
>>> box and update the book.  The variables update cross references
>>> throughout the chapters just fine.  The source variable has a fat
>>> black T in front of it, indicating that it's being used as the source
>>> of a cross-reference somewhere else.
>>>
>>> One line of data is not a variable.  It is simply a line of text that
>>> has it's own paragraph tag -- Company Name.  We changed this line from
>>> generic text (Client Name) to specific text (Joe Blow Airways).  We
>>> also erased the fat black T at the start of the line.  Now the other
>>> pages don't update.
>>>
>>> That fat black T seems to be the answer, but -- the source line is
>>> still tagged Company Name and the cross references are still pointed
>>> to the source tag called Company Name.  So why won't the cross
>>> references update without the fat black T?
>>>
>>> My question is three-fold:
>>>
>>> 1.  If we are crossreferencing back to paragraph tags, and we change
>>> the source paragraph tag, do we have to keep the fat black T?  That
>>> seems awfully picky, since we just want to double click the line of
>>> text and type in our new text.  To keep the T, we would have to click
>>> and backspace.  Plus that T doesn't preceed the original cross
>>> reference.  It appears only to indicate that this line of text has
>>> already been cross referenced. So it's absence shouldn't affect FM's
>>> ability to update cross references, right?
>>>
>>> 2. What was the original writer doing, making this line of text a
>>> paragraph tag and not a variable, like every other line of text on the
>>> page?  Is there a good reason for this? (Probably a rhetorical
>>> question, but I thought I'd throw it out there, in case there is
>>> something everyone but me knows.)
>>>
>>> 3.  Shouldn't I get rid of all these cross references and change them
>>> all to variables?  That way I can update the variable once and it
>>> changes everywhere and there are no fat black Ts to worry about and no
>>> broken cross references for me to get super frustrated over. Or would
>>> I have to change the variable in each individual chapter?
>>>
>>> I'd appreciate anyone's advice.
>>>
>>> Frustratedly yours,
>>>
>>> Deirdre
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> 
>