Weird autonumbering problem with Framemaker

[Combs, Richard]

quills at airmail.net wrote: 
 
> I would note, that while the series letter is very important, and will
> regularize the numbering stream, it seems likely that Eva is using a
> single stream in order to restart the numbering sequence at the start
of
> each section/chapter without using a separate start style. If that is
> indeed the case, she should still use a single series identifier, but
> use it in all instances of numbering. <snip>

Sorry, but that's just not true. From FM6 onward, you can restart pgf
numbering by selecting Restart Paragraph Numbering in Numbering
Properties. There's no reason to put all your number sequences into a
single, complex stream, where you have to keep straight which pgf
formats restart which counters.  

Eva mentioned only table and figure numbering, yet her table autonumber
format has 7 or 8 placeholders (the examples given aren't consistent).
That's rather complex. And her table numbering is starting over here and
there within the chapter, so as you pointed out earlier, one of the
other pgf formats in that autonumber stream is resetting numbering (Eva,
look for pgfs in which the last counter of the autonumber format is "<
=0>").

In fact, that table autonumber format (Table <$chapnum>.<$volnum>-<n><
>< >< >< >< ><  >< >-<n+>) is an odd combination of the old (pre-FM6)
and new way of doing numbering, and I suspect that at some point someone
tried to graft the new building blocks into the old scheme instead of
rethinking the whole thing. 

Eva seems to think that Table 5.1-5-1 is what the first table should be.
I think it's a bit odd to use the <$chapnum> building block for sections
and <$volnum> for their subsections, and it would never enter my mind to
include the subsection number in table or figure numbering, but maybe
that's just me. 

But what is the third digit (produced by the "<n>" counter in the above
autonumber format) identifying? And what pgf tag increments it? In all
the examples Eva provided, it has the same value as <$chapnum> -- is it
incremented by the chapter/section title, and could it be just a remnant
of the scheme before <$chapnum> was available?

And what about all those placeholders -- surely, there aren't 7 levels
of numbered lists! What else is in this numbering stream?

Personally, I think a two-part table/figure number is sufficient. My
autonumber formats for table and figure captions are in separate series
(T and F) and look like this: 

T:Table\ <$chapnum>\+<n+>\t
F:Figure\ <$chapnum>\+<n+>\t

The "\ " is a non-breaking space, "\+" is a non-breaking hyphen, and
"\t" is a tab. Nothing resets the counters (pgf numbering is set to
restart for each chapter, chapter numbering increments). 

I only use two levels of numbered lists. My autonumber formats for
ListNum and ListAlpha pgfs use the N numbering series and look like
this: 

N:<n+>< =0>\t
N:< ><a+>\t 

My heading and body pgf formats have the following autonumber format so
that they restart the list numbering: 

N:< =0>< =0>

Indented body pgfs and anything else that I want to permit within a
numbererd list don't have an autonumber. 

There are a few other autonumbers (e.g., numbered lists in table text),
but they're similarly simple -- no more than two counters. 

Simplify, simplify! (IMHO, YMMV, etc.)

Richard
 

Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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