increment more than one $chapnum in a file?

[Combs, Richard]

LW White wrote:
 
> I'm converting some Word files to unstructured FM9. These files have a
> numbered section as the top level. At the second level, they have one or
> more numbered chapters. When a file contains more than one numbered
> chapter, I can't get Frame to recognize that chapter as part of the
> $chapnum auto-increment. <snip>
> 
> If I don't use $chapnum, and just use one of the regular counters instead
> (<n+>) then the number doesn't increment across files. I seem to be stuck
> between a rock and a hard place here. Is there any way to make $chapnum
> increment more than once per file? Or some other solution?

Baruch is correct -- you can't increment $chapnum within a file. But there's more to be said. And more than one solution to your problem.

You could forgo $chapnum and use a regular counter (<n+>) in the autonumber of the chapter title paragraph as you thought. Incrementing that autonumber sequence across files is a piece of cake -- as long as you don't also have autonumber sequences that need to restart in each file. 

1) In the book window, select all the files after the one containing Chapter 1. 
2) Select Format > Document > Numbering. 
3) In the Numbering Properties dialog, click the Paragraph tab. 
4) Select Continue Numbering from Previous Paragraph in Book, and click Set. 

You're done. 

Unless you also have autonumber sequences (say, figures and tables) that need to restart in each file or chapter. In that case, you'd have to use special paragraphs that restart numbering for those autonumber sequences. Or use your chapter title paragraph to reset them. Maybe even construct the kind of complex multiple-counter autonumber sequences used prior to FM 6. 

The ins, outs, options, and alternatives are a bit much to go into here. A lot of this is fairly well explained in the FM manual/help. Here's one good source of more autonumber information: 

	http://www.infocon.com/files/autonum.pdf  

Other sources can be found by googling "framemaker autonumbering" (sans quotes). 

Another solution -- and it may be preferable, in the long run -- is to put each chapter into its own file and use the $chapnum variable for the chapter title autonumber. Use the $volnum variable for the section title autonumber. In the Numbering Properties dialog, Chapter tab, set all the chapters after the first to Continue Numbering from Previous File in Book. (For the 1st chapter file, of course, set Chapter # explicitly to 1 and Format to Numeric.)

For the files that _don't start a new section, in the Numbering Properties dialog, Volume tab, set the $volnum variable to Use Same Number As Previous File. For the ones after Section 1, set it to Continue Numbering from Previous File in Book. (For the 1st, set it explicitly like the chapter number, using ROMAN as the format.) 

HTH!

Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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