Flare Autonumbers Guide

Introduction

Supported In:

Autonumbering is just what it sounds like—a feature where content is numbered automatically. It is often used to place numbers on chapter titles, table captions, image captions, and so on.

This chapter discusses the following:

Why Use Autonumbers?

Steps for Using Autonumbers

Importing Autonumbers from FrameMaker

Comparisons to FrameMaker's Autonumbering

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Why Use Autonumbers?

Autonumbering can technically be used for both online and print-based output, but it is usually intended for print-based output.

Following are just a few reasons for using autonumbering. For samples of formats that you might use for

these purposes, see "Autonumber Format Examples" on page 17.

Chapter, Section, and Volume Numbers If you are producing output that is organized into multiple chapters, sections, and/or volumes, you can apply autonumbers to those different elements.

Not only does this let you produce numbers automatically for chapter, section, and volume headings, but you can also incorporate this numbering into other content (e.g., page numbers, figure captions, table headings).

Note: To generate chapter numbers, you need to create an autonumber format that includes the {chapnum} command. Then specify chapter breaks in the outline TOC.

Note: To generate section numbers, you need to create an autonumber format that includes the {secnum} command. Then specify section breaks in the outline TOC.

Note: To generate volume numbers, you need to create an autonumber format that includes the {volnum} command. Second, you need to specify chapter breaks in the outline

TOC. Third, you need to specify the autonumber flow for each volume, resetting the volume number to a specific number.

Note: You can also insert Chapter, Section, or Volume Number variables into page layout headers. By doing this, you can automatically display the correct chapter, section, or volume number at the top or bottom of pages in the output.

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Autonumbers Guide

Note: If you are using chapter or volume autonumbers and you want these numbers to be reflected in a print index, you can do so by specifying the autonumbers at the appropriate locations in your outline TOC (instead of inserting Chapter or Volume Number variables in a page layout).

Note: In order to create chapter and volume autonumbers in FrameMaker output, you must split the output into multiple FrameMaker documents. If you are creating one of the other print-based outputs (PDF, XPS, XHTML, Word), you do not necessarily need to create multiple documents, but you do need to create chapter breaks for the output. For more information see the online Help.

Paragraphs You can apply autonumbering to different levels of paragraphs in your project.

E X A M P L E

You might specify that the first-level paragraphs contain number formats such as 1.0, 2.0,

3.0, and so on. Maybe your second level paragraphs would be formatted as 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1,

2.2, and so on. And finally, the third level paragraphs might be formatted as 1.1.1, 1.1.2,

1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, and so on.

Figure Captions Perhaps you have inserted multiple images into your project, with a caption under each image. If you want the captions for each chapter to be numbered (e.g., "Figure 1-1," "Figure 1-

2," "Figure 1-3," "Figure 2-1," "Figure 2-2"), you can apply autonumber formats to that content. If you insert a new figure caption with that format between existing captions, Flare will renumber them automatically.

Table Headings Another way to make use of autonumbering is to apply them to headings for tables in your project (e.g., Table 1, Table 2, Table 3).

Page Numbering You can easily include page numbers in content for print-based output without creating autonumber formats. However, if you want to incorporate volume, chapter, or section numbers into your pages numbers, you can so by using autonumber formats.

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Lists As an alternative to using Flare's quick list drop-down options, you can use autonumbering to create numbered lists for purposes such as step-by-step procedures or outlines.

And More… If you can apply a paragraph style to it, you can include autonumbering in it.

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Autonumbers Guide

Steps for Using Autonumbers

Whatever you are trying to accomplish when it comes to autonumbers, there are three basic tasks that you may complete.

1.

Create Autonumber Formats First, you need to specify what a particular autonumber will include and what it will look like.

E X A M P L E

If you are creating a format to use with figure captions, you might specify the format to display the word "Figure" followed by the chapter number, a dash, and an incremented number.

You also might want this format to appear in bold font. Finally, you might use a float option so that the autonumber is positioned to the left of the page layout frame where the relevant paragraph occurs.

You can create autonumber formats for styles (which you can easily reuse) or directly for a specific

paragraph. See "Autonumbers for Styles" on page 25 and "Autonumbers for Paragraphs" on page

35.

2.

Apply Styles with Autonumber Formats to Content After the autonumber format is created using the style method, you need to indicate where it should be displayed in your content.

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If you plan to use an autonumber format for figure captions, you apply the style using that particular format to the appropriate locations in your topics.

For more information about using styles, see the online Help or the Flare Styles Guide.

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Specify Autonumbering Flow for Output If you are including volume, chapter, and/or section autonumbers in print-based output, you need to indicate where each volume, chapter, or section should begin and end. You also need to provide other specifications, such as whether the numbering should restart at a specific number, whether it should continue from the previous list, and the type of numbering format (e.g., Roman, alpha) to be used.

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This procedure is especially useful if you have created chapter autonumbers and need to ensure that they begin with the correct number at the correct location, after any front matter (e.g., title page, copyright page, generated table of contents).

For more information see "Autonumbering Flow for Output" on page 45.

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Autonumbers Guide

Importing Autonumbers from FrameMaker

When you import FrameMaker files, the autonumbers in those documents are retained in Flare. You can then edit future content for your project (including autonumbers) either in Flare or in FrameMaker.

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Comparisons to FrameMaker's Autonumbering

If you are an experienced FrameMaker user, you will notice many similarities and differences between

Flare and FrameMaker when it comes to autonumbers. These include the following.

SIMILARITIES

Many of the commands (i.e., building blocks) for autonumbers are much alike.

You can uses series labels in both Flare and FrameMaker.

The basic steps are similar. In both Flare and FrameMaker, you need to (a) create autonumber formats, (b) apply styles with autonumber formats to content, and (c) specify how autonumber formats work in volumes and chapters.

DIFFERENCES

User Interface There are some commands in Flare that are not seen in FrameMaker.

Workflow Although some of the basic steps might be similar, the way to accomplish them in Flare is sometimes different.

E X A M P L E

In FrameMaker, you specify an autonumber format for a paragraph format in the Paragraph

Designer. In Flare, however, you can do this in cascading stylesheets, which let you provide numerous other settings for a style, as well as share the CSS file with others. You can also create autonumber formats for individual paragraphs only.

Numbered Lists FrameMaker requires you to create two distinct paragraph tags to handle numbered lists. Because Flare uses standard HTML code for ordered lists and list items, content developers frequently choose not to take the extra steps to create distinct paragraph styles to handle list numbering. Because FrameMaker handles list numbering using paragraph tags, Flare converts those tags to the to the standard p style during the import. You then apply the desired ordered list and list item tags to the existing numbered steps in Flare.

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Autonumbers Guide

E X A M P L E

In FrameMaker, you must create two distinct paragraph tags to handle automatic list numbering—one tag to apply to the first step in the list and another tag to apply to the remaining steps.

Because Flare uses standard HTML code (where an ordered list starts with the <ol> tag and each list item starts with the <li> tag), there is no need to create distinct paragraph styles to handle list numbering. You simply apply the desired numbered list format using the quick list drop-down menu shown below.

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Once the list numbering is set, you don't need worry about it again. The example below shows you a simple numbered list in the Flare XML Editor:

The Flare Text Editor lets you see how ordered lists and list items are formatted in HTML:

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Autonumbers In Flare there is no need to update numbering manually, as there is in FrameMaker.

All numbering in Flare is automatically updated when you generate the output.

CSS In FrameMaker, you need to import paragraph formats from one document to another in order to use them. In Flare, the topics just need to be associated with the same stylesheet; they can then use the same paragraph style containing the necessary autonumber format.

Autonumbers Guide

Note: It is possible to use autonumbering in online outputs, but only in a limited way. For example, if you have notes throughout your project, you can create an autonumber format on a paragraph style class that simply has the text "Note:" followed by a space. Then whenever you want to apply that style class to note content, it will automatically start with "Note:" so that you don't have to type it each time. However, in the traditional sense where autonumbering is used to increment numbers for elements such as chapters, figures, and tables, it is really only intended for printbased outputs.

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Autonumbers Guide