MIF representation of CiteMaker variables

[Fred Ma <fma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

I'm planning to write a Perl program to process the FM
variables created by the plugin "CiteMaker".  When I
look at some of the variable definitions, it consists
of a number followed by two thick vertical bars.  Only
the number shows up as visible in the document.  I
tried to figure out what the vertical bars were (or
whether they are relevant).  I first cut and pasted
them into an editor (gvim), hoping to look at the
character codes.  The bars did not get pasted, only the
number got pasted.  I then exported the FM file as a
MIF, hoping to see how the vertical bars were
represented.  They didn't show up in the MIF either.  I
imported the MIF back into FM to see if the bars were
still there, and they were.  I even created my own test
variable and gave it a numeric value (e.g. 2).  Then I
inserted the variable in the text.  When I looked at
the variable definition, there were no vertical bars.
Neither were there any vertical bars in the exported
MIF.

What are these vertical bars?  How can they be in the
FM file, but not have any (apparent) representation in
the MIF file?  As I described, the vertical bars don't
appear in normal variables that I create.  I want to
figure this out so that when I go changing the
CiteMaker variable definitions in the MIF, I respect
and retain these strange characters somehow (even
though they don't show up in the MIF!).

Fred

P.S.  Sent to comp.text.frame, adobe.framemaker, and
framers.omsys.com.
-- 
Fred Ma, fma@doe.carleton.ca
Carleton University, Dept. of Electronics
1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario
Canada, K1S 5B6

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