Re: hyperlink markers vs. cross refs

[Kathy McCord <kmccord@xxxxxxx>]

here is another (implemented and well-tested) solution to this problem:

1) if your framemaker template uses sideheads, and your 'target' pgf (i.e., 
   the "body" pgf-to-be-xref'ed) spans the text column but not the sidehead 
   column, you can define an accompanying pgf style that resides only in the 
   sidehead column (e.g. "my_label" pgf style).

2) if you then place a "my_label" pgf **just above/right of** the targeted 
   "body" pgf, you can type the xref term into the "my_label" pgf.

3) if you do not want the xref term to appear in your printed/PDF output, 
   define a white char fmt. (e.g. "invisible_xref") and apply that char fmt 
   to the content of the "my_label" pgf.

4) when you create the xref, point it to the "my_label" pgf that precedes
   the targeted "body" pgf.


EXAMPLE
=======

   +--------------------------------------------
   |
   |  This is the         This is the regular "body" paragraph
   |  my_label pgf        that you want to xref, but you don't
   |                      want the xref content to consist of
   |                      all these words.
   |
   |                      Here is another "body" pgf.  
   |
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   .
   .
   .
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   |
   |                      This is a "body" pgf that contains an
   |                      xref to the stuff on the previous page:
   |                      See {"This is the my_label pgf"} for an
   |                      explanation of what we're trying to do
   |                      here.
   |
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     
The xref is in braces ( {...} ) and points to the "my_label" pgf.


==============================

the "my_label" pgf can also be accomodated in a webworks publisher 
conversion to HTML or other online Help format.

the advantage of this method is that you do not have to use any overrides.
(be careful when applying char fmt. "invisible_xref" to the content of your
"my_label" pgf: do not capture the pgf's end marker -- otherwise, that pgf
*will* have an override).

we do not define pgf "my_label" to use char fmt "invisible_xref" by default,
because we want a mechanism whereby we *can* see the content of pgf "my_label"
if need be.  by removing the char fmt "invisible_xref" from the contents, we 
can see them.  

however, you could define "my_label" to be 'invisible' -- you will still be
able to see the content in the xref dialog, and you could hand-build a list 
of xrefs to all your "my_label" pgfs as a navigational and copy/paste tool.

been there, done that.


--- kmc


> From: jeremy@omsys.com (Jeremy H. Griffith)
> To: Framers@frameusers.com, framers@omsys.com
> Subject: Re: hyperlink markers vs. cross refs
> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 20:12:37 GMT
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> X-Mail-Loop: 1
> 
> On Fri, 14 Sep 2001 21:02:29 +0200, "Thomas Michanek" <thomas.michanek@telia.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> >> On Thu, 15 Feb 2001 20:02:10 GMT jeremy@omsys.com (Jeremy H.
> >> Griffith)wrote:
> >>  
> >> > The main situation in which xrefs are not really usable is when we don't
> >> > want $paratext (or $paranum) from the source to appear at the site of the
> >> > reference.  Perhaps we don't want *all* the $paratext, just a word or two.
> >> > Or a paraphrase of it.  In that case, to use xrefs, we'd have to use a
> >> > unique xref format (with the desired text for the hotspot) for each xref,
> >> > and that would quickly become unmanageable.  So then we turn to hyperlinks.
> >
> >Well, there is one other possible solution. *If* the source paragraph
> >contains no autonumbering, define an autonumber string for it that
> >consists of the phrase you wish to appear in the cross-reference text.
> >Place the autonumber at End of Paragraph, and let it use a character
> >format defined as invisible, 2 pt. text. (Hopefully, this won't cause
> >an unwanted line break in the source paragraph.)
> >Then cross-ref the source paragraph using $paranum. This will fetch
> >the invisible, manually entered autonumber string.
> 
> Clever.  You could also just put the autonum at the front, with the
> glossary term in it (and no counters) typed in lower case, using a 
> char format that makes the glossary term appear in the desired case
> at the glossary definition.  Then your <$paranum> xref could serve
> as part of the text, too, so that it is visible.  And it eliminates
> the possibility of an unreasonable line break at the end.
> 
> Unfortunately, there is a big gotcha waiting for you with either of
> the autonum ideas.  You will have an override on every single use
> of that para format!  So, if you import formats as we often do for
> fine-tuning doc properties for conversion, you must *never* ask to
> remove overrides... or you will have a Real Big Job to do manually
> reconstructing all the terms that you lost with one button click.
> Since I push the wrong button regularly, this makes me nervous.  ;-)
> 
> -- Jeremy H. Griffith, at Omni Systems Inc.
>   (jeremy@omsys.com)  http://www.omsys.com/
> 
> ** To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@omsys.com **
> ** with "unsubscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.   **


------------------------------------
K.A. McCord, Staff Technical Writer
kathy.mccord@windriver.com  
Vox: (831) 661-0246 x 229   
Fax: (831) 661-0159
------------------------------------



** To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@omsys.com **
** with "unsubscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.   **