Re: Headers

[Dan Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 02:19 AM 10/30/98 , nicolac@incomesdata.co.uk wrote:
>I am creating a directory and am using 'dictionary' style headers which   
>are fine EXCEPT  some of my entries go over a page. Therefore there a   
>several occasions when I need the running head to pick up a paragraph   
>style from the previous page and NOT the first entry on the present page.
>
>Does anyone have any suggestions?

I assume your dictionary-style headers appear as shown below, where
the "First" running header variable displays the first entry in the 2-page
spread, and "the Last" runing header variable displays the last entry in the
2-page spread.

_________________________________________________________
| First                     |                       Last |
|                           |                            |
|           LH PAGE         |             RH PAGE        |
----------------------------------------------------------
Where the First and Last running headers both pick up the text content of
the same paragraph style (hereafter called "Title"), and you're using the +
symbol in the the definition for the "Last" running header variable.

The only way I've found to accomplish what you are seeking (i.e., to pick up
the text of a "Title" paragraph on a preceding page when the text under that
heading spills over to the next left-hand page) involves the following steps:

1. Create a second running header variable definition for the First running
header that specifies the Header/Footer$1 marker instead of the "Title"
paragraph tag.

2. Create a new master page for left-hand pages that is identical in all
respects to the default left-hand page, except that the First running header
uses the running header variable created in step 1 above rather than the
variable that specifies paragraph tag "Title".

3. When the problem case occurs where you want the target left-hand page to
display the text of a "Title" paragraph appearing on a preceding page, do
the following:

        a. Add, anywhere in the text of the target left-hand page, a
Header/Footer$1 marker whose marker text is the same as the content of the
last "Title" paragraph on the preceding page.

        b. Use Format > Page Layout > Master Page Usage to apply the master
page created in step 2 to the target left-hand page. It will now display the
marker text rather than the text of the first occurrence of a "Title" paragraph.

The Last running header variable an all right-hand pages specifies the text
(with a + symbol) of the "Title" paragraph tag, so it always displays the
text of the last "Title" paragraph in the 2-page spread, or, if no "Title"
paragraph appears anywhere in the 2-page spread, the text of the last
"Title" paragraph on a preceding page is picked up. In the latter case, the
First and Last headers in the 2-page spread (correctly) display the same title.

Admittedly, this is not a very elegant solution, but it's the only
workaround that I've come up with to deal with this problem.

However, In database publishing applications (e.g., directories, where
dictionary-style headers are often used), this solution is very elegant,
because, during the data merging process, I auto-embed a header/footer
marker in each subordinate entry, whose marker text contains the text of
some preceding title entry whose text I want to appear in the First and Last
running headers. That way, I don't have to create and apply a second version
of the left-hand page in cases where the title is on the preceding page.
Instead, the definition for the First running header variable in the default
left-hand page specifies the header/footer marker. Since the same
header/footer marker is auto-embedded in each title entry as well as in the
subordinate entries, it doesn't matter whether the left-hand page begins
with a title entry or with a subordinate entry whose title is on a preceding
page. In either case, the First running header displays the correct information.



Dan Emory
Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design
and Database Publishing Specialists

Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971
E-Mail: danemory@primenet.com
10044 Adams Ave. #208
Huntington Beach, CA 92646


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