Re: how to make a table in 2 columns?

[Jay Smith <jay@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Melissa,

_IF_ I am understanding your needs correctly, the solution is simple in some
cases and impossible (without manual intervention) in other cases.

What you seem to want to accomplish can be done with making your entire table
only ONE "column" wide (from "1" thru the FIRST "d", in the first line of your
illustration below).  Then flow this one "column" table in a two-column
structure.

The aforementioned "structure" can be either master pages or text frames.  

The problem is that if you use master pages, then you either have to assign
the master pages manually (and thus you have all sorts of other problems and
maintenance), OR your entire document/chapter must use the 2-column master
format.  If your other text is otherwise full-page-width, you can use a
2-column master page and set the paragraph properties of all other tags to be
"across all columns".

If what I have outlined above is possible in your type of publication, then
everything will work fine.

HOWEVER, if any aspect of this is not possible for you, then your only option
is to manually create anchored frames which contain 2-column text frames where
your tables are needed. Note, however, that there is ZERO ABILITY to flow from
one anchored frame to another.

VENTING: THIS IS A MAJOR FAILING OF FRAMEMAKER.  FrameMaker makes the
assumption that the contents of anchored frames will be such objects as
pictures which cannot and should not flow from frame to frame.  Thus FM has
made it impossible to flow contents of text frames inside of anchored frames,
from anchored frame to anchored frame.

If you can get away with starting the first such anchored frame at specific,
never-changing location on a page, then you are a little better off.  However,
if you need to edit (add or delete rows) from your table, you will have to
manually paste table rows to/from adjoining pages.  This is a royal pain!

It is possible to use NON-anchored normal text frames simply drawn on a page,
and to connect them in a single flow from text frame to text frame.  However,
be warned that the other text in your book, if you need to edit it, will go
right under/over your plain text frames.

Another option is, if you are able to start your table at the top of a page
and if you can tolerate your table ending without following text on the last
page, to put your table content into a different document, almost as if it
were a separate chapter (but not really a chapter, of course).

If you have a more complex document structure and want to switch from X
quantity of columns to Y quantity of columns and back again (say 3 columns to
5 columns to 3 columns), this can only be done using the MANUAL WORKAROUNDS. 
Again, this a major failing of FrameMaker.  We do a lot of books that require
this kind of switching back and forth and have a terrible time with this
problem.  It is almost (but not quite) enough to cause me to consider using
another program.

-- 
Jay Smith

e-mail: jay@jaysmith.com

Jay Smith & Associates
P.O. Box 650
Snow Camp, NC  27349  USA

Phone: Int+US+336-376-9991
Toll-Free Phone in US & Canada:
	1-800-447-8267
Fax: Int+US+336-376-6750


Melissa Fisher wrote:
> 
> Hello, I hope someone can show me how to do this...
> 
> We have a fairly lengthy table with data in 5 columns that we "double-up" to
> save space. So actually our table has 10 columns with each row having two items.
> Currently the table takes up about 3 pages, with the consequence that the part
> of the table on page 1 looks like this::
> 
> 1.  a  b  c  d    65.  a  b  c  d
> 2.  a  b  c  d    66.  a  b  c  d
> 3.  a  b  c  d    67.  a  b  c  d
> 
> Is there a way to make FrameMaker automatically have the data flow from one half
> of the table to the next on a page by page basis? So that page 1 looks like
> this...
> 
> 1.  a  b  c  d    4.  a  b  c  d
> 2.  a  b  c  d    5.  a  b  c  d
> 3.  a  b  c  d    6.  a  b  c  d
> 
> and page 2 looks like this...
> 
> 7.  a  b  c  d      46.  a  b  c  d
> . . .
> 45.  a  b  c  d    88.  a  b  c  d
> 
> and page 3 like this...
> 
> 89.  a  b  c  d    111.  a  b  c  d
> . . .
> 110.  a  b  c  d    130.  a  b  c  d
> 
> and the rows flow properly no matter where the page break falls?
> 
> TIA,
> Melissa Fisher
> Automated Logic Corporation
> mfisher@automatedlogic.com
>

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