Autonumbering problem

[bswb]

Hi everyone,

I'm designing my own templates for the first time and I'm having trouble with some autonumbering. For my document figures, I have:

T:Figure <$chapnum>-<n+>:

And for my tables, I have

T:Table <$chapnum>-<n+>:

Why is it that they're incrementing off each other? For example, "Table 1-2" will come after "Figure 1-1" even though it's the first table. I thought Frame recognized these as individual counters.

Also, when experimenting with the table autonumbering, I took out the chapter variable for:
T:Table <n+>:

And the tables reset, but they started with 2, not 1.

Help! Am I just missing something obvious here?

Thanks!

 

[CGresley]

Hi bswb

In "T:Table <$chapnum>-<n+>:" the T: is the autonumbering sequence for tables while "Table" is the text you see.

For figures use "F:Figure <$chapnum>-<n+>:".

For another autonumbering group use say Photo <n+1>.

 

[jmalin]

The answer is right, but doesn't explain the situation fully.

The letters "T" and "F" do not necessarily mean "Table" and "Figure". That's just a convention; a useful one, to be sure, but a convention nonetheless. Like flow tags, autonumber tags (formally called "series labels") simply identify what autonumber sequence a paragraph tag should hook to. When you say "T:Table" and then "T:Figure" you're telling FrameMaker to do exactly what is happening: use the same autonumber sequence for tables and figures. If you use "T:Table" and "F:Figure" you're telling FM to use the T sequence for tables and the F sequence for figures.

The point is that you could use A and B or Y and Z if you wanted to. The exact letter isn't important; what's important is that they are different.

I use the scheme noted by CGresley. I also use C for chapter and A for appendix.

And, by the way, you can use multiple "series" of counters in the same autonumber format. It's a bit trickier. Instead of using multiple series labels, you use one series label and multiple counter building blocks. I call this the "slot" method; I don't think FM has a name for it.

The multiple series method uses one counter block, for example:
T: Table <+n>:

The single series, multiple counter method uses multiple counter blocks, for example:
A: Table <$chapnum> <> <> <+n>

In this method, each block represents a number series. If the block is empty, FM doesn't increment it, it just inserts the current value. If the block is <=0>, FM resets the counter. If the block is <+n>, FM increments the counter and then inserts it.

This gives you section-level numbering. You could put in an autonumber format

A: Table <$chapnum>.<>.<>.<+n> and you'd get (for example)

Table 3.4.4.6

the 6th table in chapter 3, section 4, subsection 4.

Sometimes slot numbering is easier to follow than multiple series numbering, and it's the only way to do section-level numbering.