Cross-references to numbered steps in a procedure?

RoboHelp 9 - Is it possible to create cross-references to numbered steps in a procedure? For example, if step 19 in a procedure refers back to step 3, can this reference be set so that it can automatically update if new steps are added before step 3?

Hi,
You could try adding bookmarks to the step you want to refer to and the hyperlinking to the bookmark. This is not self maintaining like FM cross references are though...

Similar Messages

Cross reference that diplays only paragraph number

I need to create cross-references to numbered paragraphs. The auto number for the paragraphs includes not only a number, but a text character that is part of the number format. For example, a numbered list like 1) 2) 3) and so forth, where the cross reference display only the 1, 2, or 3, and not the closing paren.
FrameMaker has a building block <paranumonly> which ignores any characters other than digits in the auto number. InDesign doesn't seem to be able to do that. That is why I'm posting on the scripting forum. Perhaps there is a script that can do this?

In support of Niels' response, I'd written almost the same thing, but 1.__AG__, entered a more objective response (well put, AG!) before I sent my impressions.
I agree with Niels that
The reader might appreciate a more direct numbering system (the milspec standard of 1.2.2.2.2.1 would be the equivalent section to your 1B2b2a example
The tags used would be easier to navigate if they used a 1List 2List 3List convention, and that the punctuation used in numbering is a bit confounding at first glance
The xref format is straightforward if all levels are displayed at that point
Sadly, and as always, we can help with everything but the politics of your situation!
I do like Niels' suggestion of using the Running H/F to display the current section, if you're forced to use the numbering scheme as-is!
Best of luck navigating this with the powers that be.
-Matt

Printed document page number cross-references

Is it possible to export webhelp to Printed Document - MS
Word with page numbers taking the place of hyperlinks? Must the
page numbers be added after the printed document is created?
If so, can the InsertPagRefs macro insert page numbers across
a multifile document?
I anticipate exporting to printed documents consisting of
multiple files with pictures inserted by reference. I need
cross-reference page numbers that look like internal page
references.
If a master document is not recommended for a large manual,
how is a large manual to be handled? I intend not to use Word as a
base for single sourcing and to create RD fields and files for an
*input* document. I intend to use webhelp as the single source so I
can use RH 7 conditional text and mutiple TOCs to produce multiple
documents and document formats!

No but you can easily add them afterwards. There is a macro
on my site that does exactly that.
http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/word/word_macros.htm
Your refer to a "large manual". How big is "large"?

Cross-references (MS-Word to WebHelp) not showing up for Tables and Figures

I am converting an MS-Word 2010 document to WebHelp using RH9. Cross-references to numbered sections, appendixes, websites, etc. come out fine. Cross-references to tables and figures do not always appear. In some sections they are there, and in some they are not.
Would anyone be able to offer any insight into how I can get these table and figure cross-references to come out on a regular basis in the WebHelp version? Thank you.

UPDATE TO PREVIOUS MESSAGE: Cross-references to tables and figures NEVER appear in the RH version when coming from MS-Word.
Is there any way to have these cross-references appear? If not, it appears the only solution is to bookmark tables and figures individually and hyperlink to each of them.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
nankinnankin

Run out of step numbers in the Pricing Procedure

Hello gurus,
Has anyone come across the following situation: Within the pricing procedure I want to insert a new condition type but there are no 'free' numbers available within the procedure steps to enable me to do this
e.g: These are the steps in the Pricing Procedure
Step     Cntr     Ctype     Description
290     0     ZLTS     Type1
293     0     ZLTD     Type 2
296     0     ZDIF     Type 3
297     0     ZLEX     Type 4
299     0          Net Value Before Tax
300     0     MWST     Type 5
302     0     ZWR2     Type 6
303     0     ZWR3     Type 7
My new condition type should be applied on the Net Value Before Tax and before VAT (MWST) but there is no available step number i.e Net Value Before tax = step 299 and MWST = 300.   i.e new condition type should go in between 299 and 300.   Any ideas of how to get around this?
Many thanks in advance....

hi,
you can shfit 299 0 Net Value Before Tax to 298, but you need to check all the alternative calculation types if any susbsequent condition is making us of this step in their calculations. We, use the step numbers(STUNNR) in our alternative calculation types, so if you change their number or sequence you will disturb the calcuation of other pricing conditions.
so please evaluate from that angle.
regards
sadhu kishore

Missing page numbers in cross references?

In existing ID documents, I insert a cross-reference, and there is no page number given, even when page number is defined in the cross references tab. I can open a brand new document, and make a cross reference to one of the existing docs, and that will work- but making a reference in the existing doc to the new one will not work.
So, why are my page numbers not showing up for my cross references?

Which OS? Which version?
I had this problem once in a CS document. This was a bug and could only repaired by creating a complete new document. IDML export did not help.
Does the TOC version work here? In my case this did not work either.

How to fix crashing when PDF and procedure for cross reference?

I'm using Frame 8. When I try to PDF my book, Frame crashes. I have tried PDFing the individual chapters, but that didn't work.
Also, I'm trying to create either a cross reference or hyperlink. I have a paragraph that says "For more information, see the Setup section in Chapter 1" The Setup section in chapter 1 is a heading 4. I've tried using the instructions in the Frame help, but I don't understand them, and I don't know whether I need a hyperlink or a cross reference. Can I get simpler explanation and how-to?
Thanks!

Several things could be causing the crashing during the PDF creation process.
1. Have you applied the MS hotfix mentioned here?
http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2009/07/repost_hotfix_for_framemaker.html
2. In your PDF Setup, make sure that you have Tagged PDF turned off and in the Links panel enable "Create Named Destinations for All Paragraphs".
Try it again and also make sure that you have applied all of the FM8 patches in sequence.
You can use either cross-references or hypertext links to create the jumps, though cross-refs are easier to do and maintain.
1. To insert a cross-ref to the Chapter 1 Setup section, you first would need to have Chapter 1 open along with the document that you are currently working on.
2. At the location where you want to insert the cross-reference, select the Special > Cross-Reference menu option.
3. For the first time that you use a cross-reference, you have create a format for it. In your case the "For more information, see the" and "section in" are constant strings and the section name "Setup" and "Chapter 1" are the variables.
    a) Click on the "Edit Format" button in the Reference section towards the bottom of the window. This will open a new dialogue window allowing you to create a format for use.
     b) In this window, give the format a name so that you can easily identify it, such as "More info in Chapter section".
     c) Then you have to enter in the "Defintion" line what you want the cross-ref to say, which could be (without quotes) "For more information, see the <$paratext> section in <$paranum[Chapter]>." The items in the angled brackets are building blocks used by FM to pick up content from the specified destination when you make the cross-ref. The first one <$paratext> specifies to grab the content of the paragragh that you point to (in this case it should be "Setup" section heading. The <$paranum[Chapter}> item will grab the autonumber value from the Chapter tag (or use whichever one that you have for chapter numbering at the start of each chapter).
     d) Once you're satisfied with your format, click on the Add and then Done buttons. This will save thgis format in the cross-ref catalog.
4. To actually insert the cross-ref, select the target document (e.g. Chapter 1) from the drop down list for "Dcoument:".
5. Then under the Source Type (the down arrow below the Document), make sure that you have Paragraphs selected.
6. In the left column you will see the paratags available in the Chapter 1 document.
7. Pick the paratag type that contains the Setup section title (heading 4 ?).
8. In the right-hand column you should then see all of the heading 4 tags in Chapter 1.
9. Select the Setup in this column.
10. Check that the Format line shows the one that you created earlier ("More Info in Chapter Section") and then click on the Insert button.
You're done.
If you don't like the formatting or it's picking up the wrong content, then open the cross-ref dialogue again and edit the format to get what you want.

Updating numbered Cross references crashes InDesign in both CS6 and CS4

I have a large medical journal that has over a hundered references, which I cross-referenced with the thinking that the client may well insert or amend the refernces. I was correct and now the customer has several references to go in I have updated the first in its numbered list at the end and gone to "update cross-refernce" and InDesign crashes. I have tried this in CS6 and CS4 but both crash.

This happens often, particularly with cross-references across documents that are managed with an InDesign book file. One common suggestion, in addition to updating the installed software with the latest patches, is to open all the files in the book before updating; this may or may not always succeed. Search this forum for cross-reference crash to see other suggested solutions.
Some of those posters may mention the commercial third-party Cross-References Plug-in for InDesign, from dtptools.com, and the poster's experience with it. It is reputed to be much more reliable than InDesign's built-in cross-references. It includes an option to convert the ID cross-references to its own, and that's reversible. There's a free trial. There's also a free reader plug-in for users who will need to open and edit documents that contain the plug-in's cross-references. The reader plug-in permits users to edit content in the documents without affecting the cross-references. HOWEVER, to edit or creatge new cross-references, users need the full plug-in.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices
mccoole1 wrote:
I have a large medical journal that has over a hundered references, which I cross-referenced with the thinking that the client may well insert or amend the refernces. I was correct and now the customer has several references to go in I have updated the first in its numbered list at the end and gone to "update cross-refernce" and InDesign crashes. I have tried this in CS6 and CS4 but both crash.

Error while creating Cross-reference table using Xreftool (PIP Ins)

Error while running xref.sh script unable to create cross reference table.
**Error: Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: oracle/tip/xref/tool/AdminTool**
Could not find xref directory within tip folder (/OracleAS_1/bpel/docs/workflow/oracle/tip)
searched for similar issue in OTN it says issue fixed by upgrading Oracle AS, we are using 10.1.3.4 MLR#8
http://kr.forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=835446
steps followed.
Creating Cross-Reference Tables
Complete the following procedure to create cross-reference tables.
To create cross-reference tables
1 Navigate to the following directory:
%SOAHOME%/SiebelODOPPIP/scripts/
2 Open the following file for editing:
xref.sh
3 Set the userid and passwd for logging into BPEL console on the appropriate lines.
4 Set the correct SOA_HOME location on the appropriate line.
5 Save and close the file.
6 Make the file executeable:
chmod +x xref.sh
dos2unix xref.sh
7 Change directory (cd) to integration/esb/bin under %SOAHOME%.
8 Execute ../../../SiebelODOPPIP/scripts/xref.sh.
I am using SOA suite 10.1.3.3 and getting same error
Error: Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: oracle/tip/xref/tool/AdminTool

Hi Abhijeet,
please check in transaction FI01, about your data consistencies. You can use this wiki help in terms of Address, it it found any useful facts for you
Address Checks - Business Address Services (BC-SRV-ADR) - SAP Library

How do I preserve cross reference text when exporting to XML?

I am exporting my Framemaker documents to XML. However, when I open the raw XML, the reference formatting is obviously gone. So instead of seeing, say, see Figure 6. I now see, see .
Is there some way to preserve this on export?
Help would be much appreceated!

Josh,
The normal behavior is to have an empty element with the ID/IDRef markup that allows the xref element to be resolved again afterwards, by whatever post-processing step you put the XML through. The text of a cross-reference is a FrameMaker formatting artifact (not unlike a paragraph format, etc.) and is intentionally discarded during export. If you reimport the XML with the empty element, FM will re-resolve the xref, and then will restore the text using whatever format it originally had (the format name is also stored as markup).
If you want to preserve the element tag of the xref, I don't think there is any way to preserve the text, unless you write an import/export API client. You could possibly use an XSLT stylesheet to repopulate the text in some cases, but this seems like a process fraught with many complications.
If you do not care about the element tag, the manual says that you can just unwrap it, then you'll get the xref text. Here is a (rough) snip from the Structure Developers Guide:
Translating FrameMaker cross-reference elements to text in markup
You may not want your FrameMaker cross-reference elements to remain elements in the
markup representation—you can choose to translate them to text instead. To do so, use
this rule:
fm element "fmtag" unwrap;
where fmtag is the FrameMaker element tag for a cross-reference element.
All of this does beg the following question, though... why do you want to do this, especially if the text is referencing figure numbers, page numbers, etc. that have no relevance in the markup? Normally, it is expected that preservation of the markup is the essential thing, allowing the text to be regenerated later by whatever process uses the XML (perhaps including FM). If you drop the element tag, the actual link will be permanently lost.
Russ

Cross Reference paragraphs from Word to imbedded Visio document

I have a word document with about 200 steps included which are cross referenced throughout Word. I have a Visio flowchart that serves as a visual picture of these steps, but requires manual input and adjustment when we adjust the steps in Word.
I don't want to use the hyperlink, I'd rather have a cross reference that will auto update the step number only to match the Word paragraph number. If I could incorporate cross references from the text in the Visio file objects to the paragraph numbers
in Word, this would save many hours at my organization. Additionally, this is Visio Professional 2007 as I couldn't find a forum for 2007, only 2010. I've searched many forums, but haven't come across any successful answer. PLEASE HELP MICROSOFT!

When I've used hyperlinks, I've always tied them to bookmarks in the word document. I haven't heard of a cross-reference between the two products.
al
Al Edlund Visio MVP

Cross Reference within external Database using XREF API

Hi Experts,
Can we do Cross Reference within external Database using XREF API uses JDBC to access the Oracle Database Stored Procedures in SAP PI? How to use a JNDI Data source to access the DB and how to do the Connection Pooling will be done by the SAP J2EE server? Kindly let me know step by step proceedings.
Regards
Archana

Hello Archana,
It can be done with a Lookup call in a mapping.
Here's a little article about the topic in the SAP wiki:
http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/XI/HowtouseCrossReferencewithinexternal+Database
With kind regards
Sebastian

How do I move a .fm to another folder without breaking the .book cross-references?

Simplified situation:
I currently have mybook.book containing:
   chapter1.fm
   chap2.fm
   appendixA.fm
   apdxB.fm
I'd like to reorg the files such that mybook.book contains:
   chapters\chapter1.fm
   chapters\chap2.fm
   appendices\appendixA.fm
   appendices\apdxB.fm
If I move the files into folders with Windows Explorer, it will of course break the cross-references. I thought I could simply use right-click Rename on the file enteries within the book in FM to move them, but it won't allow the / or | chars. How can I accomplish this reorg without breaking the cross-references?
Thanks,
Dave

TWDaveWalker wrote:
oh well, looks like I'll have to develop a procedure for the staff. Does anyone have any non-mif suggestions for a smooth procedure?
Not sure what the problem here is. You need neither a 3rd party plugin nor any MIF editing. Simply do it this way:
Create the required folders (chapters/appendices) within your current book folder
Open the book
Open the chapter files and do a "Save as" into the \chapter subfolder
Open the appendix files and do a "Save as" into the \appendices subfolder
Delete the book file entries and re-fill the book with the newly saved files
Every "Save as..." keeps xrefs intact, including the new path in the document's references. This reqires some steps, yes. But I think it's still better than doing edits to MIF files by someone who is not experienced doing this.
Edit: Sorry, it's not a easy as I thought. I forgot that this is done in several steps, and previously saved files don't recognize path changes of files saved afterwards. So this is no solution.
Bernd
Message was edited by: Be.eM
Reason: wrong approach, typing faster than thinking

How do we duplicate FM books and retain cross-references?

We are using FrameMaker 10 in a Windows 7 environment.
This post is related to an earlier post of mine:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4237821#4237821
Note: To resolve this issue, we are willing to completely reorganize our folder structures or our user guides themselves.
We have the following contraints:
1. Our clients often require us to give them user guides in Microsoft Word, so they can edit the content as they customize the product over the years.
2. So, to avoid giving our clients Word documents that are in the vicinity of 500 to 600 pages in length (which often makes Word documents unstable), we break apart our user guides into two different guides: A procedure guide with step by step processes, and a guide that lists all windows and all window elements (tabs, fields, buttons, etc.).
3. The procedure guide has several dozen cross-references to the windows guide.
4. When we create WebHelp with RoboHelp, we combine the two guides together so the cross-references in the procedures are working hyperlinks to the corresponding window descriptions.
And then we have one more constraint.
Because we customize our product and user guides/online help for all of our clients, we start with a "baseline" starting point. We have a "baseline" procedure guide, and a "baseline" windows guide. So, we have to duplicate both of those guides to start customizing it for each client. The customization changes about 40% of the starting "baseline" content, and we have several concurrent contracts with various clients (so, we don't want to solve the problem I describe here by continually adding new conditional text to the baseline content every time we start customizing content for a new client).
So, we duplicate the two books when we start the customization process for a new client. We duplicate the procedure guide, and we duplicate the windows guide.
As you can imagine, we can use the "save as" technique in FM to preserve the cross-references that are internal within a single book, but we cannot figure out how to preserve the cross-references from the procedure guide to the windows guide. We end up having to manually fix all cross-references in the procedure guide that point to the windows guide.
Does anyone have an idea how we can regularly duplicate the original "baseline" books, and preserve the cross-references from the procedures guide to the windows guide?
Thank you in advance for any ideas.
Tim

I believe that might work if you used the master document method. That said I strongly recommend that you research Word's master document method as everything I have read indicates the Word gurus suggest it has problems.
Why would you want all these links working? If that is needed, shouldn't the user be accessing the online help?
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
Follow me @petergrainge

Cut and Paste Cross References

As some of you know, I'm updating a book composed of chapter files, with cross references between chapters. This used to be incredibly buggy, with crashes and broken references common. Some of that is improved in CS5.5, but a couple of big issues remain, and I'm wondering if anybody has any suggestions.
Two problems:
You generally can't cut and paste a cross reference. I have text that says "see page 27". I want to move this somewhere else in the same document. Cut it. Paste it. The paste comes in looking like this: "see <?>" -- and you get a broken link in the Hyperlinks panel. That really limits text editing. It doesn't always happen. Sometimes you'll paste and your cross reference works. But that's rare. And you can never copy and paste. That always breaks.
Cross references refer to absolute file pathnames. I'd like to rename some chapter files. But I dare not because I assume that all cross references to destinations in those files will break.
Anybody have any suggestions for either of these things? Number 1 is a real work-stopper right now.
Many thanks,
Steve

Okay, guys -- I've made some progress. And I really appreciate your support, now, and in the past.
Upgrading from 7.5.2 to 7.5.3 -- no improvement,
Save a new copy of the file via Save As -- no improvement,
Export as IDML and then just double-click the IDML to open it -- worked! (Is that the correct procedure? Anything else I need to do?)
It's still just about suicidal to try and edit text in any story containing multiple cross references to chapter files that aren't open. And adding a new cross reference is super-slow, during which time you're sure you're going to crash. But with the imported file, the new cross ref held.
One other point of confusion: new cross references display differently than ones created in older versions of the software. The old ones have dark grey boxes around them. New ones have light blue boxes. No mention of this in the help file that I could find. Even if you update an old cross ref, the dark grey remains. Only starting from scratch produces light blue.
Something corrupted that file, which IDML got rid of. It was corrupted by doing little more than adding or updating a bunch of cross references, and doing some minor text editing. No images in the file, so that had nothing to do with it.
Chapter file sizes, since you asked, are anywhere from 3 to 40 mb. The file I was having problems with is only 2.5 mb. The book contains 22 chapters. Long ago I converted it from one big file to separate chapters. Easier to manage, chapter numbering works more logically and chapter starts are easier to handle. But cross references worked a lot better with the single file.
In any event, problem solved for the moment, so thanks very much again. But Adobe really needs to look at this. It's been broken for way too long.
Steve

Cross-references to numbered steps in a procedure?

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