Listing Graphics in the TOC...?

Question

Hello-
I am very new to FrameMaker and have only been working with it for a few weeks now.
My company is using FrameMaker 10 to create a User Manual for one of our products.  This is a large PDF document with multiple chapters.  We are creating each chapter as a separate FrameMaker document and then compiling the entire group of chapter documents into a book with a table of contents (TOC) when creating the final version of the PDF.  We are, however, having a problem with the creation of the TOC which can be better explained via the figure below.
The first page of each chapter has a banner graphic (portable network graphic) across the top of it which has the chapter number and the subject of the chapter as text within the graphic itself.  Since this information is part of the graphic itself, it is not being detected by FrameMaker when the TOC is being generated and is therefore not being included in the TOC of the User Manual PDF.
The Paragraph and Sub-Paragraph text IS detected and listed in the TOC.  However, since the chapter title is only represented in the PDF with a graphic, the TOC will skip from listing the last Sub-Paragraph title of the previous chapter and then jump directly to the first Paragraph title of the next chapter.
Question:
How can we continue to represent our chapter titles with graphics (preferred by management) but somehow have the beginning of a new chapter and its title represented in the TOC when the PDF is generated?

Answer 1

Remember, there are two types of text frames. If you ctrl+click to
select the small frame you are using on the master page, then
right-click and choose Object Properties, you can tell that the frame
you are using is a background frame by looking in the "Tag" field (which
will be empty). When the Tag field is empty, the text frame is a
background text frame. Any content put in such a frame WILL show up on
the body page, but if I remember right, it will NOT show up in TOCs.
If you ctrl+click to select the large text frame on the master page, and
then right-click and select Object Properties, you will see that there
is probably a Tag setting of "A." This means that this frame is in flow
A on the body page. Type text in that frame and you will see that it
does NOT show up on the body page. Text frames with a flow tag are
merely placeholder frames for the body page. And content placed into the
text frame on a body page CAN be picked up by the TOC.
Since it appears that your goal is to make that graphic wider than the
main text frame, it looks like you want to do something a little
different than what you first showed as an example and what I described.
Try this:
1. Create a new master page (Special> Add Master Page). A dialog box
will pop up. Since this is going to be the first page in a chapter and
is unique in style from typical right and left pages, name it First and
choose an "Initial Page Layout" of "Empty." (Don't use the Left or Right
master pages for custom master pages as they are the pages FM
automatically inserts when you type enough text to require
autogeneration of a new page. You can, of course, alter the design of
Left and Right master pages if you want.)
2. Using the graphics toolbar (View> Toolbars> Graphics Toolbar ), click on the Text Frame Tool and then draw a text
box on your new "First" master page. Make it big enough to hold your
chapter graphic. A dialog will pop up. Choose "Template for Body Page
Text Frame" with a Flow Tag of A. Click the Add button. You now have one
text frame on your page. (You probably noticed that the other choice was
to set the frame for "Background Text," which is not what we want this
time.)
3.  Since you want the text frame for your main text to be narrower, we
will now draw a second, narrower text frame on the same page. So click
on the Text Frame Tool again, and draw a second text frame on the page
at the size you want. A dialog box will pop up. Again, choose the
"Template for Body Page Text Frame" with a Flow Tag of A. Click the Add
button. A notification should pop up that "The new text frame has been
connected to the end of flow A." This means that, though there are now
two boxes on your screen, they flow as one. There should be a section
sign in the upper left corner of the first frame, but nothing in the
second frame.* When you type enough text into the first frame, it will
flow into the second frame automatically. (Remember, though, we are
working on a master page. You will insert your actual content on a BODY
page. So don't put anything in the text frames now.)
If there is a section marker in both frames, something went a little
wrong, but can be fixed. Ctrl-click the first frame, then ctrl-click the
second frame. Both should be selected. Then choose Format> Customize
Layout> Connect Text Frames and the second section marker should disappear.
4. View> Body Pages to move back to the body page. Since this is the
first page in the book and content has not been added, you should be
seeing a Right page. So use Format> Page Layout> Master Page Usage and
choose Custom and First to assign your new master page format to this
page. Click Apply.
5. Now you can type your chapter title into the first text frame and
assign your ChapterTitle paragraph format to it. Make sure the "Space
Below" setting for the format in the Paragraph Designer is large enough
that, when you press a carriage return at the end of the line, it moves
that section marker down into the second text frame.
6. Now you can import your graphic. Click OUTSIDE** the text frames and
choose File> Import> File, then locate your graphic and click the Import
button. The graphic will appear in the middle of the page. Click and
drag it to where you want, to where it will cover the chapter title that
you typed. You may be done, but if you can still see the chapter title
that you typed, there is one more step. (Because the graphic ended up
behind the type instead of on top of it.) With the graphic still
selected, choose Graphics> Bring to Front. Done!
**When importing the graphic for this step, it is important not to click
within the text frame before you import the graphic because that will
place the graphic in an anchored frame and it will be harder to get it
to hide the typed text. The method I described makes the graphic float
on the page as a separate entity, a bit like stuff put in a background
text frame on the master page. Note also that this technique doesn't
usually work elsewhere in a document, since you usually want a graphic
to move along with associated text, when more text is added. The method
I described above does not allow the graphic to shift.
7. Any further text you type should appear in the second text frame, and
should autoconnect with additional pages as they are created.
8. Now, you can assign (Format> Page Layout> Master Page Usage) this
"First" master page design to the first page in each new chapter you
write. (You can use File> Import> Formats to pull master page formats
from one document to another.)
You know, when I first started out with FrameMaker, I banged my head for
a few days-- especially before I found this group. Then I started
getting aha! moments all over the place and it became clear that FM has
a very logical design and is a wonderful program. It is not, however, as
flexible at positioning graphics as InDesign.
Anyway, I hope those steps will get you started.