What's up with tab stops for index?

Question

Hey,
Basically, I want my index to have dots before the numbers. Pretty standard: Words, blah bla.........8.
After reading the following page, I thought I understood how to format my index. Makes logical sense.
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FrameMaker/9.0/Using/WSd817046a44e105e21e63e3d11ab7f7561e-7f65 .html
I got it to work for a minute, and then the dots disappeared, and I'm at a loss. Can't get them back, despite starting from scratch.
On my Ref pages I have:
................... 1, 2–3
    ................. Level2IX
The above paragraphs are formatted as Level1IX, and Level2IX, respectively, on the Ref Pages. When I go to the body pages and click on the text it seems that the correct info is in the Paragraph Designer, BUT NO DOTS or tabs come up.
Is there something I'm missing? I don't get why this can be so tricky? (Sorry, I'm a little frustrated at this point).
(By the way, I do hit Apply and then Update All on the Ref Pages, in the Paragraph Designer.)
Thanks,
Ian

Answer 1

Iangull249 wrote:
Hey,
Basically, I want my index to have dots before the numbers. Pretty standard: Words, blah bla.........8.
After reading the following page, I thought I understood how to format my index. Makes logical sense.
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FrameMaker/9.0/Using/WSd817046a44e105e21e6 3e3d11ab7f7561e-7f65.html
I got it to work for a minute, and then the dots disappeared, and I'm at a loss. Can't get them back, despite starting from scratch.
On my Ref pages I have:
................... 1, 2–3
    ................. Level2IX
The above paragraphs are formatted as Level1IX, and Level2IX, respectively, on the Ref Pages. When I go to the body pages and click on the text it seems that the correct info is in the Paragraph Designer, BUT NO DOTS or tabs come up.
Is there something I'm missing? I don't get why this can be so tricky? (Sorry, I'm a little frustrated at this point).
(By the way, I do hit Apply and then Update All on the Ref Pages, in the Paragraph Designer.)
Thanks,
Ian
The problem may be just one of those "well, that's how it works" things, or it may be something else.
I'm thinking of the problem that affects tabs and tab stops, when the width of the generated list's text frame on the body page is narrower than the generated list's specification text frame on the reference page.
FrameMaker's tab stops are "absolute," unlike almost every other tab stop you've seen; those are "relative." In FrameMaker-ese this means that the first (leftmost) tab character is absolutely connected to the first (leftmost) tab stop in the paragraph's format, and, naturally, the second goes with the second, etc.
If you type a tab character, it tried to go to the tab stop it's connected to. So, if the first tab character you type in the first line of a paragraph is to the left of the first tab stop, the text jumps to that tab stop, and you keep typing. The second tab character you type tries to go to the second tab stop, and so on.
However, if the typing has passed (gone to the right of) its tab stop, unlike relative tab behavior which goes to the next available tab stop, in FrameMaker that tab is dead. It's a zero-width lurker. If you type a second tab character at the same place as the dead first tab character, if the second tab stop is to the right of this tab character, the typing will jump to the tab stop, and so on.
Well, suppose you create a right-aligned tab stop at a fixed position on the line, say 6.5", about where the default reference page text frame ends, and you define the rest of its paragraph properties as you like, you'll expect everything on the body page created by generating a list or index from that reference page. Good thinking. But NOOOOOOOOOT necessarily true. If the main text frame in the generated list or index document has been narrowed, that right-aligned tab stop will be outside the margin, and stuff will act silly.
Moral: it's always a good idea to define tab stop positions in the exact text frame where they will appear. Usually, there's no problem, except when the paragraphs are defined in the text frame on the reference page. It's not always the same width as the document page on which it places generated text.
If this isn't the problem, I'm out of ideas. Probably something that's easier to explain<G>.
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices