Kurt, The blank entry is a reference to the preface (as defined by DocBook; AsciiDoc calls it the preamble). It's absence is long-standing issue in the AsciiDoc syntax. Because of the way the processor parses this section of the document, the preface title never makes it to the right spot.
I addressed this problem in Asciidoctor 1.5.2 by introducing the document attribute preface-title. The value of this attribute is used to fill in that empty element. See https://github.com/asciidoctor/asciidoctor/issues/1090 We could make the same fix in AsciiDoc Python. See the following lines: * https://github.com/asciidoc/asciidoc/blob/master/docbook45.conf#L505 * https://github.com/asciidoc/asciidoc/blob/master/docbook45.conf#L703 -Dan On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 3:41 PM, Kurt Callaway <[email protected]> wrote: > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7OlMxjBa994/VV-fpdICf2I/AAAAAAAAAAM/fgcQ2qYl7hE/s1600/a_toc_doc.jpg> > Hi! > > I've run into an interesting problem with the Table of Contents in my > Docbook/PDF output. It's not clear to me if the way I'm using Asciidoc is > at fault, or maybe it is something to do with my docbook toolchain. The > PDF outputs always have an anomaly at the start of the auto-generated Table > of Contents: the first line is a row of leader dots and a roman numeral > page number, but there's no title listed. This odd line always appears > first -- either immediately before the first chapter's title; or if I have > a preface section defined, before the preface's line in the ToC. I've > attached a screenshot of a PDF doc showing this behavior. > > Might this be caused by Asciidoc processing trying to include a ToC entry > for the preamble (which may or may not exist)? > > Alternately: I have noticed that when I define a Preface section, my XML > file has two sets of <preface> elements. Could the first one be causing > the phantom ToC line? Here is an excerpt from the XML, after I'd added a > line of preamble text after the header and before the real preface (where I > have my copyright data): > > ... > </bookinfo> > <preface> > <title></title> > <simpara>Preamble line?</simpara> > </preface> > <preface id="_preface"> > <title>Preface</title> > <formalpara><title>Copyright Notification</title><para>Copyright © > 1992-2014 ... </para></formalpara> > ... > </preface> > > Note in the above that the earliest title element remains null. Any > attempt to force a title for that "first" preface block doesn't make any > difference. For example adding a floating header gives this XML: > > ... > </bookinfo> > <preface> > <title></title> > <bridgehead id="_first_section" renderas="sect4">first section</bridgehead> > <simpara>Preamble line?</simpara> > </preface> > <preface id="_preface"> > <title>Preface</title> > <formalpara><title>Copyright Notification</title><para>Copyright © > 1992-2014 ... </para></formalpara> > ... > </preface> > > Even completely removing the [preface] section from the asciidoc text > doesn't help. One preface element disappears, but the spurious null title > element remains (and the dots-only row in the ToC is still there too): > > ... > </bookinfo> > <preface> > <title></title> > <formalpara><title>Copyright Notification</title><para>Copyright © > 1992-2014 ... </para></formalpara> > ... > </preface> > > The PDF is generated using this incantation: > a2x -f pdf -a numbered -d book --icons --fop --xsltproc-opts > "--stringparam toc.section.depth 4" ./master.txt > > I looked through the forum here, but haven't seen any previous issues > resembling this. Any insights or suggestions would be much appreciated. > > Thanks, > Kurt Callaway > Houston, Texas > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "asciidoc" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/asciidoc. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Dan Allen | http://google.com/profiles/dan.j.allen -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "asciidoc" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/asciidoc. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
