Hi. Thanks for the answer. Gavin Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 03:08:30AM -0700, [email protected] wrote: > > I have a feature request, please. It relates to indexing in texinfo.tex. > > Packages like LaTeX and professional publishing packages provide for > > multiple levels of index entries, usually up to three keys. For example > > > > coffee makers ..... 15, 21 > > electric ........... 32 > > pink ............ 45 > > > > I would very much like to see this available in texinfo.tex. In > > the gawk manual I have up to three items, separated by commas; if > > more are needed for what I want to say, I use @comma{}. > > > > I took a look a texinfo.tex to see what's there for this kind of thing. > > I'm not at all a TeX hacker, but it looks like there's some half-completed > > support for two levels of items (not three). Sort of like someone > > thought about it, but it doesn't seem to have been carried through. > > If my understanding is correct, this code used to be used for some > of the commands for indexing methods in object-oriented languages, like > @defop, but these were changed long ago. Possibly in the change on > 2001-02-02 in the ChangeLog. > > 2001-02-02 <[email protected]> > > * texinfo.tex (\secondary): handle pdf case. > (\dosubind): secondary index entry not written as separate arg for > texindex. > From: Trevin Beattie <[email protected]> > Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 13:04:06 -0700 > > I've attached the mail for historical interest, which Karl provided to me. > > The C implementation of texindex did actually sort \primary and \secondary > correctly last time I checked (some years ago). I took a quick look. It looks like the output was \entry ... \primary ... \secondary ... \secondary ... \secondary ... > > For backwards compatibility, this would probably have to be done as > > a new command, something like > > > > @cindex2 {coffee makers}{electic}{pink} > > > > or more likely: > > > > @cindex2{coffee makers, electic, pink} > > > > (Yes, that's a bad name, it's just an example for discussion.) > > I think @cindextwo (no digits in TeX macro names) could be called as > > @cindextwo coffee makers, electic, pink > > This would be consistent with the arguments to @node, which are also separated > by commas. But let's make sure that the interface is as consistent as > possible > with other Texinfo commands. So why not just make it work with @cindex? Or do we really need a new command? > > I would be willing to update texindex to support multiple sort > > keys if this would help. Unfortunately, I don't think I can help > > with the TeX part or the makeinfo part. > > I think it should work with \primary and \secondary the same as C texindex > did. Could we do \tertiary also? Or is that asking too much? > I don't think implementing it would be too much of a barrier. The more > important thing is to get the interface right. > > > Does all this make sense? Is it something that can be added to > > the TODO list? > > Yes, I don't see why not. How do we move forward? Thanks! Arnold
