Hi.
Gavin Smith <[email protected]> wrote:
> I found that text in the number field would have to be surrounded in
> braces, like this:
No problem dealing with that.
> I am not sure about the regex for matching Roman numerals is a good
> idea. There are more features for index formatting that we haven't
> considered: page numbers having styles such as bold or italic is
> something that occurs in some indices in books or articles. Then we
> might want e.g. @b{23} or @i{56} in the number field - that wouldn't be
> a "see also". I can imagine an obscure bug where the word "mix" appears
> in the page number field when it does not mean 1009. I'd prefer
> something more explicit.
This is easy; we match against @see(also)? in that field. If it doesn't
match, it's a page number.
> > I guess these become:
> >
> > @cindex output record separator @see{@code{ORS} variable}
> > @cindex @code{print} statement @seealso{redirection@comma{} of output}
After more thought, I'd like this to turn into
@entry{output record separator}{{@see{@code{ORS} variable}}{output
record separator}
@entry{print statement}{{@seealso{redirection@comma{} of
output}}}{@code{print} statement}
The part before the @see or @seealso is the text and sort key; I want to
be able to allow for
@cindex output record separator @see{@code{ORS} variable}
@cindex output record separator
I will sort "see" and "see" also before entries with page numbers.
(It's probably bad practice to have such things but why should we limit it?)
Output from texindex would be:
@entry{output record separator, @see{@code{ORS} variable}}{}
@entry{@code{print} statement, @seealso{redirection@comma{} of
output}}{}
That is, the page number field will be empty for "see" and "see also".
> What is this supposed to look like in the kind of index formatting
> that texinfo.tex uses, with the dot leaders? Should the leaders be
> present or not for a "see"? (I guess not.)
I agree, no dots.
> Where does a "see also" appear in relation to the leaders and the other
> page numbers? (I guess after all the page numbers, after the leaders.)
I would put it before the entries with the page numbers.
> What precedent is there for this?
For see and see also? Take a look at any O'Reilly book, for example.
> It is much more common for there to be no leaders
> when an index is formatted and for the page numbers to follow the
> index entry immediately. I tried to check if similar output could
> be output for LaTeX, but I didn't find how to get the dot leaders type
> of index formatting in the time I spent on it.
The source for Karl's "TeX for the Impatient" is available, as a GNU
project even. That might be a useful reference.
I kind of like the leaders (or at least the right justified page
numbers) myself.
In any case, those are my current thoughts.
Thanks!
Arnold
