Hi Randall, I don't think there was anything in the olden days that stopped working on later versions. I would suggest that you look at FrameScript as a way to automate adding the required leading zeros. If you can spell out your exact requirements, I can help you determine what is possible with FrameScript. I looked at this problem some time ago for a mil-spec client, and we were able to come up with a FrameScript solution that would largely automate the process.
Let's face it: FrameMaker is a great publishing platform, but sometimes it needs help to overcome some of its limitations. This is not the kind of task you want to maintain by hand, especially when it may be possible to automate it inexpensively. If you want to pursue this further, please contact me off-list. Thank you very much. Rick Quatro Carmen Publishing Inc. 585-659-8267 rick at frameexpert.com www.frameexpert.com http://www.frameexpert.com/peace/ FM Pilgrims: We are trying to perfect some standard TOC and Index features in the Reference pages and are having "issues" with things that apparently used to work in 6.xx and don't appear to work anymore with Structured 7.2: This is a MIL SPEC 40051-2 project, which requires a 4-digit work package number element (<wpnum>) for each file, from 0001 to approx 0400+. The leading zeroes are crucial, as the spec requires four-digits to appear on the page, page number, TOC, and Index. Problem: We cannot get Frame 7.2 to recognize the coding to pick up the attribute <leadingzero[wpnum]>, which sets the number of zeroes to 3 for WPs 1 to 9, 2 for WPs 10 to 99, and the default 1 for WPs 100 and up. It should work, but it does. We believe it worked on older versions of FM that we used in the past, but it won't work now. (We suspect some unannounced tinkering by Adobe that has had unintended consequences...) Looks like we are forced to drop the whole attribute idea and just use the system variable <$chapnum> to generate the work package number and basically treat it like text so that it retains the leading zeroes, which would normally be truncated by FM. But, that means essentially hard-keying <wpnum> values into each file, which is a step backwards, in my mind, from what FM should be able to do for us automatically. 1. What changed between 6.xx and 7.2 to make attributes a no-go on the Reference page? 2. What is everyone else who does 40051-2 compliant mil spec pubs doing for <wpnum> in each package? Is there another obvious approach I am missing? 3. Am I being completely addled or was there really a way to do this in the "olden days"? TIA! Randall C. Reed Senior Technical Writer Technical Publications Total Life Cycle Support Force Protection Industries, Inc. (o) 843-574-3899 (c) 843-906-5522