Nik wrote: > Hi Grag, > > Thanks for your response. > > >> Message: 4 >> Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2006 11:14:56 -0400 >> From: Gregory Pittman <gpittman at iglou.com> >> Subject: Re: [Scribus] inserting a frame into already linked frames >> To: scribus at nashi.altmuehlnet.de >> Message-ID: <44B11D70.8030903 at iglou.com> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed >> >> Nik wrote: >> >> >>> Hi All, >>> >>> I have encountered this situation in most documents, and still haven't >>> found a good solution. The issue is that for various reasons, I find I >>> need to insert a frame somewhere in the middle of an existing set of >>> linked frames. The problem is that Scribus doesn't seem to allow me to >>> link my new frame to any frame which has existing links. So the only way >>> that I have found to successfully insert a frame is to manually unlink >>> all the frames from the insertion point to the last frame in the chain, >>> link in my new frame, and then manually re-link all the frames together >>> that I just had to unlink. If the chain has many frames (if I have >>> tables, then there can be 50 or more frames invloved, then this is very >>> tedious. >>> >>> I have looked around for some way to force link or unlink a frame, but >>> have found nothing so far. Is there something I've missed which makes >>> this easier? >>> >>> >> I think the key may be in identifying the last of the linked frames, >> which I was able to add a linked frame to. You cannot add to anything >> upstream from the last one. >> > > Why not? It seems to be a useful feature. > > >> Do not start by selecting >> the frame you want to link to, it has to be the one you are linking from. >> > > Is this for linking, or unlinking? > > Greg, thanks for your advice. I now have two further questions in my mind: > > Q1: Why the restriction that I cannot insert (or remove) a frame in the > middle of a chain? It seems arbitrary, and forces me into a > unnecessarily time-consuming workflow. > Perhaps the developers will know -- seems a rather complex operation to accomplish. > Q2: If I have understood you correctly, and it is intentionally > impossible to insert or remove a frame in/from the middle of a chain, > then should I create an RFE to have this as a new feature? > > I have at least three situations in which it is certainly more efficient > to insert a frame into a chain than to add to the end of the chain: > > 1. I have a chapter of a document which goes over multiple pages. Each > page therefore has at least one text frame, and these frames are linked > to flow the chapter over the pages. Interspersed within the text of this > document are diagrams in image frames and sidebars in text frames, etc. > In the process of editing, one or more paragraphs are added somewhere in > the middle of the chapter. When I reimport the new text, the extra text > causes the diagrams and sidebars to be out of position relative to the > text. What I want to do is insert a page in the middle of the chapter, > create a text frame on that new page, and insert the frame somewhere in > the middle of the chain of linked text frames. But to do this, I have to > unlink every text frame from the insertion point up to the end of the > chapter, just so I can link in the new frame, and then ... re-link all > the previously unlinked frames, in the same order. Lots of work for no > purpose. > My other option is to insert the new page at the end of the chapter, > create a text frame on that page, and link it to the end of the chain. > Now I have to fix all the out-of-position frames. So I have to go to > each page between the text insertion point and the end of the chapter, > and cut-and-paste the diagram and sidebar frames and move them, > typically to a later page. Of course, as I delete each frame, the text > which previously wrapped around that frame moves up, so it is basically > guess-work as to where I put the frames, meaning that the task typically > requires multiple passes over the frames. In fact, I usually perform the > first pass in last-to-first order, since the only spare space is at the > end of the chapter, where the new page has been added. Once I've got the > frames on approximately correct pages, then I can move them around to > get the best new location. > > 2. The new text involves inserting a new table. In this case, I cannot > usefully add the new frame at the end of the chain, since the new frame > is a table frame. I *must* insert the new table frame in the middle of > the chain. In this case I am *forced* to go through the > unlink-just-so-I-can-relink procedure. > > 3. A change to the size of a table is needed. This may be due to a > change in the number of columns or rows in the table, or it may be a > need to split a table over a page break. In either case, the change to > the table requires that the old table be deleted, and a new one created. > Even if this is changed in future so table size can be modified, adding > or deleting table cells will still often require inserting or removing a > frame from the middle of a chain. > As far as I know, you can delete/insert content in the middle of a series of linked frames.
Greg
