AutoNumbering Image Captions Possible?

[11Alexandra]

My content was originally created in Word 2003, and I used the autonumbering feature to incrementally number the image captions throughout (Figure 1, 2, 3, etc.). (I have about 9 topics) After importing into RH7 HTML, these are now just static text. I am updating from now on in RoboHelp, and am inserting new images in the middle of topics. This means all subsequent images must be renumbered. Is there a way to do this throughout a topic or globally?

Seems an authoring tool ought to have this feature, but I can't find any mention of it. Anyone know?

[Captiv8r]

Welcome to our community, Alexandra

You said: Seems an authoring tool ought to have this feature, but I can't find any mention of it.

While RoboHelp is certainly an authoring tool, bear in mind that it is an on-line authoring tool. Numbering captions may make total sense in a printed world, but not so much so in an on-line world where topics may be arrived at in many different ways.

You haven't missed anything. There is no such feature I'm aware of in RoboHelp HTML.

Cheers... Rick

[Chet Zeshonski]

There's no such feature, and, as Rick mentioned, it's not as useful on-line. I do have a suggestion, however: create a new topic called "Images," but don't insert it into your TOC. Instead, use it to store your list of images and caption numbers if you decide to continue numbering them. The file can serve as your reminder for which number comes next.

Good luck.

[Captiv8r]

Nice one, Chet! Hadn't thought of that.

Cheers... Rick

[11Alexandra]

Thanks SO MUCH for the quick reply!

It makes sense that there's not so much need (or none) for numbering captions in an online help system. This content was originally made for print, and now is published online.

Actually I think I will just remove the numbering in the captions as I'm not willing to renumber 75 or so images manually everytime there's an update!

[kathyb3452817]

This issue should not be viewed lightly. I have the same problem. Because we use RH as a SINGLE-SOURCE authoring system, I am generating PRINT output as well as CHMs. I am criticized here because in the printed output the tables and figures are not numbered (and thus there is no "table of figures" either)--normally required in our engineering environment. The amount of change and the size of the docs makes maintaining a list and renumbering is a time-consuming work-around for all products.
Every so often I research to see if this feature has been added. I would like Adobe to know that just as their docs refer to Figure 1, etc. (as seen when I research the Knowledge Database) so do our docs and we cannot currently use RH to do this. So THIS IS A DESIRED FEATURE for PRINT output. Thanks, kb

[Captiv8r]

Hi there kbbbbb

Sorry, but I'm not seeing anything in this thread that indicates you have been criticized. Where did that come from? Or did you mean you were being criticized at your workplace because RoboHelp doesn't have those features? If you want Adobe to consider those features, you need to make them aware of the need by completing a wish form.

Click here to view the WishForm/Bug Reporting Form

You should also keep in mind that RoboHelp is now part of the Technical Communication Suite, which includes FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Captivate and Acrobat. In a case such as yours, where Print seems to be a critical piece, you may wish to consider the suite and configure the workflow to be as follows:
* Edit and maintain your docs in FrameMaker. This would provide the print features you want.
* Use RoboHelp to handle converting the Frame information to On-Line.

Yes, I'm aware that RoboHelp has always been advertised as a "Single Source" tool. But when push comes to shove, it's far from perfect for being a one size fits all solution. For what it is, it's darn good and many are happy with it. But I stand by what I said earlier that its primary function is for On-Line systems. I think sometimes marcomms puts too much em-pha-sis on the wrong syll-a-ble.

Cheers and happy Friday to you... Rick

[Kevin_Elmore]

I figured that kbbbbb was being criticized at work. I've worked briefly in an engineering group, and I can imagine them looking down at the documentation force and saying, "Why can't you do something as easy as numbering?"

I think the crux of the problem lies with HTML. I still don't fully understand how the ordered list tags work, but I've learned a lot recently. And it seems that when you start a new ordered list, then it starts at 1 (or whatever you define it to be). So, if you create one ordered list and then include other paragraphs, then a new ordered list will not pick up where you left off.

You can fix this by putting the entire text inside an ordered list tag. I don't know all of the problems this could cause. You only have one ordered list, but you can put an ordered list inside of it. This might cause some confusion for future editors.

For another, a paragraph inside an ordered list defaults to being indented. With style sheets, this might not be an issue.

So, you may be able to create autonumbered captions by framing your topic within ordered list tags. But, I fear that if it were that easy, then Adobe would have incorporated this. Perhaps this is not a good idea, but at least you can see how it works.

If you'd like to see my experiments on this topic (as I hate to talk about something I'm unsure of), see the code below.

Kevin

[MergeThis]

Kevin Elmore:
Although forum topic hijacking is not good practice (it's dealing with caption numbering, not list numbering), here's your answer anyway. You need to manually clean up RH's helpful way of ending lists when it senses an interruption, by removing the extraneous <ol> and </ol> tags to keep the text and other lists within the "outer" list wrapper, as in the attached code.

kbbbbb:
As long as you're producing the PrintDoc as a single file, open the Word file and change the formatting to Outline Numbered for whatever style you're using for the figure captions. Hardly seems like a "time-consuming work-around," don't you agree? I just tested it on a Note style (took a few seconds) and it works just fine.


Good luck,
Leon

[Kevin_Elmore]

I was not attempting to hijack the thread. The original problem was a lack of captions. I figured the problem was not so much with RoboHelp but with HTML. The only way I know in my own limited way to produce automated numbers is through ordered lists. If there is another way to simulate captions within HTML, I do not know it.

And so, faced with a distinct lack of captions, I merely tried to offer a possible solution, though I admit that I am not fully aware of the limitations of the ordered list. I figured that one can simulate a caption autonumber by using the ordered list, though it does have its own limitations, as seen in the second part of my example.

I apologize if my suggestion did not properly address the problem.

Kevin

[Virscidimark]

While this orginal thread is from 2008, I would also appreciate to ask if AutoNumbering Image Captions, Table Captions could be added to Robohelp. We are currently also trying to minimise duplication of work for Print and Online help by using the same core content for both output formats.

I guess though this would be somewhat challenging to implement unless you have the ability to autoreplace certain text that references the caption when making print documentation with something else for online of product help.

ie: something like:

Use tags to define the output type and then a user variable to define the content for either online or print output...

Example when referencing an image in print we will often say "...as shown in figure xxx." Whereas for online help we may say "... as shown below."

I hope this did not detract from the original thread expectation.

[Peter Grainge]

Autonumbering was added in RoboHelp 8.

See http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/rh_tour/index.htm

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge