Long autonumber text not wrapping in narrow columns

Hi, Arnis:

Does this happen with other autonumber texts about the same length? If this one fails when others do wrap, I wonder if the long string of characters I'm also away from FrameMaker, so I can't test this, but I wonder if perhaps the long string of characters before the first character space exceeds some limit that prevents FrameMaker from choosing a wrap point. Perhaps someone on the forum can test this.

HTH

Regards,

Peter

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Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

How about inserting a conditional hyphen?

Hi, Arnis:

Well, if specific fonts cause or don't cause it, then that would be interesting. I did a quick test in InDesign, and Lo! and Behold! the same problem raised by a magnitude: if the text column is too narrow for the long autonumber, it doesn't wrap nor overwrite itself as in your example. Instead it disappears and displays InDesign's text-overflow symbol. In InDesign, text variables cannot wrap across line or container boundaries; they typically overwrite themselves as in your FrameMaker example.

Your example looks like you're using a side-head paragraph format in a side-head pseudo-column. Have you tested the long autonumber in a non-sidehead text frame? Results?

I'm wondering if the limit might be some number of characters equal to or less than the largest-possible number that might need to be displayed in an auto-numbered paragraph format. Perhaps the limit is a combination number of characters that includes text and numbers, digits, decimals, and thousands separators. Have you invested any time and effort in trying various combinations? Results?

You've been the go-to FrameMaker forum resource guy for so long, I'll vote for naming this bug or feature after you, like astronomers name new stars.<G>

HTH

Regards,

Peter

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Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

How about replacing Facilitator/Self-Study Participant: with Note:?

Hi, Arnis:

Ooops. I overlooked your mention of not using a side-head construct. Well, you've done plenty of homework on this, so you need only copy/paste it into a bug/enhancement form and wait a few releases for it perhaps to be changed to something more useful.

I'm sure you've looked into using a variable or cross-reference or text inset as the lead-in text, in a run-in paragraph. Any value in those?

Regards,

Peter

_______________________

Peter Gold

KnowHow ProServices

My recollection is that autonumbers cannot extend past the end of a line (which is why they cannot contain forced returns). Back in the dark ages when we were designing the prefix/suffix capability for structured documents, we partially compensated by allowing prefixes and suffixes to contain soft or hard line breaks.

           --Lynne

Arnis,

   I first used FrameMaker in 1991, just after version 3 came out. Limiting autonumbers to a single line was in place then. Just a guess, but I suspect that the possibility of a line break just wasn't considered in the original implementation and the capability has never been extended.

  When there are no automatically calculated numbers or font changes in the desired string, I recommend using structured documents and inserting the text as a prefix or suffix. While prefixes and suffixes can contain multiple lines, their length is also limited.

        --Lynne

Xrefs wrap. If the text containing the autonum can reside elsewhere (such as on a Reference Page), an Xref to it in the narrow Body page column does wrap.

If there's room, you could even put the source AN text on the body page, in very small invisible color, right below the Xref.