FrameMaker Tips

Generated Lists and Indexes

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Category: Using FrameMaker

Relevance: All Manuals

Generated files can help you gather pieces of information such as all the text that uses the Figure Title paragraph tag or all the imported graphics (a reference) in a document or book.

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A generated file is a file created by FrameMaker by extracting paragraphs or marker text from a source document or from several documents in a book. Each time the generated file is updated, all the old paragraphs or marker text are discarded and the current text from the source documents replaces them. In this way, FrameMaker keeps generated files such as tables of contents current and accurate.

You can generate several types of lists and indexes in addition to a table of contents and standard index. For example, you can generate lists and indexes that contain text from paragraphs or from markers that you inserted in the text. The result may be a table of contents based on heading paragraphs, a list of illustrations based on figure titles, or an index based on special author markers.

In general, a list will show entries in the order they occur in the document or book, an index will show entries in alphabetical order.

Most lists and indexes fall into four categories: lists of paragraphs (or elements in structured documents), lists of markers, indexes of markers, and lists and indexes of references.

Tables of contents and other lists of paragraphs or elements

Lists of paragraphs contain the text of specified paragraphs (those with the tags you specify), with one entry per paragraph. You can generate the following lists of paragraphs:

Tables of contents, which contain headings of specified levels, listed in the order in which they occur in the source documents

Lists of figures, tables, or paragraphs, which contain figure captions, table titles, or the text of other specified paragraphs, listed in the order they occur in the source documents

Lists of markers

Lists of markers contain entries corresponding to the markers inserted on body pages in the source document. For example, you could create a list of outside links in a manual by generating a list of markers of type Hypertext.

Indexes of markers

Indexes of markers include standard indexes, author and subject indexes, and indexes of other types of markers. You can use syntax (building blocks) in the marker text to specify index levels and special page numbering, sorting, and formatting.

Lists and indexes of references

Lists and indexes of references help you track special categories of information. You can generate lists and indexes of condition tags, external cross-references, unresolved cross-references, fonts, text insets, unresolved text insets, and imported graphics.

Generate a list or index for a book

1. With the book open, go to the Add menu, choose which kind of list or index you would like to create.

The items you see in the dialog box depend on the type of list or index you are generating.

2. In the Add File pop-up menu, specify whether the generated list will appear before or after the current document.
3. Enter a suffix or keep the default one. The suffix indicates the type of generated file. For example, TOC is the usual suffix for a table of contents, IOR is the usual suffix for an index of references.
   Note: The suffix is not the same as the filename’s extension. The suffix is used with paragraph tag names in the generated lists (i.e. Heading1TOC), and appears as part of the generated file’s filename (i.e. SMMTOC.fm).
   I generally add a hyphen before the suffix, so I get SMM-TOC.fm instead of SMMTOC.fm.
4. Move items to the Include scroll list. To move an item between scroll lists, select the item and click an arrow, or double-click the item. To move all items from one scroll list to the other, Shift-click an arrow.
   For lists or indexes that are based on paragraph tags or structure elements, note that paragraph tags have a paragraph symbol before the tag name, elements have no symbol.
5. To have each entry in the generated list be linked to its source, select Create Hypertext Links.
6. Click Add, and then click Update. FrameMaker generates the list and adds it to the book.

Generate a list or index for a single document

1. With the document open, go to the Special menu and choose which kind of list or index you would like to create.

A dialog box will appear asking if you want to create the generated file as a stand-alone document or add it to a book.

If you choose Yes to create a standalone document, FrameMaker will create a generated list in the original document’s folder.

If you choose No, FrameMaker adds the generated file to an open book, or creates a new book if necessary.

2. Follow steps 2-6 of Generate a list or index for a book.

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Viewing a generated file for the first time

The first time you generate a list, the list uses the page layout (master pages) of the first non-generated document in the book, and all entries look the same. The example below shows the information that was generated by creating an index of references and choosing Imported Graphics from the list.

To make this a little more legible:

1. Go to the reference page view (alt+v+n), then go to the page titled TOC or IOR (page title is at the bottom of the window next to the page number).

2. Find the text <$pagenum>, place a tab in front of it.

3. Regenerate the file.
4. Go to the Paragraph Designer and create a new tab stop.

Now you can see the path to the graphic and the page number of the page it’s on.

Notice that the entries in the example are in alpha/numeric order and some entries have multiple pages.

5. If you checked the box next to Create Hypertext Links, you can jump to the graphic or page by holding down Ctrl and Alt while clicking on an entry to activate the link.