Bug #293 - External Text Marks
Product:PageStream 5.0.4.31 (All Platforms)Reported By:Tim Doty
Severity:EnhancementAssigned To:Deron Kazmaier
Priority:Average sign in to watch (1 is watching)
Status:NewReported:2009-06-10 06:17:41
Category:Document/LayoutUpdated:2009-06-10 06:17:41
Summary:External Text Marks
Keywords:external text mark
Attached Files:No files attached.
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The ability to reference pages in another document would be a useful enhancement of the text mark functionality for multivolume works. This would mean adding a button "Load Document" to the Insert Text Mark Page Number/Insert Text Mark Name dialogs. Having such update only when the document is opened, printed or saved as PDF would be sufficient, although at least exposing such functionality to script, e.g., RefreshExternalPageReferences(), would be handy to allow forcing it.

Tim Doty wrote...2009-06-10 06:29:34

To clarify, the "Load Document" button that is postulated would provide a requester to select an external PgS document that would be parsed for text marks, and those then presented in the dialog instead of the document's own.

It would also facilitate things to have the possibility of including the document's title in the reference. It is less clear how this should be done, and perhaps a general enhancement by extending the reference system is in order. The current system does not allow addressing by chapter name, only by chapter number, for example.

If the user were able to set a default format for references or select from a list of defaults this would facilitate things. For example: Text/Insert/Reference would allow selecting a page mark with a format drop down that included a <custom> option with a free form text field to facilitate that. Pre-existing reference formats might include:

abbreviated: [<title>] p. #
norrmal: [<title>] page #
full: [<title>] <chapter(s)> page #

The <title> being in square braces would make it optional -- current document marks would omit it while external document marks would include it.

The other related enhancement would be the ability to specify two page marks, one to mark the beginning the other for the end. This would be to allow:

see p. 150 (both on the same page, 150)
see pp. 150-169 (lowest number on 150, highest on 169)
see pages 150 to 169 ("full" format version)

Tim Doty wrote...2009-06-10 06:34:56

things I would think would make good "variables" would be:

document name
chapter name
page name
text mark name
text mark page number
document variables

To reference a variable could be something like:

$<document variable name>
{docname}
{chapname}
{pagename}
{markname}
{marknumber}

This would allow easy distinction between document variables so that there would be no name collisions. Using '\' as an escape character would allow use of \, $, { and } in the text by preceding it with a '\'

Tim Doty wrote...2009-06-10 06:46:09

forgot to specify [] for optional. Thus:

see [book {docname} ][chapter {chapname} for ]{markname} on page {marknumber}

would only use docname if it weren't the same document, would only use those components of [chapname] which differed from the current position. So if in mydoc/animals/mammals/ in an entry on squirrels and making a reference to mydoc/animals/mammals mark for cats then it would insert "see cats on page #" while a reference to mydoc/animals/reptiles mark for iguanas would insert "see chapter reptiles for iguanas on page #"

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Bug #293 - External Text Marks by Tim Doty   external text mark
  created:2009-06-10 06:17:41   last updated:2009-06-10 06:17:41
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