Re: Outlining (Whishes for a future U2)

["Patricia M. Godfrey" PriscaMG@xxxxxxxx]

E J Inggs wrote:
However, a quick and dirty workaround would be to get the XPL program to create a temporary outline file and simply delete the text between headings.

That was what I was thinking of, only if you use TX, you don't have to
delete the text between, because only your headings are included. And
now that I think of it, you don't ned an NV switch on the TX command,
just a "if exist outline.txt delete outline.txt" before it.

Robert wrote:
Does everyone create outlines using the DC (Define Counter) and C#
(Counter)commands? Can that be assumed? Why use a "number of ≪
tabs" instead of a unique Style command for each DC, which would≪
require only one tab (although that one tab would indent to≪
different depths)?≪

What I do is mark each heading thus:
≪X1≫≪USH1≫≪C1≫. (or, of course, USH2, C2, and so on)

I used to embed the counter in the SS, but found that for purposes of
generating a TofC, making it separate worked better. It also made it
possible to have headings of the same level (e.g., Introduction,
Appendix) as numbered heads without the numbers. Of course. the actual
codes are embedded in text from a set of SGs; about the only time I use
SGs any more, but when I tried to put them in the keyboard file, I got
error messages because the styles had not previously been Saved.

But if you use TX, one would just need to be sure and embed the XN
command before whatever you wanted to appear in the outline (wouldn't
even need to be a header, except that you do need a CR/LF at the end).

If I understand Robert's comment about tabs correctly, you're saying
that the SS command should set the Tab (e.g., ≪SSH1,TS.05IN≫)? Hmm. I
don't normally indent my headers, except for when I get really far down
the scale, and then I use IP to indent the whole level, text and header,
thus:
≪SSH4,IP=.5IN,.5IN,SZ=11PT,MD=BO≫
then the text that follows that (it's a run-in header) is
≪SSRUNIN,IP=.5IN,.5IN,SZ=11PT,TS=.5IN,1IN,1.5IN≫

Or for "sample sentences," illustrating the grammatical error under
discussion, I use
≪SSSAMPLE,UF=SWISS,IP=.7IN,.7IN,.7IN,SZ=11PT≫

In the actual TofC, I do want indentions, but I had a fix for that.
Haven't done this in a long while, so I'm rusty, but I rather think I
had separate SS for the TOC file and the doc itself, so that, since the
US command got carried over as part of the TOC, I could have 2d-level
heads indented .5 in, 3d-level 1 in, and so on. Or maybe I did a CI on
the TofC. I could probably dig up some of those files off my backup CDs
if it would help.

Another method, which I find I used once when trying to show an author
that her structure didn't match what she promised in Ch. 1, was to embed
≪LBH1≫, ≪LBH2≫ and so on before each heading. I then must have
written a pm (now lost; this was three PCs ago) to SE /f ≪LBHN≫, Begin
Define, go to the end of the line, end define, copy to the adjacent
screen, in which outline.txt has been created, release define, switch
back to the original file, and then loop until Not Found.

The reason we want this is that when one is working on a long document,
with many groupings of subtopics and sub-subtopics, and so on, it's easy
to get lost and not remember exactly what your organizational schema is.
One method is to write out your schema first, and then write (or copy
and paste from other docs you've written) the actual text. But even
then, one is likely to find one self moving things about. But I think
the basic tool is already there in TX and just needs some
automation--for which, of course, we'd be very grateful, though I
suspect it's not too hard. I'm juggling 4 or 5 tasks right now or I'd
have a whack at it myself.

Patricia M. Godfrey