[Bug 158520] Writer: Index-tagged headings not considered headings cross-reference-wise

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=158520

--- Comment #6 from ajlittoz <page74010-sf at yahoo.fr> ---
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #5)
>
> I understand the request/s as
> * allow cross-reference to index entries (with the argument that it can be
> added to the ToC)
> 
Then for the user, a TOC-inserted IE is expected to behave like an "ordinary"
heading. I.e. in addition of TOC appearance, the IE should be reference-able
the same as "See chapter xxx p.yy" for "ordinary" heading.

> I don't understand
> * "It (the index entry) is assigned an outline level" (the field is not a
> paragraph, the H2 "Lorem" is not the IE but you added a cross-reference
> later)
The Lorem ipsum paragraph (3rd para from top of file) is an index entry. I
_simulated_ an Xref to it in the before-last paragraph by adding a bookmark on
"See >Lorem …<", hence the gray background. There is no real Xref. It is purely
illustrative to show what I'd like to do.

You may suggest I could have created the bookmark on the index entry. That is
precisely what I don't want to do: it would be double-work: index + bookmark
both manually.

> * an index entry lacks many properties of standard headings (how can you
> compare the two things?)

I know that are different things…
> 
> Essentially you probably wonder why ToC can add IE at all (and suggest to
> remove this option) or request index entries to be added to the
> cross-reference-able types (like bookmarks). Please clarify.

… but: since an "index entry" can be assigned to TOC (vs. Alphabetical Index or
User "Index"), it acquires distinctive properties.

1. it can no longer be distinguished with keys
2. it somehow becomes "unique", i.e. identical entries can no longer be
combined because entries are then listed in document order

Considering these properties, such TOC IE become quasi-headings. Headings can
be Xref'ed for page number, referenced text or chapter number. Of course, the
latter won't get you an "integrated" chapter number because you can't assign
the internal heading numbering style outside Tools>Heading Numbering (only a
single paragraph style can be designated at any level).

The main difference is such IE are not necessarily full paragraphs. IMHO this
fact offers a solution to the problem of run-in headings, except for heading
numbering.

The main point of my "complaint" is the impossibility to cross-ref the IEs. As
I mentioned above, TOC-IEs are "logically" and technically (as far as I can
judge) no longer ordinary IEs. Ordinary IE are not cross-reference-able because
they are not unique. The same IE may occurs at several locations (this is the
main reason for alphabetical index). But TOC-IEs ARE unique with "key" index
text+location, the same headings are unique with text+location. You can write a
document where the same heading text is present at several locations, e.g. a
document where all chapters have the same sub-chapters. This does not preclude
you from Xref'ing these sub-chapters.


I hope you understand my primary argument is the destination of the IE (=TOC)
which makes it different from alphabetical index IE. I would say the same holds
for user-index IE because these user indexes are in fact user TOCs.

Just a side-remark: I have always been worried by the use of word "Index". In
my native language, this word is rather meant to designate alphabetical index
while TOCs and others are preferentially named "tables" (with again an
ambiguity in Writer with the table feature, an area divided into cells). This
illustrates the difficulty to find a non-ambiguous vocabulary.

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are on the CC list for the bug.