From: Peter Fournier <boreal@x400.bnr.ca>
Subject: Re: Glossary building suggestions, anyone?
Organization: Bell Northern Research
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1b3
     <1992Aug19.222444.2107@sfu.ca>
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 19:40:23 GMT

In article <1992Aug06.124007.9280@bnr.ca> Paul Boudreaux,
paulbx@bnr.ca writes:
>Does anyone have a suggestion on how to build a glossary?  I want
to 
>build a glossary of technical terms and acronyms as I am writing a 
>design document.  However, the method I am using requires that I
scroll
>through my glossary appendix window to the approiate alphabetical
place
>before entering my new term.  I would like to be able to enter the 
>terms in any order and then sort them alphabetically when I'm done.
>
>I've checked into building a table.  However, I don't know how to
sort
>a table by one of its columns.  I've noticed that an index can be
sorted
>alphabetically.  And I don't mind if the method for creating this 
>alphabetically sorted glossary is similar to creating an index. 
For instance,
>something like marking the word as I come to it and entering some
"hidden"
>text that will be pulled into a generated list later.  However,
I've seen
>nothing of this sort.
>
>By the way, there are probably other times when I'll want to sort a
table
>by one if it's columns.  Frame Technology request for feature:
Please add
>a sort capability, after all MS-Word and Word-Perfect have it!


Suggestions for sorting in Unix and using Glossary markers are on
track.  
Here's what we would do in our goup:

METHOD 1

1)  Mark Glossary terms with Glossary markers. 
2)  Generate the glossary.
3)  Find and Replace the paragraph symbols at the end of each
glossay term in the 
     resulting file with Tab Paragraph Symbol ( \t\p) .
4)  Save as text.
5)  Open the text file with a spreadsheet program with top notch
sorting-capability
     or in Microsoft Word or in some other word processor with good
sorting capability.
6)  Do whatever is needed to turn the "term tab paragraph end"
paragraphs 
     into tables (usually done automatically in spreadsheets).

     In MS Word you do this by selecting the text, and choosing
Create Table.  One of the 
     the options in Create Table is to use the tab as flag for a new
table cell.  Therefore
     you can turn your text file into a 2-column table.  
7)  Maintain the glossary in the word processor or spreadsheet.  To
get it back into Frame
     save as text again and import the text to Frame.  The option to
use this time is 
     whatever puts a creates a single paragraph per cell--this makes
formatting very fast
     Frame.

     To speed up final formatting in Frame take a single complete
glossary entry (2 paras)
     and format appropriately then use the Copy Para Format option
to paste the appropriate 
     paragraph tag to each unformatted paragraph. 

C'est tout!

If you want to get fancy save your original text file but remove the
page numbers 
(any grep-like utility will do).  Then later when you want to
update, re-generate 
the glossary, save as text, remove the page numbers, and  "compare"
it to the 
original--new terms appear like magic and can be imported to the
file where you are 
maintaining the glossary.  If you only worry about formatting
occasionally this method will
save a lot of time. 

Warning:  Including the definition of a term in the glossary entry
is an excellent idea, 
but devilishly hard to maintain and correct.  Also, never let an
arbitrary limit like 
250 characters (yes it is an internal frame limit-we checked) affect
the usefulness 
of an explanation for the end user.  If an explanation needs more
room, get it.  

METHOD 2

Use conditional text -- a truly wonderful feature!

1)  Create a glossary condition (see the user guide for details)
2)  Whenever you spot a term that should be in the Glossary  create
a new paragraph, enter
      the term, create another paragraph and enter the definition.
3)  Apply the "glossary" condition to both paragraphs.
4)  Repeat steps 1-3 as needed.
5)  To see the glossary go to the Conditioonal text dialog box and
hide everything but 
     the "glossary condition".  Your unsorted but complete glossary
appears like magic.
6)  Copy and paste this text to a new Frame file or directly into a
file in the 
     application where you will do the sorting.

     In MS WORD you'll get a text file of alternating term and term
definitions.  Replace all
     all the paragraph symbols at the end of the term paragraphs
with something like tabs or 
     *&*& or anything you like. 
7)   Sort the paragraphs.
8)   Replace your paragraph end flags tabs or *&*& or whatever you
used with paragraph 
      markers.
9)  Get the text back into Frame, reformat and you're done.
Peter Fournier, 
8L15, 
CAD/CAM Information, 
ESN 3-4194, 613-763-4194
Newsgroups: comp.text.frame