About Arbortext Styler > Generating Indexes > Modifying the Appearance of an Index
  
Modifying the Appearance of an Index
As a general rule, changes to the format of an index are carried out in the Format category of the Indexes list for an index definition object. Settings made here will apply to any index set to be formatted with the specified index definition object.
The procedure described below gives you a specific example of how to make changes to page numbering, heading and generated text settings for an index, and give the index a title. This procedure will apply to indexes based on any of the three Arbortext Styler index models.
Example: Modifying the Appearance of an Index
In this example, you will change the appearance of the numbers in index entries and remove character headings for the index groups. You will also change the format of the generated title.
1. In Arbortext Editor, open the transport.xml document located at Arbortext-path/samples/Styler.
2. Choose Styler > Edit Stylesheet to open the associated stylesheet. This is a read only stylesheet so you will have to save a local copy to make changes.
3. In Arbortext Styler, navigate to the Indexes list The Index list icon - a graphical image of a numbered list with an A above it and select the index definition object that will style your index. Navigate to the Format category.
4. Choose Space separated from the Page or reference number position list. Refer to the Arbortext Editor preview and Print/PDF preview windows for a preview of how the index will appear in final output, noticing that the two previews differ slightly.
5. Deselect the Display character headings option and again note the format changes in the preview windows.
6. Choose Preview > Print to view the changes in the index.
7. In Arbortext Styler, select the element with the Index style that is set to generate the index in the document. Go to the Generated text category.
8. Click on the Edit button for Before-text. The Generated Text Editor opens.
9. Type MAIN before the title INDEX. Note the _ufe:generated_title element that wraps the title. You can format this further in the next steps. Click OK to close the Generated Text Editor.
10. In the Elements list, select _ufe:generated_title.
11. In the Text category, set the Font family field to Serif, the Text size field to 16, the Bold field to No, and the Text color field to #FF0000 (red).
12. Choose Preview > Print to view the changes to the title.
SFEs Controlling the Formatting of Indexes
The following Styler Formatting Elements (SFE) control the formatting of the parts of an index.
_sfe:Index_index object name - the index generated by the index definition object.
_sfe:IndexAlphaGroup_index object name - the group heading and all index entries for an alphabetic group
_sfe:IndexEndPage_index object name - the text of the last page number in a merged number range, e.g. 1–3
_sfe:IndexEntry_index object name - index entries (any level)
_sfe:IndexGroupHead_index object name - the heading for a group of index entries
_sfe:IndexHeading_index object name - the indexed text of an index entry
_sfe:IndexLocators_index object name - the page numbers (or other locators) in an index entry
_sfe:IndexPage_index object name - the text of a single page number (or other locator)
_sfe:IndexPostGroup_index object name - any group head and index entries that follow alphabetic entries
_sfe:IndexPreGroup_index object name - any group head and index entries that precede alphabetic entries
_sfe:IndexRangeGroup_index object name - any group head and index entries for a group that encompasses a range of characters
_sfe:IndexSee_index object name - the text of a See reference in an index entry
_sfe:IndexSeeAlso_index object name - the text of a See Also reference in an index entry
_sfe:IndexSubGroupHead_index object name - the heading for a sub group of index entries (Chinese modes 1 and 3 only)
Your stylesheet will contain one set of index SFEs for each index definition object. They are suffixed with the name of the index definition object they belong to. An index definition object’s SFEs will stay with it if it is moved or copied.
In addition, a stylesheet will have one SFE that will wrap all indexes - _sfe:Index.
To make the index SFEs visible in Arbortext Editor, activate the View > Tags in Generated Text option in Arbortext Styler.
Indentation of Index Entries and Numbers
In distributed stylesheets, two Styler Formatting Elements (SFE) control the position of index entries and their numbers in relation to margins and each other:
_sfe:Index_index object name: sets the position of the whole index entry, including the page number
_sfe:IndexEntry_index object name everywhere else: sets the position of the text part of the index entry.
If you wish to prevent text in index entries from overhanging the number, configure the _sfe:IndexEntry_index object name everywhere else context with a positive right indent value and its Relative To field set to Parent right indent. In this case, Parent right indent is that set for the _sfe:Index_index object name element. This setting will also place the second and following lines in a long index entry in alignment with the first line.
If you wish to change the right indent of the index entries including the numbers, change the right indent of _sfe:Index_index object name.