Start At Dialog Box
This dialog box displays if you carry out one of the following actions:
• Click the Start At button in any of the following dialog boxes:
◦ Division Title Number dialog box
◦ Formal Block Title Number dialog box
◦ List Item Number dialog box
◦ Number Details dialog box
When you invoke the dialog box using any of these options, its title is Start At.
• Click the Start At button in the Breaks category for an element, activated when the page numbering field for the page set used by the element is set to Start At
When you invoke the dialog box using this option, its title is Page Number Start At
The Start At dialog box allows you to define the number other than 1 at which numbering for titles, list items or other elements, or page numbering, should start. Note that where the element being styled appears in generated text the start at value will revert to 1.
A start at value is not available for footnote numbering.
The Start At dialog box contains the following options:
• Fixed value - enter a value at which numbering should start. Values between 0 and 32,000 are permitted: negative values are not.
• Attribute - identify an attribute whose value represents the number at which numbering should start. If you use this option you must first identify the element that contains the required attribute, then provide the attribute’s name, using the following fields:
◦ The Element to get attribute from field provides the following options for attribute selection:
▪ Current element: an attribute defined for the element being styled
▪ Parent: an attribute defined for the direct parent of the element being styled.
▪ Ancestor: an attribute defined for any element that is a valid ancestor of the element being styled. A drop down menu provides a list of applicable elements.
Note that you may also type an element name into this field, even one that is not a valid ancestor of the current element as it appears in the current document. This is intentional so that the stylesheet can be coded to support multiple document types.
◦ The Attribute field provides a field in which you can enter the name of the attribute that contains the required value. If you have selected Current element or Ancestor in the Element to get attribute from field, this field also contains a list of valid attributes from which you can select.
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If the start at value is to be obtained from an attribute, you must take steps to ensure that there is always a suitable value available, or Arbortext Styler will throw an error when you publish the document. Suggested steps are:
• Ensure that the attribute is always specified in the document
• Include a condition for the element being styled which tests if the attribute has been specified and set the start at numbering within the attribute. Here the numbering will only be implemented when the attribute is present.
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• XPath - enter an XPath expression that can be converted to a number
If you enter an expression that is invalid or cannot be converted to a number, you will see a warning message such as the one below in the FOSI Generated Text Messages window when previewing FOSI outputs:
[A31451] ERROR: Invalid XPath expression for number in stylesheet.
[A30283] Cannot convert result to requested type
Element: title.
XPath expression: (invalidexpression).
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If you enter the name of a namespaced element in the XPath field, you will not be prompted to declare the namespace if it does not already exist. Ensure you have declared the namespace for the stylesheet by creating an element with the applicable prefix, or the XPath expression you enter in this field will not be valid
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Note that, when setting a page number to start at a particular value, both the type of page (odd or even) and the selected starting page number are linked. You must take care to ensure that you also maintain the correct type of page upon which you wish the numbered section to start, depending on your documentation requirements. The FOSI, XSL-FO and PTC ALD print engines deal with page numbering and page starting in different ways.
Two settings must be taken into consideration. Firstly, a specified Start At value will, by definition, be either an odd number or an even number. Secondly, the position of the page can also be determined by either making an explicit setting of Odd page or Even page in the Start new field in the Breaks category, or by the implicit fact that the first page of a document is always an odd page. These two determining factors can conflict; for example, it is possible to specify that the Start At value is 4 for the first page of the document.
Using the above example, there are two default ways in which this will be resolved in your document, depending on the print engine used to publish it:
1. XSL-FO - The first page of the document must be odd so page 4, as an even numbered page, will be the back of the first page. The first page will be blank. This maintains the fact that the parity of the page number will match the actual parity of the page, so pages with odd numbers will use the odd page headers and footers and pages with even numbers will use the even page headers and footers.
2. FOSI and PTC ALD - The page numbered 4 is permitted to be an odd page. Whilst this avoids the blank initial page, it means that odd numbered pages use the even page headers and footers and even numbered pages use the odd page headers and footers.
To avoid this issue being treated in an unsatisfactory way when you publish your document, ensure that you set the Start At field to a value that is of the correct parity.
