LINGUIST List 6.252

Sun 19 Feb 1995

FYI: Referencing example numbers in Word Perfect

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1. Falk Yehuda, Referencing example numbers in WP

Since the question has been raised about how to reference example numbers in
WordPerfect for DOS, here's my two-cents' worth about WP5.1 and WP6 for DOS.

In 5.1, although one could use paragraph numbers, as was suggested, this
precludes using them to number sections of a paper. A better approach is to
use the numbering facilities for "graphics boxes." Like paragraph numbers,
graphics boxes can be referenced by the cross-reference feature in WP. What
you have to do is set Equation Box options so that the caption is to the left
of the box (the default is to the right). For phonological rules, which can
be nicely formatted using the equation editor, you then create an equation
box with a caption consisting of "([Box Number])" and go into the equation
editor to write the rule. For sample sentences, etc., the box itself is
empty, but with a caption as before, and set to allow text to overlap it. You
can then exit the Create Graphics Box screen and proceed to type the
examples. The numbers automatically update as new boxes are added.
Cross-referencing is done by assigning name to any example you want to
reference (as a cross-reference target) and then putting in a cross-reference
reference code with the target's name. You have to generate occasionally to
update the reference numbers; they initially appear as ?.

In WP6 (which is superior for linguistics because of its support for phonetic
symbols) it's even easier. WP6 has a Counters feature (in the Character
Format dialog box). You define a counter (I call mine Example). Whenever you
want to insert an example, you type (in the main document screen) the open
parenthesis, go into the Counters dialog box, and push F8 (or click on the
Increment and Display button). This inserts two codes: one to increment the
number (this is not done automatically for user-defined counters) and one to
display it. Cross-referencing is done as before.

A couple of additional WP tips:

-The Styles feature is very useful for dealing with in-text stylesheets for
journals. For any feature where journals have different styles (scare quotes,
sentence glosses and translations, in-text reference punctuation, etc.) you
assign a style. Styles can be any combination of characters and codes. For
each journal, you create a different style library. Then, if you want to
change formatting from one to another, you simply read in a different style
library.

-The above is too simple for bibliography style sheets, where the order of
elements differs in addition to punctuation and font attribute. If you are
comfortable with programming, you can write merge programs (called primary
merge files in WP5.1 and merge form files in WP6) for the different
stylesheets and have a bibliography file which is formatted as a secondary
merge file (WP5.1) / merge data file (WP6), with fields for things like
author's first and last names, year, title, etc. (Include a field for type of
reference (book, article, dissertation, etc.) since the format of the title
may vary.) This is not recommended for computerphobes, however.

-Lining up foreign language examples with word-for-word glosses in
proportional fonts can be done using tabs, and resetting the tab stops for
each example. This is easier from WP6.0b onwards (if you have a mouse)
because of the Ruler feature: you display the ruler and drag the tab stops,
and as you drag them a dotted line extends down from the tab stop through the
text so you can see exactly where you are. In previous versions, you have to
go into the tab set menu and play with the tab settings by trial and error.
It is even possible to put asterisks inside the space of the tab between the
example number and the example. Instead of tabbing, use the Tab Align (WP5.1)
or Decimal Align (WP6) feature (Ctrl F6). Before pressing Ctrl-F6, set the
"decimal character" to the first letter of the example (on the Other Format
menu in 5.1 and the Character Format menu in 6). To prevent the spell-checker
from stopping on words in foreign examples (or phonetic representations, or
logical formulae), in 5.1 you can use the Language feature to insert a
made-up language code. The spell-checker will complain that it can't find the
dictionary for the language, and you tell it to ignore the language and
continue checking what it can. In WP6 a block can be marked
[Speller/Grammatik Off] (on the Other Format menu) to prevent it from being
spell- or grammar-checked.

 --Yehuda N. Falk
 Department of English
 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem


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