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Inside Macintosh: Apple Guide Complete / Part 4 - Scripting Guide Files

Chapter 10 - Guide Script Command Reference / Guide Script Command Descriptions

/ Defining Index Terms

<Index Sorting>

You can use the <Index Sorting> command to specify how Apple Guide should order your index terms.

<Index Sorting> orderingKey 

orderingKey

A constant that specifies how Apple Guide should order index terms when it sorts them for display. You can specify one of four possible constants: USEDISPLAYEDTERM, NONE, USEHIDDENKEY, or USEHIDDENKEYWITHOUTIGNORE.

DESCRIPTION

Apple Guide displays index terms in alphabetical order regardless of the order in which they appear in your help source files, unless you specify the <Index Sorting> command. Using this command, you can more directly control the order in which index terms appear in the list.

If you specify the constant USEDISPLAYEDTERM, Apple Guide displays index terms in alphabetical order regardless of the order in which they appear in your help source files. Apple Guide uses this as a default if you do not provide an <Index Sorting> command in your source files.

If you specify the constant NONE, Apple Guide displays index terms in the order in which they appear in your help source files.

If you specify the constant USEHIDDENKEY or USEHIDDENKEYWITHOUTIGNORE, you must also specify the third parameter of all <Index> commands. You can use the third parameter of the <Index> command to specify a key that Apple Guide uses as that term's key when sorting index terms. Note that the key does not appear in the list of index terms.

When you use the constant USEHIDDENKEY, the key is used for sorting purposes only and is not searchable by the user. In this case, the user can find the index term by entering it as a search phrase but the user cannot find the index term by entering the index term's key as a search phrase. When you use the constant USEHIDDENKEYWITHOUTIGNORE, the user can find the index term by entering either the index term or the key as a search phrase.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

The <Index Sorting> command is optional. If you omit this command, Apple Guide uses USEDISPLAYEDTERM as the default. If you specify this command, it should appear before any of your index terms and should appear near the beginning of your source file. You typically use this command only for non-Roman script systems when you need direct control over the sorting order.

EXAMPLES

#specify that all index terms include a key
<Index Sorting> USEHIDDENKEY
#specify index term with a key that determines sort order
<Index> "32-bit addressing",,"Thirty-two bit addressing"
   #specify header and topics for this index term
   <Header> "How do I"
      <Topic> "set 32-bit addressing?", \xAC
               "How do I set 32-bit addressing?"
#specify index term with a key that determines sort order
<Index> "24-bit addressing",,"Twenty-four bit addressing"
   #specify header and topics for this index term
   <Header> "How do I"
      <Topic> "set 24-bit addressing?", \xAC
               "How do I set 24-bit addressing?"

SEE ALSO

For information on the <Index> and <Sorting> commands, see page 10-128 and page 10-130, respectively.