The Item tab is always the first tab when viewing the settings for any
item in a book. It allows settings to be edited which are applicable to
all items.
| Type | Indicates the type of item. Not editable. |
|---|---|
| Heading | The item's is used to
identify the item in the list of current items in the Edit
Book Dialog. If the item has a heading of any kind
when it appears in the book (e.g. if it is a report, a
table-of-contents, a diagram or the index), the value in the field is used as the text
for this heading. If the item is a chapter (see the
field below), the field
gives the Chapter name. If you add 'Free Text' to a book,
and specify 'No Heading' in the
field, the value will
not be used within the book itself. But even then, it
will still be used to identify the item in the Edit Book Dialog
list of items; so it is advisable, even in those cases, to give
each item a suitable, memorable name (e.g. even if your preface
has no heading, it is still a good idea to call it 'Preface'
rather than leaving it as the default 'Free Text'). Why does the Heading field have a yellow background with some items? Why, with some items, does it change to white if you change the value of the heading? This aspect of headings is for the benefit of advanced users who wish to make use of some of the 'power-user' features of Family Historian (see 'Using Expressions in Headings' below). Ordinary users should feel free to change the value of headings in any way they wish, and ignore the background colour. |
| Short Heading |
If a chapter extends over more than one page, you can specify
that the chapter name be mentioned in the header for all pages
except the first - in fact this is the default. To do this,
you use the special code '=Chapter()' in the header or footer -
both of which are specified in the Book
Settings Dialog. By default, the chapter name displayed
will be whatever is in the
field. However, if that value is too long for a header or
footer, you can optionally specify a shortened version in the field. |
| Format | The available values
vary depending on the item type. The possible values
are:
|
| Start on |
Specify here whether you want the item to start on a new page,
on a new odd-numbered page, or continue on the same page.
The first chapter must always start on a new odd page, regardless
of this setting. This is because page numbers start at 1 for
the first page of the first chapter, and odd page numbers must
always be on right-side pages (this is another industry standard). |
| Show Expressions |
Only available for report items. See the note 'Using
Expressions in Headings' below for an explanation of this option. |
| Insert Data Ref (x2) |
Only available for report items, and even then, only when is ticked. The buttons appear to the right of the Heading and Short Heading fields respectively. See the note 'Using Expressions in Headings' below for an explanation of the function of these buttons. |
This section is for advanced and technically-minded users only.
To understand why the Heading box sometimes has a yellow background, a
little context is needed. Suppose you create a book about one of
your ancestors, Jane Smith. You add various reports about her, and
charts and diagrams. You keep the book in your project, you don't
delete it; and over time you learn more about Jane Smith and add
considerably to your records about her. At some point you even
discover that she didn't spell her name 'Jane'. She spelled it
'Jayne'. You make the appropriate changes to your records.
When you later go back to view your book, you find that it has
automatically updated itself and includes all the new information you
have acquired. It even has her name spelled the new way in all
contexts - even in chapter headings and headers and footers. How
did Family Historian do that? The answer is that every time you
view your book, it is re-generated from the original records. That
way any new details, or changes are picked up. Or to be more
accurate - the contents of all reports and diagrams are
re-generated. Any 'Free Text' items you have added are not
regenerated. So if you had written "Jane Smith" anywhere in a free
text item, that would not have been updated. Free text is output
exactly as it was originally entered.
What about heading text? The answer is: if it has a yellow
background it is generated text. If it has a white background it
is free text. The moment you alter the generated text it switches
to become free text, and is no longer generated. Which also means
that it won't update automatically if the original source records
change.
Advanced users can, if they wish, change the headings without
converting it all to free text. To do this, you need to be able to
see the actual expressions Family Historian uses to generate the
headings. To see these expressions, tick the box. Remember that this option is only
available for some items. When you tick , the contents of the heading boxes change to show
the actual expressions used to generate the text and the background of
the boxes switches to white (if it had been yellow) - because what you
are seeing is no longer generated - and two buttons appear next to each of the two heading
fields. To learn more about the function of these buttons, and the
expressions used in the headings, see Understanding
Data References (an advanced topic).
How important is it to change headings without converting
them to free text? Not very important at all. What is the
worst that can happen? Suppose the generated name of a chapter had
been "Individual Report for Jane Smith" (generated), and you had changed
this to "Jane Smith - A Woman Ahead of Her Time" (free text). Then
later you changed the spelling of her name to 'Jayne'. Given that
the heading is now not generated, you will presumably want to correct it
before printing more copies of the book. But that's all you have
to do. The actual report is still generated; so there's nothing to
be done there.