Editing text for triggers and index tags

When you create or modify a trigger or an index tag, you can edit the text value. You can also edit the text value for existing index tags that are defined in the AFP file or the AFP Visual Environment control file.
You might want to edit the text value to remove any leading or trailing blanks, or to remove unwanted special characters. When you edit a text value, make sure that you edit it so that it is appropriate for all page groups because the text values can be different in each page group.
To edit the text for a trigger or index tag:
  1. In AFP Visual Environment, open a sample AFP file. Then click Mode ⇒ AFP Indexer.
  2. Do one of these to open the Edit Value window:
    • Click Tools ⇒ Index Tools ⇒ Edit Existing Indexes. Select an index tag from the drop-down list and click Edit.
    • When creating or modifying a trigger or index tag, click one of these: Edit index value, Edit trigger, or Edit value.
  3. Select On for one or more of these options:
    Edit by stripping characters Type one character or a blank that you want to remove from the value. Remember that the character is case-sensitive. Then, select one of these buttons:
    Strip leading characters
    The specified character is removed from the beginning of the value. For example, if you type a blank character, all blanks are removed from the beginning of the value.
    Strip trailing characters
    The specified character is removed from the end of the value. For example, if you type a blank character, all blanks are removed from the end of the value.
    Strip leading and trailing characters
    The specified character is removed from the beginning and end of the value. For example, if you type a blank character, all blanks are removed from the beginning and end of the value.
    Strip all characters
    The specified character is removed from all positions in the value. For example, an account number is: 324-1443255-11. You can type a - to strip all - characters from the value.
    Edit on delimiter Type a text string of one or more characters or blanks in the Specify delimiter string field to indicate where the text value is split into separate strings. Remember that the text is case-sensitive. Then select numbers for Select first string and Select number of strings to mark the beginning and end of the edited text.

    For example, an account number is: 324-1443255-11. You can use - as the delimiter to split the value into these three strings: 324, 1443255, and 11. To select the second and third strings, 1443255-11, select 2 for both Select first string and Select number of strings.
    Edit on character Select numbers for Select first character position and Select number of characters to indicate the first character in the text value and how many characters are included.
    When you select the options in the window, the text value for the current page group, page in a page group, or supplemental page is edited based on your selections and the new value is displayed in the Edited text field.
    Note: The edit options are done in this order:
    1. Edit by stripping characters
    2. Edit on delimiter
    3. Edit on character
  4. Click OK.
    You see one of these:
    • If you are creating or modifying a trigger or index tag, the new value is displayed in one of these fields: Edited index value, Edited trigger, or Edited value.
    • If you are editing an existing index tag, you see an asterisk (*) next to the index tag that you edited. You also see that Delete is now displayed in the window.

      Do this:

      1. Optional: To undo the edit you did to the index tag, click Delete. The index tag reverts to the original text and the asterisk (*) is removed from the drop-down list. Delete is not displayed in the window if the drop-down list does not have any asterisks.
      2. Click OK.

Parent topic: Indexing AFP files