Writing ANSI, ECMA and ISO standards

[Howard Kaikow <kaikow -at- STANDARDS -dot- COM>]

As you will see below, I have been deeply involved in the writing of widely
used ANSI, ECMA and ISO standards. It appears that in the domain in which I
must function, Word for Windows is the processor of choice. Alas, it has
severe shortcomings. I was wondering whether any of you had a solution to
the problems indicated below.

The two sets of text surrounded by the lines of asterisks are communications
that I sent to Microsoft. All I've gotten back is the standard, no pun
intended, response of "We'll look at it".

Any suggested solutions?
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I have found, based on the documentaion for Word for Windows, what must be
considered a bug. It is explicitly documented that you can use a CTL V to
insert text into the Replace With field when doing a Replace under Word for
Windows Edit menu. Well, that works for text, but does not work if the
text to be Pasted includes a field, e.g. {ref foo}. There are applications
that need this. It is not precluded by the documentation.

In addition, to summarize our telephone conversation of this evening:

0. Isn't there some way one of your users can report a bug/feature without
   incurring the cost of paying to call one of your product support numbers?

1. On page 559, about middle of page, should not 8 be 9?

2. The Legal format in Tools Bullets and Numbering should not require the
   trailing FULL STOP in a clause number, i.e. it should be 3.8.4 instead
   of 3.8.4.  . Alternatively, this could be an option.

   This can be done using Learn by Example, however, Learn by Example is not
   available for Auto Update mode, so bookmarks on clause numbers would
   disappear.

3. Tools Bullets and Numbering should be made smart enough to number any
   paragraph using a style "based on" heading 1 to heading 9. It should not
   be restricted to heading 1 to heading 9.

4. Heading 1 to heading 9 should have a capability of disabling the inclusion
   of the paragraph in the table of contents. Otherwise, a TC field has to be
   placed on ALL paragraphs that are to be included.

   There are at least the following reasons to exclude paragraphs from a TOC:

    a. The paragraph might not have a title, e.g.

        3.1 This is an example of a paragraph that has no title. It's text
            may have to be cross referenced, but it is not for inclusion in
            the TOC.

    b. Depending upon the structure of a document, particular clauses may be
       inappropriate for inclusion in a TOC.

    c. As in runoff or troff or ..., a method is needed to disable/enable
       TOC entries.

    Requiring the use of a TC field is not a satisfactory solution.

If you want further clarification, you can contact me as follows:
My contact information is now:

Howard Kaikow
65 Spring Cove Road
PO Box 1333
Nashua, NH 03061-1333
USA
voice: +1 603 889 8616
fax: +1 603 880 1319
email: kaikow -at- standards -dot- com

FYI, I am have been involved in volume and file structure standardization
since July 1980 and am known for being involved in the design and writing of
at least the following specs:

ISO 1001 and ANSI X3.27 (tape-like devices)
High Sierra proposal
ISO 9660 (CD-ROM)
ISO/IEC DIS 13346 (WORM and rewritable non-sequential media)
ISO/IEC DIS 13490 (CD-WO media)

I am presently setting myself up as a consultant in the area of these
standards, plus some other stuff.
*****************************************************************************
Page 259 of the Microsoft Word for Windows User's Guide explicitly states that
CTL V will insert the contents of the clipboard in the Replace With box,
however, that does not work, at least for the general case I am interested in.

I have attached an RTF file at the end of this message so you can see exactly
what I am trying to do. The file is, approximately:

        This is a clause {ref refera} reference.
        This a clause XX reference.
{AUTONUMLGL} Clause C
{AUTONUMLGL} Clause Z
{AUTONUMLGL} Clause X
{AUTONUMLGL} Clause D
{AUTONUMLGL} Clause A
{AUTONUMLGL} Clause B
        This is a clause {ref refera} reference.

The refera bookmark is assigned to {AUTONUMLGL} for clause A. I then tried
to do the following:

        1. I selected the field {ref refera} and put it on the clipboard.
        2. I then went into Edit Replace and put XX in the Find What box and
           used CTRL V to insert the clipboard contents into the Replace
           With box.
        3. I then exedcuted the Replace.

Alas, it replaced XX with the then current value of {ref refera}, not with the
field definition. This is not the desired result as it is necessary to put in
the field definition in case the referenced clause gets renumbered with later
changes to the document.

{\rtf1\ansi \deff0\deflang1024{\fonttbl{\f0\froman Times New Roman;}{\f1\froman
 Symbol;}{\f2\fswiss Arial;}}{\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;
 \red0\green255\blue255;\red0\green255\blue0;
\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green
 255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue127;\red0\green127\blue127;\red0\green127\blue0;\r
 ed127\green0\blue127;\red127\green0\blue0;\red127\green127\blue0;\red127\green1
 27\blue127;
\red192\green192\blue192;}{\stylesheet{\s253\sb120 \f2\lang1033 \sbasedon0\snext
 0 heading 2;}{\s254\sb240 \f2\ul\lang1033 \sbasedon0\snext0 heading 1;}{\b\fs20
 \lang1033 \snext0 Normal;}}{\info{\author Howard Kaikow}{\creatim\yr1993\mo3\dy
 9\hr9\min43}
{\version1}{\edmins17}{\nofpages0}{\nofwords0}{\nofchars0}{\vern16431}}\paperw12
 240\paperh15840\margl1800\margr1800\margt1440\margb1440\gutter0 \widowctrl\ftnb
 j \sectd \binfsxn1\binsxn1\linex0\endnhere \pard\plain \b\fs20\lang1033 This a
 clause
{\field{\*\fldinst ref refera}{\fldrslt 5.}} reference.
\par This is a clause XX reference.
\par \pard\plain \s254\fi-360\li360\sb240 \f2\ul\lang1033 {\field{\*\fldinst AUT
 ONUMLGL}{\fldrslt }}\tab Clause C
\par {\field{\*\fldinst AUTONUMLGL}{\fldrslt }}\tab Clause Z
\par {\field{\*\fldinst AUTONUMLGL}{\fldrslt }}\tab Clause X
\par {\field{\*\fldinst AUTONUMLGL}{\fldrslt }}\tab Clause D
\par {\*\bkmkstart refera}{\field{\*\fldinst AUTONUMLGL}{\fldrslt }}{\*\bkmkend
 refera}\tab Clause A
\par \pard\plain \s253\fi-360\li360\sb120 \f2\lang1033 {\field{\*\fldinst AUTONU
 MLGL}{\fldrslt }}\tab Clause B
\par \pard\plain \b\fs20\lang1033
\par This a clause {\field{\*\fldinst ref refera}{\fldrslt 5.}} reference.
\par
\par }
\par }
\par }
\par }
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