Author Topic: How to quickly autonumber text lists? (Read 37294 times)

superboyac · « **on:** October 13, 2010, 04:49 PM »

I'm looking for efficient ways to autonumber any kind of text list (in other words, I'm not looking for a file renamer). Often when I write, I make lists. I number the lists manually. This is because the autonumbering features in Word are bad. And I also number things in a lot of other programs manually. So I need a general text-only way to autonumber lists.

I tried TextMonkey. It has autonumbering features. The problem with it is that I can't specify what characters (or tabs) to isnert between the number and the actual sentence. I need to be able to control that. Sometimes I want one space, sometimes two, sometimes a tab, sometimes a bunch of weird symbols.

I'm currently looking at the different text editors. Sometimes, each program has cool, nifty features built in like this. I haven't found one that can do autonumbering yet. Can anyone recommend anything?

cranioscopical · « **Reply #1 on:** October 13, 2010, 06:39 PM »

Might look at Boxer

or does that look as if it will give you the same problem as you have with Text Monkey?

Can you do something with Clipboard Help+Spell's template stuff?

lanux128 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 13, 2010, 08:57 PM »

PSPad has this support as well..

Numbering
This option allows you to insert numbering at the start of every line in the file or every selected line.

The values marked 3 in the picture above show you how your numbering will look when applied.

The value entered in the box marked 4 in the picture is used as the starting value.

The value entered in the box marked 5 in the picture determines how many characters will be used for the numbering. The numbers are left-padded with zeros.

The character(s) entered in the boxed marked 6 above are used to separate the numbering characters from the text on the line.

mouser · « **Reply #3 on:** October 13, 2010, 09:22 PM »

nice thread, i have to bookmark this as i will surely need it in the future. sounds like pspad (free) to the rescue.

AndyM · « **Reply #4 on:** October 14, 2010, 09:15 AM »

Often when I write, I make lists. I number the lists manually.
-superboyac (October 13, 2010, 04:49 PM)

out of curiousity, what software do you use to write the lists?

superboyac · « **Reply #5 on:** October 14, 2010, 09:35 AM »

hmmm...pspad and boxer are both good, but still missing significant elements. In pspad, I still can't enter a 'tab' between the number and text. I guess that's what it all boils down to: customizeable characters before/after the numbering.

Maybe this is a regex thing?

superboyac · « **Reply #6 on:** October 14, 2010, 09:38 AM »

Often when I write, I make lists. I number the lists manually.
-superboyac (October 13, 2010, 04:49 PM)

out of curiousity, what software do you use to write the lists?
-AndyM (October 14, 2010, 09:15 AM)

Well, I don't use a special software for writing lists. I'm just always coming across situations where I have to RE-number lists that I or somebody else has already made. These lists are in Word, emails, notes, etc.

skwire · « **Reply #7 on:** October 14, 2010, 09:47 AM »

It really wouldn't take much to write a quickie Coding Snack to cover this. May I assume these are simple text lists? Not some crazy-ass formatted Word doc mumbo-jumbo?

superboyac · « **Reply #8 on:** October 14, 2010, 09:58 AM »

It really wouldn't take much to write a quickie Coding Snack to cover this. May I assume these are simple text lists? Not some crazy-ass formatted Word doc mumbo-jumbo?
-skwire (October 14, 2010, 09:47 AM)

Yes, just text. No styling whatsoever. It's all cut and pasted back and forth between applications.

skwire · « **Reply #9 on:** October 14, 2010, 10:05 AM »

Do you ever have need to zero-pad the numbering?

cranioscopical · « **Reply #10 on:** October 14, 2010, 10:20 AM »

Not some crazy-ass formatted Word doc mumbo-jumbo?
-skwire (October 14, 2010, 09:47 AM)

Another Microsoft fan

superboyac · « **Reply #11 on:** October 14, 2010, 10:37 AM »

Do you ever have need to zero-pad the numbering?
-skwire (October 14, 2010, 10:05 AM)

The more flexibility, the better. Yes, there should be an option to zero-pad in cases of large lists or if you just want the numbering column to look visually aligned. I'm like that, sometimes I just want all my numbers lining up for no reason other than I just like it.

It should also have the option to start from any given number, letter, or roman numeral.

You know what?? I have this autocad utility that has a renumbering function. I'm going to find it and post a screenshot because the interface elements are probably very close to what we would want for our situation here.

skwire · « **Reply #12 on:** October 14, 2010, 10:45 AM »

Zero-padding is fine. Numbers and roman numerals are fine. Letters...no.

superboyac · « **Reply #13 on:** October 14, 2010, 10:47 AM »

Nice! I found a screenshot:
Clipboard Image (17).jpg

As you can see, it's very flexible. I can have a static prefix and/or suffix. I can set what number it should start at, and also the step increments. The "repeat" option mya not apply in this case. That setting is for you to indicate how many times this cycle should be repeated, but in the case of text lists, you probably always want it going until it reaches the end of the list.

What's really great about the tool above is that I can even enter a letter like "a" in the starting box and it will increment the list using letters instead of numbers (a..b..c..d...etc). It would be nice to have the option to do numbers, letters, or a custom mix of both. Sometimes I want outline numbering:
1.1.1
1.1.2
1.1.3

Sometimes you want a mix:
A-1
A-2
A-3

But with the dialog above, all that can be taken care of. In the example above, I would put "A-" in the prefix and that would work. In the outline example, I'd put "1.1." in the prefix. And so forth.

Armando · « **Reply #14 on:** October 16, 2010, 11:07 AM »

Hi Aram.
This looks a bit like what IQ does at the moment. I'll suggest Pierre to also implement the prefix and suffix parameters, which should be trivial to do, but only for text fields. Not possible for number fields.

sword · « **Reply #15 on:** October 16, 2010, 05:42 PM »

superboyac,
Re. "Can anyone recommend anything?"
I believe WordPerfect can do everything you asked for and a *lot* more. Most people seem to think the learning curve is not worth it. I'll make a list of everything it can do with numbering text lists if you think that might help. There is also a good help forum <wordperfectuniverse> and macros at <barrymacdowalls toolbox>. Cheers

skwire · « **Reply #16 on:** October 18, 2010, 10:43 PM »

superboyac, I promise I haven't forgotten about this utility. Here's where it stands right now:

How to quickly autonumber text lists?

Armando · « **Reply #17 on:** October 19, 2010, 04:32 PM »

Nice !

mouser · « **Reply #18 on:** October 19, 2010, 05:19 PM »

A bit above skwire posted:

Zero-padding is fine. Numbers and roman numerals are fine. Letters...no.

I thought you might all appreciate this conversation from the chat channel, to give you a fly-on-the-wall view of how real software development takes place and how software evolves:

<mouser> all joking aside
<mouser> it seems pointless to not support letters
<mouser> change "System" from radio box
<mouser> to drop down
<mouser> and provide
<Skwire> No letters.
<mouser> Decimal, Roman, Uppercase, Lowercase
<mouser> you know you will
<mouser> why resist?
<mouser> :)
<mouser> you know and i know
<mouser> you are going to end up eating your words
<mouser> and adding letters
<mouser> so why are you doing this to yourself
<Skwire> No.
<mouser> i can see wanting
<mouser> a)
<mouser> b)
<mouser> c)
<mouser> i would want that feature
<mouser> if i used it
<Skwire> Yeah...but when it gets over 26?
<mouser> its just like 2 lines of code
<mouser> either dont worry about it
<mouser> or do
<Skwire> There are a million different formats after that.
<mouser> aa, ab
<mouser> thats no excuse for not choosing one
<Skwire> a.a a.b
<mouser> that would solve 99% of cases
<mouser> 99% of time it would only be used for lists < 26
<Skwire> I don't mind going up to 26.
<mouser> ahahhaahah
<mouser> AND SO IT BEGINS
<Skwire> Up to 26 is fine.
<mouser> hahahahahaahahahahah
<mouser> ahahahahahahahahaahha
<mouser> ahahahaahahahahahahahahaha
<mouser> ahahahahahaa
<Skwire> That's my only reason for not doing it.
<Skwire> And has been.
<mouser> just go to 26
<mouser> thats the 99% case
<mouser> and the only thing that matters
<mouser> no one in their right mind
<mouser> would use letters
<mouser> if they have > 26
<Skwire> Four options in the dropdown: Decimal, Roman, Letters (uppercase), Letters (lowercase)
<mouser> excellent :)
<mouser> good decision
<Skwire> Happy?
<Skwire> Focker.
<mouser> rofl
<mouser> i wont bother to tell yo that soon you will change the code to make it do aa, ab
<Skwire> No, I won't.
<mouser> ill let you at least save your sanity for a brief period
<mouser> hey let me paste you something from the old days
<mouser> it will bring back some memories
<mouser> <Skwire> No letters.
<mouser> <mouser> Decimal, Roman, Uppercase, Lowercase
<mouser> <mouser> you know you will
<mouser> <mouser> why resist?
<mouser> <mouser> :)
<mouser> <mouser> you know and i know
<mouser> <mouser> you are going to end up eating your words
<mouser> <mouser> and adding letters
<mouser> <mouser> so why are you doing this to yourself
<mouser> <Skwire> No.
<mouser> lol
<mouser> hahahahahhahahaah
<Skwire> FU!
<mouser> ah the good old days
<mouser> of 5 minutes ago
<mouser> when you were so sure of life
<mouser> so young, naive, and headstrong
<mouser> cast yourself back in time to your youth
<mouser> and remember that moment
<mouser> 5 minutes ago
<Skwire> .,!,.(^_^).,!,.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #19 on:** October 19, 2010, 06:08 PM »

It's all very enlightening! Here's another, recent, real-world developer's response to the issue of letters/numbers…

i've thought about adding letters.. it just seems like if it's not in your top 9 items, you are better off filtering the results by typing more rather than having to locate the 15th result.
-mouser

(It began here.)

superboyac · « **Reply #20 on:** October 19, 2010, 09:46 PM »

Oh my goodness! Thanks so much for posting that. I've always wondered how the process went. And it was funny as hell.

skwire, thanks so much for doing this, I wish I could repay you somehow.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up. I'm spending a week on vacation at my university and I'm using the time to work on other academic/business projects.

skwire · « **Reply #21 on:** October 20, 2010, 09:15 AM »

I thought you might all appreciate this conversation from the chat channel, to give you a fly-on-the-wall view of how real software development takes place and how software evolves:
-mouser (October 19, 2010, 05:19 PM)

...and you guys thought it was all planned and orderly...

skwire · « **Reply #22 on:** October 22, 2010, 11:14 PM »

Give this a whirl, superboyac: List Numberer download

Currently, it does not save any settings. This release is more to see if this is what you had in mind...consider this a beta NANY entry. =] Anyway, play with it and let me know what you think. Also, names for this application are welcome. It's been a while, Cranioscopical...what say you? =]

superboyac · « **Reply #23 on:** October 25, 2010, 03:32 PM »

skwire, this program is excellent. Thanks for doing it, that was very nice of you. I think it works very well. My only comment is how to add a 'Tab' character in the prefix or suffix? I'm guessing it can be done with a unicode character, but I can't find it. Since the tab character is fairly common, I would suggest you add a button that will conveniently add the tab character to the fields (prefix/suffix).

As for the name, I actually really like "List Numberer". It's clear and has a little charm to it. When I get home, I'll look for an icon for it and send it to you, and you can use it in place of the ahk icon, if you like.

skwire · « **Reply #24 on:** October 25, 2010, 04:16 PM »

My only comment is how to add a 'Tab' character in the prefix or suffix?
-superboyac (October 25, 2010, 03:32 PM)

In my current build, I have those two edit controls set to insert a tab character when the tab key is used. However, you will lose the ability to tab out of that control to the next one. Make sense?

As for the name, I actually really like "List Numberer". It's clear and has a little charm to it. When I get home, I'll look for an icon for it and send it to you, and you can use it in place of the ahk icon, if you like.
-superboyac (October 25, 2010, 03:32 PM)

Don't worry about the icon since this is a preview/beta build. I'm going to submit it as a NANY app and will dress it up then with my typical Skwire Empire stuff.