Hi Kirandeep,

Refer to the rx, rf, and ri macros in the xymacro.pdf (PDF page 252 in 9.6 documentation).

This is how we use those macros to do something similar to what you are attempting to accomplish. In all article divisions in within an XPP JOB, we insert the equivalent of <?rx;filename?>, eg, <?rx;jvp200230?> in DIV_jvp200230. Then in the summary article DIV, we insert the equivalent of <?rf;filename?> (eg; <?rf;jvp200230?>) then <?rf;%refpg4?> which outputs the first page number of division jvp200230. 

If DIV_jvp200230 starts on page 1, it will output "1" but if it starts on page 2153, then "2153" will display in the summary article. If the starting page numbers change in the source DIV, then recomposing the summary article will update the page numbers. 

Jaye Mize (she/her/hers)
Director, Content Production Systems

JAMA Network
330 N Wabash Ave, Ste 39300, Chicago, IL 60611 

T 312-464-4712  M 719-431-2462
jamanetwork.com

Hi Jaye,

Thank you so much for your suggestion! The documentation does mention "forward references," so hopefully this works for us where the Weekly summary division comes a few divisions before the Monthly division in the publication. Thanks!

I'm pretty sure it is mentioned in the Documentation, but keep in mind with "forward references" that it may require a double composition (of the whole JOB) to get accurate results with the forward page references.

I'm sure you can imagine why that is the case without much explanation. Just image that there are major changes in numbers of pages in some of the "forward referenced" division(s) that will affect the overall page numbering. The earlier division with the forward references will not pick up (all) the correct page numbers until those later divisions have been composed at least once (without any further changes to the data).

Hi Jonathan,

Thank you for mentioning that. Yes, cmdutils states "You may need to use the "jobcomp -altxref." As I mentioned in my original post, it seems one would need everything composed to know the page numbers. I'm wondering why they say "may need to." Wouldn't you always need to? I have a lot more to learn about XPP :)

It just depends on the specific workflow and setup (or coding) that is used with such a JOB, as the workflow and setup vary a lot from customer to customer (and perhaps JOB to JOB), as to what extra steps might be necessary to resolve forward references.