Couldn't footnote references be auto-generated?

Question

I’m facing a bunch of footnotes that are suffering from cut-and-paste-itis: the footnote reference (\fr) is wrong and generates a “Reference does not exist” error in the References check.
It seems to me that it is redundant to have to type the (correct) reference within a footnote (or cross-reference) when that information is available to the system from the location of the said footnote. Is there a reason that this couldn’t use the ‘+’ notation used for callers so that ‘\fr +’ would generate the correct reference? Or even better, have a global/publishing option that turns the reference on or off, so that you don’t even need to put the \fr (or \xo) in at all.

Answer 1

When you insert a footnote, by default the \fr is inserted for the verse where the footnote is added. However, if you are dealing with “legacy” footnotes they may be located in other verses (as your example). This is handled by the Scripture Reference Settings > Origin Options tab. There you can define if the origin (\fr or \xo) must match exactly or some other combination.

If you have “missing” origins for \fr or \xo you can insert these using the Advanced > Insert Missing Origin References tool

As a note, sometimes folks will enter a note in one verse, but want it to reference several verses. If you don’t set your selection of the Origin Options correctly this will generate errors.

Comments

anon989803:

a footnote at the end of Mrk 16:20 saying, “16:9-20 Some manuscripts don’t have these verses.” In this case a full ‘\fr 16:9-20’ override would be needed.

In this situation and others you are correct that you may need a full footnote override. Remember you can deny reference errors, or any other basic check error, if necessary. Paratext cannot handle every conceivable situation so if you get a "false positive you cannot resolve in any other way, it is legitimate to deny the error.
That said here are some things to do.

• Set Project Settings > Scripture Reference Setting>Origin Options to In any verse mentioned in the \xo or \xt field
  
• Use another marker as a “publishing reference”. My preference is \fl. In Biblica we always and only use \fl to mark alternate verse references. Below are the standards Biblica uses for marking footnote references in our publications. You can see this markup in the NIV11 and other downloadable Paratext resources provided by Biblica.

Footnote References
The syntax for the verse reference will vary depending on the translation. The c-v separator character and the verse span character can be customized and may be determined by querying the project settings file. Usually the text used from the footnote reference can be determined from the footnote reference alone. However, there are exceptions which is why there are a variety of types listed below.
Types of \fr references
The list of types below uses as separation characters colon “:“ hyphen “-“ and slash. “/”. These characters will vary according to the translation’s scripture reference settings.

• \fr c:v \ft … Standard verse reference. The footnote caller is displayed followed by the verse number (v) only.
• \fr c:v-v \ft … Standard verse reference for translations with combined verses. The footnote caller is displayed followed by the combined verse number v-v.
• \fr c:v-v \fl c:v/v \ft … Alternate verse reference for translations with combined verses and an alternate verse separator character for two adjacent verses. The hyphen is only used when the two numbers are a span of more than two verses. The footnote caller is displayed followed by the alternate combined verse number v/v. (Ex. German HFA Hoffnung für alle)
• \fr c \ft … Chapter only verse reference. The footnote caller is displayed without any verse number following. The footnote caller is displayed on the chapter number or, in the case of Psalms, as part of the Psalm Chapter Label (\cl ) text. In the footnote, the caller is displayed without a following verse number. The footnote text should explicitly mention the chapter of Psalm number. (Ex. NIV PSA 6)
• \fr c:v \fl \ft… Verse reference with empty alternate verse reference. Markup for footnotes where the caller is displayed without a following verse number because footnote applies to the entire book. (Ex. NIV SNG 1:2; 2:1)
• \ft… Omitted verse reference. Alternate markup for footnotes that apply to the entire book. The caller is displayed in the footnote without reference information. (Ex. NIV SNG 1:2; 2:1)
• \fr c:0 \fl Title: \ft… Verse reference on Psalm Hebrew Titles (\d markup) verse zero. The caller is displayed in the footnote without a following verse number. The word and punctuation for Title: must be translated. Psalm titles are unusual in that they are versified in many translations. Ex.NIV Psalm 3

Answer 2

I just found a situation where the footnote reference doesn’t match the location: a footnote at the end of Mrk 16:20 saying, “16:9-20 Some manuscripts don’t have these verses.” In this case a full ‘\fr 16:9-20’ override would be needed. However, the References check complains about that: “Expected origin reference [16:20] but found reference [16:9-20] in \fr origin.” This seems rather circular: I have to enter a reference manually, but if I get it wrong then it flags it as an error!

Answer 3

Thank-you anon848905 and CrazyRocky for your helpful replies. I wasn’t aware of the Origin Options settings, so that gives me some more choices.

Back to my original question: It seems perfectly possible, and a nice feature, to support an \fr + notation that automatically generates the correct reference. Is this something worth putting in an enhancement request for, or is there a gotcha that I’m not aware of?

Comments

anon989803, I’m not sure what use case you are requesting this for.

Currently if you insert a footnote it automatically adds the \fr for the location where the note is added.
And there is a tool that automatically adds missing \fr markers.

What is the situation where you would want use the automatic generation that is not already covered?

Answer 4

The use case that prompted this thread is where footnotes have been copied from another location. This is either for the same content (e.g. explaining a foreign word), or as a template for something like a measurement. In some recent cases the editor has forgotten to update the \fr field. I also get the occassional mis-formatting (full-stop instead of colon) that needs fixing–presumably a mistake made when updating the reference.

In any case, it is generating work for me as proof-reader/etc. to fix these things, where it could be completely automated in the first place, which would simplify the system for all users.

Comments

anon989803,

The best way to make this feature request would be through the Paratext Help > Give Feedback.