Conference vaxuum::document_ft

133.0. "Problem with <ALIGN_CHAR>" by ATLAST::NICODEM (Eschew obfuscation) Fri Mar 20 1987 14:29

    	I just ran across a strange problem while using the <ALIGN_CHAR>
    and <ENDALIGN_CHAR> tags.  Normally, when I'm using alignment
    characters, I simply put the <ALIGN_CHAR> at the *top* of my file,
    and the <ENDALIGN_CHAR> at the bottom.  That way I can use the
    alignment character throughout the text without turning it "on"
    and "off" continuously.
    
    	However, I created another file recently which resulted in several
    errors.  The first told me that I had an "<ALIGN_CHAR>" tag with
    no terminator; this was immediately followed by another message
    that told me that "<ENDALIGN_CHAR>" was an unrecognized tag.  I
    re-typed the line several times, just in case there were bad characters
    in it, or something.  The problem wouldn't go away.
    
    	So, I moved the "<ENDALIGN_CHAR>" up into the body of the text,
    following my last use of the alignment character.  Voila!  Everything
    works just fine!
    
    	I cannot reproduce this in a shorter example, and the one in
    which it happens is too long to print here.  Any ideas on what's
    happening?  Why would it tell me that I *don't* have a terminator
    for my "<ALIGN_CHAR>", and then also tell me that my "<ENDALIGN_CHAR>"
    is an invalid tag??
    
    	Frank

    
    SDML is trying to be helpful. <align_char> is in the category of
    things that have to be terminated at the beginning of a major section.
    The assumption is that a user may forget that a character has been
    assigned as the alignment character and won't know what is going
    on when the character may subsequently be lost in text.
    
    1. when the absence of a terminator is detected, <align_char> is
       quietly terminated so the tag translator continues.
    
    2. <endalign_char> is subsequently undefined because <align_char>
       is not active. 
    
    hope this helps clear it up.