Captions

What it is and why it exists

Specifications exported to Word or PDF need numbered figures and tables, numbered by chapter: Fig. 2.1, Fig. 2.2, Table 2.1. In DOORS Next a caption is an artifact of its own, placed under the picture or table it describes, and its number is plain text. Every new picture, every moved section and every new chapter breaks the numbering, and fixing it by hand means opening caption after caption.

Captions numbers all the captions of a module in one run. It reads the chapters of the module, works out the number of every figure and table caption, shows them first and then writes them, replacing only the old number at the start of each caption.

Problems it solves

• Figure and table numbers that no longer follow the chapters after sections were added, moved or deleted.
• Two figures with the same number, or gaps in the numbering, found only in the exported document.
• Hours of opening caption after caption to type numbers by hand before a review or a release.
• Captions with different number styles ("Figure 3:", "Fig. 1.2", no number at all) in one document.

Benefits

• Numbered by chapter: Fig. 2.1, Fig. 2.2, Table 2.1, with a separate counter for figures and tables that starts again in every chapter.
• See it first: a preview lists every caption with its number now and the new one, before anything changes.
• The caption text stays: only the old number is replaced; the words and their bold or italic stay as they were.
• Safe to run again: captions that already have the right number are not written, and an Excel change report keeps every text before and after.

How to use

1. Required: Captions works only when the project has an artifact type named Caption. The captions are artifacts of that type, each under its picture or table; a Caption Type attribute (Figure or Table) is optional.
2. Open the module. In Settings, click Change, choose in New number at headings up to which heading level starts a new number (level 1: 1.1, 1.2 … then 2.1), and in Caption text after the number choose Keep the text, Only the number (remove the text) or an attribute of the figure or table, such as Name. Click Done.
3. Under Module, click Preview to see every caption under Captions with its number now, the new one and its new text. Open a row and click Show in module to see that caption in the module.
4. Click Number, read the confirmation and click Number captions. The result block shows how many captions were numbered, added, already right or failed, and Log downloads the change report.

Good to know

• Run Captions in a change set, so you can discard the change set if the result is not what you wanted.
• Captions before the first chapter get chapter 0 (Fig. 0.1). A caption without a Caption Type is numbered without a word, with a counter of its own.
• The Caption Type attribute is optional: without it, Captions tells figures from tables by the word of the old number (Fig., Table) or by the figure or table next to the caption. A figure or table without a caption gets a new caption right after it; this can be switched off in Settings.
• By default the caption is centered and its artifact name emptied, as in the original Captions widget; both can be switched off in Settings.
• The caption type, its attribute and the words before the numbers (Fig., Table) can be changed in the widget settings, for example for captions in another language.
• Captions can also write the caption text for you: in Settings, pick an attribute of the figure or table (for example its Name), and its value is written after the number in place of the old text, as in Fig. 1.2 Battery pack layout; an empty value leaves only the number. Choose Only the number to remove the text from every caption, or Keep the text to change only the numbers.