Re: Relating multiple index entries to one table item

[Gavin Smith]

On Sat, Nov 26, 2022 at 11:11:52PM +0100, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> I spotted two cases for which the index entry could also be with the
> table term (in xtables inter_item_commands_in_table test), with a
> comment between index entry and @item or an empty line between index
> entry and @item:
> 
> @table @code
> @cindex cindex in table 
> @c comment in table
> @item abb
> l--ine
> @end table
> 
> @table @samp 
> @cindex cindex before line
> 
> @item asamp--bb2
> @end table

I had seen those but they didn't seem important.  They would need handling
of the empty line and comments, which probably wouldn't be difficult.

What is more awkward is when there is no blank line before the index command:

    @table @asis
    @item aaa
    text
    @cindex XXX
    @item bbb
    text
    @end table

producing

    <dl class="table">
    <dt>aaa</dt>
    <dd><p>text
    <a class="index-entry-id" id="index-XXX"></a>
    </p></dd>
    <dt>bbb</dt>
    <dd><p>text
    </p></dd>
    </dl>

There are several such usages in the Texinfo manual; for example, in the table
of units in (texinfo)Image Scaling.  Adding an extra blank line before the
index command adds an extra blank line in the Info output, which is not
desired for some tables, in this case looking like

    pt
         point (72.27pt = 1in)
    pc
         pica (1pc = 12pt)
    bp
         big point (72bp = 1in)
    in
         inch

and adding extra blank lines between the entries would waste space on the
screen.

The issue is that @cindex is included with the paragraph.  This should be
fixable by making index commands close a paragraph, although it would remove
the possibility of having an index target part way through a paragraph, which
could be important.  (For example, in paginated output with a paragraph
crossing over a page, with the relevant material on the later page - the
index entry should refer to the later page, not the earlier page.)
In texinfo.tex output,

    aaa
    @cindex foo
    bbb

produces output that looks like, simply, "aaa bbb".

So I am not too keen on making index commands close paragraphs.

I don't have a good solution at the moment. Another idea that came to
mind was to reparent trailing index entries in paragraphs, so that with

    aaa
    @cindex foo

    bbb

the "foo" index entry isn't part of the first paragraph.