Indesign CS tab + leader

[Kim Gjemmestad]

How to set so that a tab leader always has a minimum "gap"?

I'm making "Yellow Pages" listings and the problem always occur that the [address] gets too close to the [number] before dropping down to next line (Manage ragged lines turn on)

[Addresss].......[number] where the dots (...) is the tab leader

PROBLEM:
Chindwelley Co Ltd
9-7 Hyde House, Park Royale 961 9984 (ADDRESS AND NUMBER TOO CLOSE)

HOW IT SHOULD LOOK:
Chindwelley Co Ltd
9-7 Hyde House, Park
Royale....................961 9984 (BREAKS BECAUSE RULE OF MINIMUM OF FOUR DOTS (....) REQUIRED)

SAMPLE LISTING WITH MINIMUM SPACE BETWEEN ADDRESS AND NUMBER BEFORE LINE BREAKS:
Chindwelley Co Ltd
9-7 Hyder House, Parkway....961 9984

[Gabriel_Ayala@adobeforums.com]

Why not start a new line instead of using a comma?

[Kim Gjemmestad]

Every address is different, so we would not know when to break. Let me add that when we have ten 1000s of listings the objective is to 'squeeze' as much together as possible to save printing cost.

However, we have done the following now on the sql database end to solve the problem, in an if statement function: (though I'm still interested in tips and tricks regarding the initial post)

IF address char count <23 then put phone on same line as address (since we know it won't break) after a tab leader.

IF address char count >23 then start phone number on new line (Tel....0000000)(and let adobe ragged line management balance the address lines)

Regards,

Kim

[Gabriel_Ayala@adobeforums.com]

Let me add that when we have ten 1000s of listings the objective is to
'squeeze' as much together as possible to save printing cost.




I had that understanding from the beginning but it seemed like the only way.

Every address is different, so we would not know when to break.




I believe what you need is a Nested Style to work along with the tab leader style. You said if the char count is <23 you need it to break correct? If so, there has got to be a way to define that in a Nested Style.

I have not tried playing around with the Nested Styles to see if I can replicate what you would like to do but it's definitely worth taking a look at.

[Kim Gjemmestad]

Thanks for you inpt Gabriel. As much as we love nested styles (we use it a lot) we didn't quite manage to nest our way out of this problem, so to speak.

We have tried this previously:
- To add 5 static dots "....." at end of address line to force the apperance, but the kerning causes an inconsistent gap between the manual dots and the leading dots "..... ........." (could work IF one could set letter justification in characters style and nest it with a no break char style)
- Before that we made a function in our database that inserted a tagged text soft return based on a criteria counting charters and words. But too inconsitent due to the nature of different addresses. IF one could insert soft return by distance in mm in combination with words it would work.

our current function (see post 2) is ok, but not optimsed 100% to save lines/pages.

Kim