Thats a challenge

Once in a while I see some challenging questions on the Danish support site http://www.oooforum.dk . Today I found a question about outline numbering. The question came from a couple of guys from University of Southern Denmark (http://www.sdu.dk/?sc_lang=en). The university is using OpenOffice.org and these two are doing an assignment.

They need to make a TOC like this:

Header
1. First chapter
1.1 First issue in first chapter
1.2 Second issue in first chapter
2. Second chapter
2.1 First issue in second chapter
Another header
3. Third chapter
3.1 ...
3.2 ...
etc.

Please note that they want to continue the numbering of chapters, even if there is a header in between. The problem is, that the normal behavior would be like this:

Header
1. First chapter
1.1 First issue in first chapter
1.2 Second issue in first chapter
2. Second chapter
2.1 First issue in second chapter
Another header
1. Third chapter
1.1 ...
1.2 ...
etc.

The outline numbering will reset after the heading entry.

The difficult part is, that the document actually contains four numbered levels of headings 8+ the top level). But only two numbered levels is to shown in the TOC.

Hmmm.....

Normally this would be accomplished this way:

Header <- Heading 1
1. First chapter <- Heading 2
1.1 First issue in first chapter <- Heading 3
1.2 Second issue in first chapter <- Heading 3
2. Second chapter <- Heading 2
2.1 First issue in second chapter <- Heading 3
Another header <- Heading 1
1. Third chapter <- Heading 2
1.1 ... <- Heading 2
1.2 ... <- Heading 2
etc.

But the problem is, that the outline numbering always starts from the top. So what we did was this

Header <- Heading 3
1. First chapter <-Heading 1
1.1 First issue in first chapter <- Heading 2
1.2 Second issue in first chapter <- Heading 2
2. Second chapter <- Heading 1
2.1 First issue in second chapter <- Heading 2
Another header <- Heading 3
3. Third chapter <-Heading 1
3.1 ... <- Heading 2
3.2 ... <- Heading 2
etc.

The header styles and TOC styles was changed, so it looks as if Header is higher level that Chapter and issue. The TOC is evaluating untill third level and the two first levels are numbered.

Done.