You sometimes need to specify a reference to a note relative to something else, like the current note. Item Objects are a set of generic relative references to, or placeholders for, another single [sic] note whose actual identity is context sensitive. Item designators are written with lower case starting letters and inter-capitalised if multiword; e.g. child, prevSibling. Usage is case sensitive.
The 'order' of notes, where referred to, relates to their sequence within the overall Tinderbox file. To see this order, expand all levels of an Outline, Explorer or Chart view. The order is the top-to-bottom ordering of the notes on a line by line basis; so the first child's children are ordered before the second child, etc. (Outline order is also exposed via the read-only System attribute $OutlineOrder).
For convenience in export, several designators skip notes that are not exported, or usually considered outside the document outline. These include:
- adornments
- separators
- other notes which do not export
Such designators include next, previous, nextSibling, previousSibling. From v9.6.0, to designate a note that might be an adornment, separator, or unexported item, use the corresponding item designators: nextItem, previousItem, nextSiblingItem, previousSiblingItem.
Group-scope designators may return only a single item if the evaluated group only contains a single item. This is not the same as the expectation that an item-scope designator must return a reference to only a single item.