Hello everyone,

I'm having page references and want to calc / draw 'Page x of y' for some subsections in MP.
How can I pass 'em down so I end up with numbers to do calculations with?

\setuplayout[header=15mm]

\def\myHeader[#1]#2{

\ignorespaces

\getdummyparameters[ref=,next=,#1]

\pagebreak[yes]

\pagereference[\dummyparameter{ref}]

\doassign[header][first=\dummyparameter{ref}]

\doassign[header][next=\dummyparameter{next}]

{\tfc\bf{#2}}\par

\vskip3mm

}

\def\fillWithText[#1]{

\dorecurse{#1}{

\input tufte

\input knuth

}

}

\setupheadertexts[\setups{page:header}]%

\startsetups page:header

\setupMPvariables[hdrPgs]

[curr=\pagenumber,

first={\ref[page][\headerfirst]},

next={\ref[page][\headernext]}]

\framed[

frame=off,

background={hdrPgs}

]{}% all to be done in MP

\stopsetups

\defineoverlay[hdrPgs][\useMPgraphic{hdrPgs}]

\startuseMPgraphic{hdrPgs}

StartPage; % calc and draw 'Page x of y'....

numeric numCurr; numCurr := \MPvar{curr};

string strFirst; strFirst := "\MPvar{first}";

string strNext; strNext := "\MPvar{next}";

message("=======================");

message("MP_hdrPageNrs: curr=" & tostring numCurr & ", sFirst=" & strFirst & ", sNext=" & strNext);

% fails:

numeric numFirst; numFirst := \MPvar{first};

StopPage;

\stopuseMPgraphic

\starttext

\myHeader[ref=a,next=b]{AAAA aaaa AaAaAaAa}

\fillWithText[10]

\myHeader[ref=b,next=c]{BBBB bbbb BbBbBbBbBb}

\fillWithText[3]

\myHeader[ref=c,next=d]{CCCC ccccc CcCcCcCc}

\fillWithText[8]

\myHeader[ref=c,next=last]{DDDD ddddd DdDdDdDdDd}

\fillWithText[8]

\pagebreak[yes]

\pagereference[last]

This is the last page, goodby

\stoptext

metapost        > message : MP_hdrPageNrs: curr=1, sFirst=\ref [page][a], sNext=\ref [page][b]
metafun         > log >
metafun         > log > error: Improper subscript has been replaced by zero
metapost        > log > <*> ... numeric numFirst; numFirst := \ref [page]
metafun         > log >
metafun         > log > A bracketed subscript must have a known numeric value;

So MP gets the macro and tries array access... I tried \expanded, \numeric, and resolving the page numbers via \ref[page][id] at the various code levels - unsuccessfully so far - and out of wit now.

TIA, Werner