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LEH_0201
LEH_0201
Known Participant
April 5, 2016
Question

Conditional text in TOC and Index

  • April 5, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 2080 views

I inherited a RoboHelp project that is linked to FrameMaker source files. I recently upgraded to Tech Comm Suite 2015 but have not yet been able to install the updates. The person who originally set up the project no longer works here, and I've never done a project this way before, so I'm having some trouble figuring this out on my own. I should add that I'm generating WebHelp.

I now have to make a new project that is a subset of the original. I created a new .book file in FrameMaker and added only the chapters I need, using conditional tags to mark text within those chapters that applies to one project but not the other. As far as the content goes, everything works fine in RoboHelp. The problem comes with the Table of Contents and Index. Here's what I am doing:

1. In FrameMaker, set the condition tag for all the files in the book, then generate the TOC and Index. These are correct---only the entries that are tagged with that condition appear.

2. In RoboHelp, create a new project and link it to the .book file. Convert the TOC and Index and update all the files in the book. The TOC and Index contain all the entries in all the source files, even if those entries appear in topics that are hidden in the source files.

In the conversion settings, I do see an option called "Apply FrameMaker Conditional Text Build Expression". I tried selecting that but it didn't seem to have any effect. I don't really understand what it means. WHAT conditional build expression does it mean? I expected to get a drop-down or be prompted for which condition(s) in the source files I wanted to use.

I have to think it's possible to do what I'm trying to do. I am probably missing a step or a setting somewhere but I cannot figure it out. Can anybody explain to me how I can get this to work?

Thanks!

LouEllen

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1 reply

Jeff_Coatsworth
Community Expert
Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 5, 2016

You either decide to show/hide content in FM or in RH when you generate the help output. If you do it in FM, you set your show/hide settings and update the content accordingly, then you tell RH to use whatever FM has decided to show. That should then bring over only the bit you want to see in RH.

You may want to set up a fresh blank RH project and try importing the conditioned FM content instead of linking it. See if the right stuff appears in RH after doing that.

LEH_0201
LEH_0201Author
Known Participant
April 5, 2016

The content is not the problem. It's the entries in the TOC and index. I get all the topics in the TOC and all the index entries, even if they occur in content with a hidden condition. Even if I were to adjust these manually, the next time I update, the TOC and index are re-created.

Exactly what do you mean by this: "then you tell RH to use whatever FM has decided to show"? I know how to set the condition when I generate the output in both Frame and RH. The problem seems to be that all the TOC and index entries are being imported into RoboHelp, even if they do not show in the FrameMaker TOC and Index.

I have tried both importing and linking and the result is the same. Possibly I am not explaining this very well. It's taken me a long time to figure out how this project was set up in the first place.

LEH_0201
LEH_0201Author
Known Participant
April 5, 2016

And just to add a note, I tried this: In FrameMaker, I set the conditions by creating a build expression. Then I selected that "Apply FrameMaker Conditional Text Build Expression" checkbox on the FrameMaker conversion settings.

I was sure this would work...but it made no difference.

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