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Sreekanth_S
Legend
November 20, 2012
Answered

Problems with bullets while importing FM into RoboHelp

  • November 20, 2012
  • 7 replies
  • 2043 views

Hi

I need to convert the FrameMaker 10 book with bulleted list into HTML using RoboHelp 9.

When I first imported the book into RoboHelp, everything looks fine. However, when I published the file as WebHelp, the first level bullets appear as "n".

Now, to resolve this, I tried to change the style mapping settings while importing FrameMaker book.

While importing, in the Conversion Settings dialog box, I navigated to the relevant bullet style (Say, FM_LB1) and performed following steps:

  1. Click Edit Style. The Styles window opens.
  2. Click Autonumber. The list for Autonumbering window opens.
  3. Deslected the Inherit Numbering Property from Multilevel list checkbox.
  4. Select Disc from the Numbering list.
  5. Click OK. I was now back to the Styles window.

Now, before closing Styles window, I clicked the Autonumber again to verify that the settings are saved. To my surprise, I saw that:

  • The Inherit Numbering Property from Multilevel list is selected.
  • List class is rl-p-FM_LB1.
  • List level is 1.
  • The preview showed a numbered list instead of the bullet I had selected earlier.

How can this happen? I changed the settigns again. But it was of no use.

Due to this, I am still not getting the bulleted list in the required format when I publish this course as a HTML.

 

My final goal is to use the save the settings of this sample file as an .isf file and help users who are not familiar with Robohelp generate HTML output directly from FrameMaker. So, I want to avoid making any post-import changes as far as possible.

Please guide.

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Correct answer Sreekanth_S

I have resolved this issue after lot of trial and errors. I am giving a detailed step-by-step procedure here.

Issue summary:

This issue existed for a multi-level bullets as well, and not just the first level bullets as I mentioned earlier. Further, even after getting the bulleted list right in RoboHelp, the format of bullets were not appearing correctly in FireFox (bullets were replaced by a symbol resembling "n"). However, they were appearing correctly in Internet Explorer.

Solution:

So, here is what I did.

Creating the settings file

  1. Create a blank RoboHelp project.
  2. Go to File > Project Settings. The Project Settings dialog box opens.
  3. Edit the default FrameMaker importing CSS file - RHStyleMapping.css. The Styles dialog box opens.
  4. Create multi-level lists with the required bullet formats. In my case, it was square bullets for first level, circles for second level, and en dash for third level.
  5. Link the first level list to paragraph level to BodyLevel1 style, second level list to paragraph level to BodyLevel2 style, and third level list to paragraph level to BodyLevel3 style.
  6. Assign the required size to the bullets.
  7. Click OK.
  8. In the Project Settings dialog box, export and save the new settings as <somename>.isf file.
  9. Click OK to get back to the main RoboHelp main window.

Importing the FrameMaker file

  1. Import the FrameMaker book/ file using the new <somename>.isf file. Note that the CSS for Style Mapping is RHStyleMapping.css
  2. Click Edit to edit the file conversion settings. The Conversion Settings dialog box opens.
  3. Map the FM bullet level 1 style to BodyLevel1 RoboHelp style.
  4. Click Edit Style. The Styles dialog box opens.
  5. Make the necessary formatting changes such as the font and indentation.
  6. Click Autonumber. The List for Autonumbering dialog box opens.
  7. Select the Inherit Numbering Property from Multilevel list checkbox.
  8. In the List Class dropdown list, select the first level multilevel list style.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Repeat the last six steps for FM bullet level 2 (RH Style BodyLevel2) and FM bullet level 3 (RH Style BodyLevel 3) by selecting the 2nd and 3rd level multilevel list styles respectively.
  11. Retain the default Convert Autonumber to text settings for all the three levels.
  12. Click OK to get back to the Import dialog box.
  13. Export and save settings as the <somename1>.isf for reuse.
  14. Click OK. The file is imported into RoboHelp.
  15. Preview/Publish and view the output in FireFox. It will appear correctly.

Hope this helps.

7 replies

Sreekanth_SAuthorCorrect answer
Legend
November 28, 2012

I have resolved this issue after lot of trial and errors. I am giving a detailed step-by-step procedure here.

Issue summary:

This issue existed for a multi-level bullets as well, and not just the first level bullets as I mentioned earlier. Further, even after getting the bulleted list right in RoboHelp, the format of bullets were not appearing correctly in FireFox (bullets were replaced by a symbol resembling "n"). However, they were appearing correctly in Internet Explorer.

Solution:

So, here is what I did.

Creating the settings file

  1. Create a blank RoboHelp project.
  2. Go to File > Project Settings. The Project Settings dialog box opens.
  3. Edit the default FrameMaker importing CSS file - RHStyleMapping.css. The Styles dialog box opens.
  4. Create multi-level lists with the required bullet formats. In my case, it was square bullets for first level, circles for second level, and en dash for third level.
  5. Link the first level list to paragraph level to BodyLevel1 style, second level list to paragraph level to BodyLevel2 style, and third level list to paragraph level to BodyLevel3 style.
  6. Assign the required size to the bullets.
  7. Click OK.
  8. In the Project Settings dialog box, export and save the new settings as <somename>.isf file.
  9. Click OK to get back to the main RoboHelp main window.

Importing the FrameMaker file

  1. Import the FrameMaker book/ file using the new <somename>.isf file. Note that the CSS for Style Mapping is RHStyleMapping.css
  2. Click Edit to edit the file conversion settings. The Conversion Settings dialog box opens.
  3. Map the FM bullet level 1 style to BodyLevel1 RoboHelp style.
  4. Click Edit Style. The Styles dialog box opens.
  5. Make the necessary formatting changes such as the font and indentation.
  6. Click Autonumber. The List for Autonumbering dialog box opens.
  7. Select the Inherit Numbering Property from Multilevel list checkbox.
  8. In the List Class dropdown list, select the first level multilevel list style.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Repeat the last six steps for FM bullet level 2 (RH Style BodyLevel2) and FM bullet level 3 (RH Style BodyLevel 3) by selecting the 2nd and 3rd level multilevel list styles respectively.
  11. Retain the default Convert Autonumber to text settings for all the three levels.
  12. Click OK to get back to the Import dialog box.
  13. Export and save settings as the <somename1>.isf for reuse.
  14. Click OK. The file is imported into RoboHelp.
  15. Preview/Publish and view the output in FireFox. It will appear correctly.

Hope this helps.

Michael-Kubler
Participant
December 5, 2012

Has anybody had any luck with fixing this from within Framemaker?  I'd like to be able to use the "publish" command there, as clearly intended, if possible. 

I am not able to do part 2 of the process above (editting import setting) as the "edit" button is greyed out.  Also, for reasons that I'm unclear on my "second level" bullets show up fine.

Thanks,

Mike

EDIT:

I finally got a different result now my 1st level bullets look like a sort of double S followed by ) instead of the "dot".  It does look right (which it didn't before) in the "output view" in RoboHelp.

Thanks again,

M

Message was edited by: Michael-Kubler

Sreekanth_SAuthor
Legend
December 6, 2012

Hi Mike

I am using the setttings file (somename1.isf) generated from the above procedure to publish the WebHelp output directly within FrameMaker, and I got all the formatting right.

Let me know if you still have issues. I will be happy to help.

Sreekanth

Peter Grainge
Community Expert
Peter GraingeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 20, 2012

I have moved this thread to the Fm Integration forum as the issue is with Fm to Rh rather than the webhelp output.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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