Using Find/Replace in Multiple Projects

Forum|Forum|18 years ago
April 15, 2008
5 replies
1502 views

I maintain several RoboHELP HTML projects, and I have a global edit to make (global meaning in all projects, not just one).

Is there a way to have RH conduct a find/replace in multiple projects so that I don't have to open each one?

Thanks,

Jim

HTML

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer

Hi Jim,
A couple of thoughts on this...
I've only used the Multi-file find and replace facility in RH and from experience with this I would exercise caution as you only see the code view and are to some extent "flying blind".

Second thing, if you do find a search and replace method you like, perhaps consider replacing items with variables which can be more easily updated when the inevitable next time comes....

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Why would XML make any difference?

RH7 has variables.

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A

Anonymous

Thanks Peter and Author care.

To the variable point AuthorCare mentioned, does this mean that an XML product (e.g., MadCap Flare) would work better for multiple project find/replace?

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I wouldn't consider using the inbuilt tool. It only searches on a single line and can miss stuff as a result.

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A

Anonymous

I can see from the dates on these posts that I'm once again a year behind everyone else - maybe that's a good thing. Could you explain the comment "I wouldn't consider using the inbuilt tool. It only searches on a single line and can miss stuff as a result." I believe I am having this problem. I'm trying to Search / Replace a large project using the RoboHelp Multi-File Find and Replace tool and have discovered it missed about 10% of the hundreds of occurrences. I'm trying to figure out if there's anything I can do differently to avoid this problem. I will look into "variables", but right now I just need to get this project completed for a release. Thanks for any additional info or work-arounds.

A

Anonymous

I have the same problem - only I'd say it misses more like 30 percent.

Helen Schmidling

A

Anonymous

Correct answer

Hi Jim,
A couple of thoughts on this...
I've only used the Multi-file find and replace facility in RH and from experience with this I would exercise caution as you only see the code view and are to some extent "flying blind".

Second thing, if you do find a search and replace method you like, perhaps consider replacing items with variables which can be more easily updated when the inevitable next time comes....

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

No.

What you might like to try is FAR from http://www.helpware.net/FAR.

You will need to point it to each project but you would set up the search and replace and then just point to project one, then project two and project three, one after the other so very simple.

Be aware, multi file find and replace tools are dangerous and can end your project and career in seconds. Make backups BEFORE you experiment.

The nice bit with FAR is you can specify the start and end of the string and specify includes and / or excludes. It searches across multiple lines. Note that it works at code level so be careful.

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