Eclipse help toc xml files. Why are things included/excluded?

[melmohl]

I've been experimenting with generating Eclipse help, because down the road I'll need to provide content for a product developed with Eclipse.

I'm using RoboHelp HTML v9 and FrameMaker 10 (TCS 3).

First, I opened a project created from scratch in RoboHelp by manually adding the topics one at a time. Then I generated Eclipse help. (I selected

Tools > Scripts > Eclipse Help Generator.)

Next, I opened another project that I created by linking a FrameMaker book to RoboHelp. Then I generated Eclipse help for it as well.

When I looked at the output files for each project, I noticed some differences.

The TOC XML file generated from the project I created from scratch shows every topic in the TOC for that project.
For example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
- <toc label="My Product Guide">
  <topic label="Introduction" href="first_topic.htm" />
  <topic label="The Work Area" href="work_area.htm" />
  <topic label="Basic Tasks" href="basic_tasks.htm" />
  <topic label="Technical Support" href="tech_support.htm" />
- <topic label="Usign My Product">
   ...and so on.

The TOC XML file generated from the project that has a linked FM book only shows this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
  <toc label="ProductGuideHelp" /> NOTE: ProductGuideHelp was the name of the RoboHelp project.

Furthermore, the output for the project created from scratch includes an HTML file for each topic added in that project. The output for the project

created by linking an FM book does not include a separate HTML file for each topic. When I can find the content, it's in HTML files that I wouldn't expect.

For example, a topic from a middle section of the project is in the file titled whskin_homepage.hmtl.

So...what's going on?

Thank you.

Mel

[Peter Grainge]

I cannot help you with Eclipse Help but maybe this problem is not related to that.

Generate a webhelp output and see if you have similar problems with that. If you do, then the problem is likely the link with FM and I will then move this thread to a forum category better suited to your question.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[melmohl]

Peter,

I generated web help from my project (linked FM) and ended up with a very nice help system. Then I generated Eclipse help again. This time things went much better. I ended up with a TOC XML that looks closer to what I expected.

Roughly half of the entries in the new TOC XML file look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

- <toc label="TireMasterPOSHelp">

- <topic label="Introduction" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Introduction.htm">

- <topic label="Using This Help System" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Using_This_Help_System.htm">

  <topic label="Visual Conventions of This Help System" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Visual_Conventions_of_This_Help_System.htm" />

  <topic label="Keys" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Keys.htm" />

  <topic label="Notes, Tips, and Warnings" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Notes_Tips_and_Warnings.htm" />

  </topic>

- <topic label="Maintaining Your TireMaster System" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Maintaining_Your_TireMaster_System.htm">

  <topic label="Validating Your Data" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Validating_Your_Data.htm" />

  <topic label="Validation Messages" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Validation_Messages.htm" />

  <topic label="Backing Up Your Data" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Backing_Up_Your_Data.htm" />

  <topic label="Installing Updates and Patches" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Installing_Updates_and_Patches.htm" />

  <topic label="Viewing TireMaster Messages" href="POS-UserGuide/Intro/Viewing_TireMaster_Messages.htm" />

  </topic>

The remaining entries don't have detail. They're pointing to some other XML files instead:

- <topic label="Setting Up Inventory">

  <link toc="eclipse_whtdata2.xml" />

  </topic>

- <topic label="Managing Inventory">

  <link toc="eclipse_whtdata3.xml" />

  </topic>

- <topic label="Costing Methods">

  <link toc="eclipse_whtdata4.xml" />

  </topic>

  ...and so on.

I opened one of those eclipse_whtdata files and it looks like it has the TOC entries inside. Here's an example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

- <toc label="Credit & Debit Cards">

- <topic label="Processing Payment Cards" href="POS-UserGuide/CreditCards/Processing_Payment_Cards.htm">

  <topic label="Completing Credit Card and Debit Card Sales" href="POS-UserGuide/CreditCards/Completing_Credit_Card_and_Debit_Card_Sales.htm" />

  <topic label="Reversing Credit Card Invoices" href="POS-UserGuide/CreditCards/Reversing_Credit_Card_Invoices.htm" />

  <topic label="Recording Payments from Credit Card Companies" href="POS-UserGuide/CreditCards/Recording_Payments_from_Credit_Card_Companies.htm" />

  </topic>

- <topic label="Setting Up Credit Cards" href="POS-UserGuide/CreditCards/Setting_Up_Credit_Cards.htm">

  <topic label="Adding a Customer Type for Credit Cards" href="POS-UserGuide/CreditCards/Adding_a_Customer_Type_for_Credit_Cards.htm" />

  <topic label="Adding a Credit Card Customer" href="POS-UserGuide/CreditCards/Adding_a_Credit_Card_Customer.htm" />

  <topic label="Creating Credit Card Codes" href="POS-UserGuide/CreditCards/Creating_Credit_Card_Codes.htm" />

  </topic>

  <topic label="Setting Up Debit Cards" href="POS-UserGuide/CreditCards/Setting_Up_Debit_Cards.htm" />

  </toc>

So...maybe what you need to do is generate web help "before" you generate Eclipse help. In my case that makes sense, because this project was originally delivered as a .chm file.

I can't say I fully understand what's going on here, but I'm certainly in a better place than I was at this time yesterday! Thank you for your help.

[Peter Grainge]

That wasn't the answer I expected when I wrote my reply but the fact that you then got Eclipse help working made me realise what the problem was. Eclipse help is produced by RoboHelp running a script. It uses the default WebHelp layout. Once you had set up WebHelp to generate the required output, the script was then able to work.

If you go to View > Pods and open the Script Explorer pod, you will see the script. You can right click and edit the script. I am not suggesting you do change it but on line 517 you will see the script is checking for the existence of the webhelp.

What you should do now is add one or two topics to the source but not generate a new webhelp output, then run the script and see if they are in the Ecliplse help. That will tell you whether or not you always need to run the webhelp layout first. I expect that it will be necessary but please test and post back.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge]

Curiosity got the better of me.

It seems that all that is necessary is to define the WebHelp layout to generate what you want and Save it.

I added another topic and ran the script without running the WebHelp layout again. The new topic was included and amended TOC was correct.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[melmohl]

I can verify what you suggested as well. I added two new topics to one of my FrameMaker files and regenerated the book to update the Frame TOC. Then I updated the project files in Robohelp and ran the Eclipse script (without running Webhelp first). The new topics are listed in the TOC XML file.

Thank you so much for your help. I think you've spared me from some significant headaches!