Publishing with TCS3 - how to set the default topic?

Report · Jun 08, 2011

Hi all,

I am having a problem with the new Publishing function of FM10/TCS3. Here is how I proceed:

1. Create a RoboHelp project.

2. Create a link to the FrameMaker book and update (the link properties are set to generate a TOC).

3. Tweak the import settings until layout fits.

4. Select the generated TOC in the SSL and set the title page as default topic.

5. Generate HTML help output and test.

6. When all is fine, export isf file and close Robohelp.

Now the idea would be that I can edit the book using Framemaker and generate HTML Help output without using Robohelp:

1. Open Book in Framemaker and edit. I also need to edit the title page.

2. Select File > Publish.

3. Select the Robohelp projekt and isf file.

4. Generate HTML Help.

Result. Everthing works fine, except for the title page - the online help still displays the default topic at the state is had in the Robohelp project, before I edited the Framemaker file. When I select the title page manualy from the TOC, then the correct updated page is displayed. That means that both versions are contained in the CHM and the correct version is linked to the TOC, but the wrong version is set as default topic.

Any solution to this? Otherwise I might file a bug report.

Report · Jun 09, 2011

Can you please elaborate the para below

Everything works fine, except for the title page - the online help still displays the default topic at the state is had in the RoboHelp project, before I edited the FrameMaker file. When I select the title page manually from the TOC, then the correct updated page is displayed. That means that both versions are contained in the CHM and the correct version is linked to the TOC, but the wrong version is set as default topic.

do you mean to say that you selected a different topic as default in the RoboHelp project and later while File Publish you changed the default topics - the question is from where did you do it (in RoboHelp project?) and this selecting from TOC is not clear (as default topic selection combo in SSL does not shows TOC but all the topics present).

Secondly Did you used the same FM file set to create .isf from RoboHelp project that was used later for File Publish option or did you created a downsample of you FM file set in the RoboHelp project.

One of the things I would suggest is that if you are that proficient with RoboHelp (the way you linked and did mapping and all) then why go to FrameMaker to Publish, as you can create the same output right there sitting the RoboHelp project (while you are creating the .isf - mapping that you require). It will give you more flexibility with respect to the output generation like applying a different CSS to all the topics before generating output

one last explanation what seems to have happened in your case is that you selected a different topics (topics generated from the linked FM in RoboHelp project) and while publish the files used for output is the one generated through import of the FM book in the RoboHelp project (which is a different set of files) and thus the outputs default topics would be the one generated from your linked FM document (the one that you selected while creating the .isf file)

If you use linked FM documents and generate online outputs from RoboHelp you would have a better control over these online outputs and for PDF you can always generate it from FrameMaker

Hope this will help

Ashish

Report · Jun 09, 2011

Hi,

to be more precise:

1. The Framemaker Document has an introduction page. I set this as

default topic in RoboHelp. After generating HTML help output from

RoboHelp, this page opens when the CHM is displayed. I did not change

anything from this point on. When I publish HTML help from Framemaker,

the same default topic is displayed as it was in the Robhelp project.

Any changes to the introduction page that I made in Framemaker are not

displayed. The default topic of the new CHM reflects the state this page

had when I set up the RoboHelp project, not the state it had when I

published the output from Framemaker.

2. Yes the Framemaker document is the same. I set up the RoboHelp

project with this document, exported the isf file, then closed Robohelp

and published the same document from Framamaker using the exported isf file.

3. You are right of course that I myself can publish from RoboHelp and I

would even prefer this. But I am trying to set it up for other authors

who need to edit in Framemaker and publish the HTML help without having

RoboHelp knowledge.

It seems like a small issue, all other pages get updated correctly. Only

the default topic seems to be a fixed setting of the SSL and it is not

exchanged automatically by the updated version. This not a catastrophe

in itself, I just want to check that I did not overlook anything.

Robert

Report · Jun 09, 2011

Hi Robert,

so here is the problem as you are quite proficient to RoboHelp you will understand this.

You have created a RH project and linked FM book and generate it to verify the output now you use the same RH project while File-Publish from FrameMaker - what this File->Publish does internally is that it imports the FM file set opened in FrameMaker in the RH project selected and generates the output with the TOC/Index/Glossary generated from this newly imported FM file set.

and here is the catch, that the topics generated in RoboHelp from the linked FM book and this newly imported book are different and thus when you update/modify any of the source FM document and do File->Publish again, the topics generated for the imported files are updated but the default topic selected, is the one from the linked FM source and it is not updated in RoboHelp (you must be knowing that to bring the changes in RoboHelp from a linked FM source you need to update the link) and thus has an older version of the default topic and you see that in the output.

now Ideally you should delete the link from the RH project along with the default first topic of the project after generating the .isf and before using it for File->Publish and make the default document the first document of the book (which I think you must have done) and then do a File->Publish and in this case you will always get the updated default topic.

Hope this will help

Ashish

Report · Jun 09, 2011

Hi RoboAsh,

thanks for the explanation. The problem is, if I delete the link to the

FrameMaker file in the RoboHelp project after exporting the isf file

then the default topic is not set at all. Or rather, it is set to the

first topic that was in the project when it was created (when you create

a project, you can enter a name for the first topic - this is the topic

that is used as default topic when no other is specified).

I suppose the solution is to set up this topic as a generalized default

topic in the RoboHelp project that is to be subsequently used for all

Framemaker publishing. This could contain the company logo etc but would

not be specific to the published Framemaker document.

Robert

Report · Jun 09, 2011

Hi Robert,

the correct flow for you will be then to use the default template in place of any RH project in File->Publish, i.e. do not specify any RoboHelp project (RH project is just required to create a satisfactory .isf file). then whatever will be the first topic in RoboHelp (i.e. the first document in FrameMaker book) will be set as the default topic

you should just use the .isf as the input or else the way you are using RoboHelp project will bring double content in your output thought not visible directly but in the search you will see that two topics for the same keyword will be shows one from the linked file in your RoboHelp project and the other one from the imported FM (due to FIle Publish)

Hope this helps

Ashish