Chapter Nomenclature for Printed Documentation in RoboHelp 2017

[gabrielle_m_head]

I work with a company that creates corporate accounting software that includes both printed and online help documentation. We have multiple clients, some of which require conditional formatting. One of our clients has requested unique formatting for their chapter headings in their printed documentation. They would like to include two different font sizes in their chapter headings, for example, 

Chapter 1 Installing Interfaces. The only way I can think of to incorporate this request is through the use of a span tag in the HTML code and corresponding span style specifications in the css, but I cannot find the chapter nomenclature in an HTML view. 

Where does the "Chapter #" nomenclature for printed documentation live/come from?  I understand that the Chapter Name portion of the header is taken from the name of the TOC book, but where does the Chapter # portion come into play? Can this be revised in RoboHelp or is this automatically generated when the printed documentation output is selected/generated? For example, if I wanted to change "Chapter 1" to "Module 1", how would I accomplish this? Can I view this nomenclature in a HTML code view? Finally, is there a better way to achieve this formatting requests for the Chapter h1 headers? Thanks.

[Amebr]

It's been a long time, but from memory isn't that in the word template specified in the last page of the print doco dialog box?

[Peter Grainge]

Whilst you can apply a span tag to the heading HTML in topics, when you generate the printed documentation, you can map to a Word style in the template but that will apply Word's heading style and not recognise any inline formatting. If you generate using a CSS, it will use the style of the CSS.

Are you saying that the topics do not have Chapter # as part of the heading and in the print layout second page there is no reference to Chapter # but in the generated document there is? If so, do you run any macros in Word after generating? If not, I can't see how it is done. 

Can you share the project? If you can, then see the Contact page on my site and send the project as instructed there. Do make sure you include a link to this thread and please do not email the project direct.

How many chapters are you talking about?

[gabrielle_m_head]

I do not believe I would be able to share the project as this is something my company creates, markets, and sells, but I would have to speak with someone.

There are quite a few chapters. Basically, we create different modules related to accounting, Receivables, Payables, Assests, etc. Each of these modules typically has a User's Guide, an Admin guide, and sometimes, an Import/Export Guide. So there can easily be 3 printed outputs with different TOCs generated for client delivery. The other point to make is that we have a major client that we use conditional tags for and separate formatting of which they have their own printed outputs.  

Yes, the Chapter number portion is NOT written anywhere in the RoboHelp project but is being generated in the printed output, not online documentation. For example, let's say we are looking at the Asset documentation, which has about 20 chapters. A TOC book name, example: Creating and Processing Batches, is being generated into the chapter heading when the print output type is selected. However, something is manually putting in the "Chapter #" nomenclature followed by the name, in this example Creating and Processing Batches. 

We do utilized an external stylesheet, css, and various macros to achieve certain formatting. I have not created these documents myself as I have only been working with this company for the last year or so.

[Peter Grainge]

From what you say, the Chapter is getting added by those macros so that's what needs to be looked at. They must be run after the printed document is created so look at the document immediately after it has been produced by RoboHelp and before those processes are run.

Assuming Chapter does not appear at that stage, then someone needs to look at and modify those macros. How they would would select Chapter # and apply inline formatting to that will be fun.

Based on that, there's no point sharing the project as the issue is outside of RoboHelp.

It might just be quicker to select Chapter 1 in the Word document, apply a different font and then use the format painter to apply it to the others. Sometimes a kludge can be the quickest answer.

What neither RoboHelp or Word can do is automatically apply mixed font/size to the same heading.

[Amebr]

Can you confirm, in the last page of the Generate dialog box, if there is a Word template selected? If so, the chapter numbering may be being added by chapter numbering set on the Word heading styles. In which case, I think it's possible to format the chapter numbering differently from the heading. I don't have access to Word at the moment to check though and it's been a long time since I used chapter numbering myself (probably about 1998 🙂  .

If there isn't a Word template however, you'll need to get someone at your work to look at the external files and macros to figure out where it's coming from, as Peter said.

[Peter Grainge]

Wouldn't the Word template then display the chapter and the heading on separate lines as they would be separate styles?

[gabrielle_m_head]

Ok, I will have to have someone investigate the Word macro portion of the process.

However, I generated one of the guides directly from RoboHelp prior to manually running any of the macros and the Chapter # nomenclature was present in the Word document. Unsure exactly how this is happening, but I read the Output View page in RoboHelp while this documentation was generating and there was mention to "Preparing to build chapters..." in between the "Building Table of Contents..." and "Building Navigation..." (Navigation = a TOC book name in the project with various topics) portions. Does this have any significance?

The issue with the formatting is that this generating process is eventually competed automatically during a build process using various applications. I am not familiar with the intricacies of the build process, however, the printed output is generated during the build, the macros are run, and they are converted into pdfs. I bring this up because it is not something that I can physically revise in the word document after the help is generated. Does this mean there isn't a way to complete this formatting request (2 font sizes in chapter header)? Could this be done by a macro?

[gabrielle_m_head]

Update: I reviewed the template as requested and found that in the h1 style, someone designated for h1 to be lists and for Chapter 1 to be the first number of the list. This is where this is coming from. Thank you for your assistance, even though the issue ended up not being RoboHelp related.

[Peter Grainge]

That does confirm that what ends up in the document as Chapter # My Title is a single Word style.

Given the number will not exceed nn, I suspect someone good at macros could create something to find that part and change the font size. I think I would first be going back to the customer and seeing just how vital this is.

Good luck with fixing this one.