Dynamic Filter

[elisa23592620fepw]

Hi everyone!

I am here again to ask you for help regarding the dynamic filter.

I have the RH 2022.0.346 and I am generating a Responsive HTML5 Output. I'm trying to insert  a dynamic filter to give users the possibility (the project is a user manual whose topics are the individual features of one of our aplications) to select only yje topics related to installed features. To do this I created special condition tags which I then applied at both content and topic levels. I then created condition expressions that recalled those tags and then a dynamic filter that contains the previously created condition expressions.

So I generated the output but unfortunately the filter does not work.

Could you help me?

Thanks in advance! 

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Did you have a look at Peter's site - https://www.grainge.org/RoboHelp_Tour/rh2022/outputs/dynamic_content.htm 

[elisa23592620fepw]

Hi Jeff,

yes I did, but it doesn't work

[Peter Grainge]

1. Update 4 is the current version. Please see the post pinned to the forum about upgrading, there are special instructions for your version.
2. As @Jeff_Coatsworth has said, see my site. Don't mix topic and content tags in the same topic.

________________________________________________________
My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Peter Grainge]

"unfortunately the filter does not work" doesn't really help.

• The filter button does not appear
• The button does nothing
• The topics are not what should show according to the filter.
• The correct topics appear but so do others etc.

What exactly does not work. The steps on my site are correct. Usually the problem is incorrect tagging. Tell us more.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[elisa23592620fepw]

Hi Peter,

sorry you are absolutely right. When I say that the filter doesn't work I mean that the button appears and after having fixed some condition expressions the filter hides and displays some topics compared to others, but beyond this I would need the application of the filter to also modify the URL, as you indicate in your blog, but nothing seems to change. Do you perhaps have some advice you can give me?

[Peter Grainge]

Let's say you want your app to open the help with a particular filter applied, the URL is show is

url?f=taggroup:tagname

In your app

• URL would be whatever the URL to the topic is - that would open your help showing that topic.
• tagroup and tagname will be whatever you have defined.

That is done in your app where the help is called, not in RoboHelp.

Somehow I don't think that is what you mean. Are you expecting the URL to change when the user applies a filter? That will only change when topics are selected.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[elisa23592620fepw]

Yes Peter, what I wuold like is that once you change the filter, which shows or hides a topic, Url, of the Chrome page that opens once the Responsive HTML5 output is generated, changes. But from what I understand this doesn't happen. 

[Peter Grainge]

Why would it? It's the URL to the topic so it only changes when the topic changes. The URL to call the help with a filter applied is not the URL of specific topics.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[elisa23592620fepw]

I would need it because we need a "path" that, based on the selected filter, allows us to see certain topics rather than others. We should then link this path to the possession of certain licenses.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Sorry, don't think it works that way at all. Sounds like you need to create separate outputs conforming to your conditioning/filters and have them located in different spots so that you can point to them with different URLs.

[elisa23592620fepw]

yes it is exactly what I want.

[Peter Grainge]

Have you tried a URL that goes to the topic and includes the tag group and name?

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[ChrisWiteof]

I believe I'm trying something similar. I'm able to manually choose a filter on my output and it sorts the topics accordingly, but I'm not having any success with the url?f=taggroup:tagname structure. From my setup, I'd assume it would either be url?f=Product:Cloud or url?f=Product:Standard, but neither seems to work when I add it to the end of a topic URL. I'm trying to ensure that users who access the help from a certain release type (cloud or standard) will land on the help with the appropriate filter already applied. 

[elisa23592620fepw]

Yes, Iìm trying to do something similar too

[WoutJacobs]

As a test, create a condition tag e.g. DRAFT.

Apply the condition tag to a topic.

Create a dynamic content filter. You need at least two options for the filter to actually do something.

Use the dynamic content filter in the output preset.

If you generate the output with that preset, the filter should be available. I assume you have included the topic in the TOC that will be published with that preset.

If you select a filter that the topic does not belong to, it gets filtered out.

It's not really ideal, but that's how the filter works in a nutshell.

[elisa23592620fepw]

Thanks a lot WoutJacobs but the output I use is responsive HTML5 and I would need a single url different from the other for each filter result.

[Peter Grainge]

The format on my site is what I was given by Adobe. I will try to find out more but I suggest  you go to Adobe Support. See https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your Adobe Support options. The email link tcssup@adobe.com is recommended as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including RoboHelp.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Peter Grainge]

@elisa23592620fepw @ChrisWiteof 

Have you checked the URL part of the call is correct and opens the topic, albeit without the filter applied?

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Peter Grainge]

I have done a quick check and found this works in a frameless output.

URL?f=Platform%3AOne

I am wondering if the format I was given is for frameless only. I will see what I can find out.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[ChrisWiteof · Accepted solution]

I was able to apply content filters via URL after playing around with the format I found here: https://wvanweelden.eu/robohelp_articles/Context-Sensitivity-in-Responsive-and-Multiscreen-HTML5-%E2...
Instead of just f, I'm using ?filter=taggroup:tagname and instead of placing it at the end of the URL, I'm placing it before the specific topic URL info (either after root folder or after index.htm).

Here are samples using fake URLs since my site isn't public yet: 
https://help.test.com/test/?filter=Product:Standard#t=Dashboard%2FUsing_Help.htm
https://help.test.com/test/?filter=Product:Cloud#t=Dashboard%2FUsing_Help.htm 

In local state test the ?filter=taggroup:tagname went after the index.htm, so I suppose it depends on how the site is presenting, but it seems like the filter info needs to preceed the specific topic you're choosing to land on. 

file:///C:/Projects/helpproject/index.htm?filter=Product:Cloud#t=Home_Page%2FWelcome.htm

file:///C:/Projects/helpproject/index.htm?filter=Product:Standard#t=Home_Page%2FWelcome.htm

[Peter Grainge]

@ChrisWiteof 

1. What version of RoboHelp are you working with? Willam's pages all referred to Classic versions of RoboHelp rather than the new UI?
2. Also are talking about a responsive skin rather than a frameless skin?

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[ChrisWiteof]

@Peter Grainge 
1. I'm using Robohelp 2022.4.179. Not sure why it worked with what I found on William's page. I was just looking for clues/ideas of things to try while playing around with the URL structure. The main thing was it was the first time seeing the full word "filter" used instead of "f", but first URL example he used made me think that where I was originally placing the filter info was only applying to the topic frame instead of the entire site.
2. I'm using a responsive HTML5 skin with a modified version of the Azure Blue skin. 

[elisa23592620fepw]

Hi @ChrisWiteof sorry for the delay of the response, but I confirme that the option that works for my needs is this one: 

"

In local state test the ?filter=taggroup:tagname went after the index.htm, so I suppose it depends on how the site is presenting, but it seems like the filter info needs to preceed the specific topic you're choosing to land on. 

file:///C:/Projects/helpproject/index.htm?filter=Product:Cloud#t=Home_Page%2FWelcome.htm

file:///C:/Projects/helpproject/index.htm?filter=Product:Standard#t=Home_Page%2FWelcome.htm"

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Congrats on finding that to combine these:

           To select different elements of a Dynamic Filter in Responsive HTML5 is:

 https://help.test.com/test/?filter=Product:Standard;Cloud#t=Dashboard%2FUsing_Help.htm
or generically - ?filter=taggroup:tagname;tagname

@ChrisWiteof will have to confirm that for Frameless, that ?f=taggroup:tagname;tagname works