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M
meKarla
Inspiring
July 23, 2010
Question

Pulling keywords from Index and putting them at bottom of topics

  • July 23, 2010
  • 1 reply
  • 1546 views

I have a variable in my topic template that displays the last modified date of the topic like this:

<p class=footertext><span style="font-size: x-small; font-style: italic; x-condition: Not_Print;">Last
modified: <variable name=date x-format=default x-constant=TRUE x-value=40381.572928>July 23, 2010</variable></span>

I don't recall where I got it from, but I'm sure it was in this forum. I'm wondering if whoever wrote that knows how to create a similar variable that would grab the index keywords from the topic (e.g., <meta name=MS-HKWD content="System Requirements">, <meta name=MS-HKWD content="Exchange Server 2007">, etc.) and paste them at the bottom of the topic like this: "Keywords: System Requirements, Exchange Server 2007" (An example of something similar is in our knowledgebase articles: http://kb.globalscape.com/KnowledgebaseArticle10369.aspx, but they use the term "Tags." That's "canned" software, so I don't know how they did it, except that I have to type the tags one at a time in a form that populates the bottom of the article.)

WHY? Because I have all the keywords anyone would possibly want to search for (I hope) in various topics (which were entered manually or with Smart Index), but the only words that get results in the search are words that are actually IN the article. The words appear in the Index, as expected, and link to the proper article, as expected, but typing the word in the Search box in WebHelp does not return the article unless the word is displayed in the article. Some people use different words for the same idea, so they might not always search on the word that is in the article. (e.g., .bat, batch file, script, vbs, code, command...) So the simplest solution is to add the list of keywords at the bottom of the topic, but there are 1000s of topics and I'd rather not do that manually. (And no, I don't want to use ZoomSearch or other 3rd-party tools, thereby negating the "single-source" idea.)

OH, for those of you who prefer to ask questions rather than answer them: I'm using RoboHelp 7 on Windows XP and generating WebHelp, HTMLHelp, Word docs, and JavaHelp. My computer has all of the latest updates and fixes for all of my software. Everything in the help works absolutely perfect, I just want to know how/if it's possible to create a variable as I describe.

Thanks for any and all assistance!

Karla

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

MergeThis
MergeThis
Inspiring
July 26, 2010

As a forum member who "prefer to ask questions rather than answer them," have you read the "Index Basics" topic in the RH 8 help?

In there, you'll see that Index keywords and Topic keywords are different:

  • Topic keywords appear the same as index file (HHK) keywords, but they are stored within individual HTML topics.
  • Index file keywords are saved in the project index file (HHK) rather than in the code of individual HTML topics.

Unless you can find some technical resource in your organization, your assessment of a manual solution is probably accurate. For an automated solution, you would need to run some type of script (before or after runtime?) to pull the Index keyword from the HHK file and place it inside the topic.

For example, the Index keyword, the topic title, and the topic file name all appear in the HHK in this manner:

  <item name="Add-on Premium">
  <section name="Add-on Premium for Derivatives Exposure" link="add-on.htm">
  </section>
  </item>

Another question: have you considered cross-references or user-defined variables in the Index? (See the "Add and link index keywords" help topic.) That's another manual solution, but would require less maintenance issues in the future.

Good luck,

Leon

M
meKarlaAuthor
Inspiring
July 26, 2010

I have RH7, not 8, so no, I haven't read the RH8 help. I have read the RH7 help, though, and it was less than helpful. I've always added Index words on the Topic Properties Index tab, which I'd thought would have allowed search to find it. When I add index words that way, they are listed in the meta tags for that topic, but not the HHK. When I view the Index in the RH project, all of the Index words are listed, both ones I added in the topic and ones I added manually in the Index pod. Weird that the HHK only shows the ones added in the Index pod. I wonder where the keywords in the Index pad are stored, then? I guess just in the database (cpd) file.

M
meKarlaAuthor
Inspiring
July 26, 2010

meKarla:

NO, THE KEYWORDS FIELD IN THE GENERAL TAB, NOT THE INDEX TAB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With this entry now in the topic (note the search-keywords name),

<meta name="search-keywords" content="RedRabbit" />

typing RedRabbit (which has no Index entry) in the Search entry box would return the "Batch Reporting Overview" topic.

Good luck,

meLeon


Wow, chill, meLeon. I am using RH7. I am not using RH8. There is no keywords field on the General tab in RH7.

In the Topic Properties dialog box in RH7, there are 7 tabs: General, Status, Appearance, Index, See Also, Advanced, and File.

On the General tab in RH7, the fields are Topic Title, File Name, Template, and Editor. That's it. There is no keywords field on the General tab in RH7.

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