I'm using RH 9.0.2.271.
The Background: We have a large help system (approx 2200 topics) that we have to generate into PDFs one per chapter. We also need to do this in various target languages as well once we get them back from our localization department. So, I created an SSL per chapter in our English project (38 in total), and each SSL is setup to output a single PDF:
The idea is use RH's batch generate, and have all 38 PDFs get generated. We then bundle them up into a zip and provide them to our customers. It works great in the English. We sent our English RH project off for localization and the translators translated the necessary files.
About SSL and printdoclayout.xml Files: I've looked into the SSL files in a text editor, and the SSL files for printed outputs do not specify themselves what gets sent to the .doc or .pdf. Instead, when you create the SSL, RH also creates a unique xml file with this name printdoclayout(n).xml, where n is a number that increments for each additional printable SSL you have and the SSL contains a reference to use that XML. The printdoclayout.xml actually contains the chapter structure that gets sent to the printable output:
Within the <tocstructure> element, it contains the hierarchy of what to export. (Note that even though it has <chapter> and <page> elements, those are misnomers since they're really just topics references with <chapter> for a book-style entry that contains a subtopics. The important thing is that in this example, the xml matches what I have in the Chapter Layout list of the Print Document Content dialog box shown above:
How We Work with Localized Files: We send off the entire RH project to the translators. They give us back the necessary files (.htm, .hhk, .hhc and so on). This time we also asked them to translate the name attributes in each <chapter> and <page> element of each printdoclayout.xml file, because RH draws from those strings during the printable output generation, and we didn't want it to pull in the English strings from the original XML files. When we get the file's back from our localization department, we make a copy of the English RH project that was localized and we use that as a base. We then copy the files they send back to us into it, overwriting what's in the English. We then modify the RH project settings to match the target language. Then we generate the desired output.
The Problem: Now we're getting the localized projects backs, but when we try to generate the printable outputs from a localized RH project, RH no longer respects what I originally defined in the 38 SSLs/xmls. Instead of trying to output a single chapter per SSL, it's trying to output ALL chapters in each SSL. For example, notice what happens when I open up the same layout in the localized Chinese. (Notice the blue highlight in the left side of the Print Document Content dialog box, showing that ALL the chapters are now somehow selected.)
I don't understand why merely opening up the SSL causes it to select ALL the topics for the generation, especially when the underlying (localized) .xml file still shows the correct chapter output as shown here:
It seems like there's another setting or file or perhaps just a bug that's telling it to grab all chapters and topics. In fact, it looks like the entire SSL is pretty much wiped out. My section layout and the style settings need to be redone as well.
Anyway, the workaround I came up with, is we have to go back into each layout (38 of them) in each target language and select again the proper chapter per layout (as well as fix the section layout and style settings). It's a time-consuming and error-prone manual fix, especially since in some target languages, like Chinese where I don't read the characters and could easily get lost and choose the wrong chapter.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.
Message was edited by: Jared Hess. To resize some images and add additional info.
1 Correct answer
I think I found the issue. The printdoclayout xml files that we got them back from localization were formatted slightly differently from the original English
The English version had line breaks, like this for its first three lines:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--Printed Documentation Layout-->
<printdoclayout version="2">
The Localized version did not. It was all on one line, like this (you'll notice there's the extra attributes encoding= attribute too:
<?xml version="1.0"encoding ="UTF-8"?><!--Printe...
4
Replies
Personally I would try to resolve the problem in a language with characters that we can read rather than Chinese.
I notice in the last image some of the page names are all Chinese and some are a mix. Could that be causing confusion?
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My thinking was a one character difference might make a difference and in Chinese it's very difficult to spot that. Also can you be sure the mix of English and Chinese is consistent?
The PSS file is one that can be deleted. You will lose any build expressions that are not the current selection in a SSL. The selected expressions will be kept. Back up to be sure.
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