Robohelp 2022 Merged Project Header Logo Link Broken

[Gina39036576znwo]

Hi. I have recreated my frameless project into a merged format with parent and child project folders as instructed by experts. I have set up the parent shell to point to one of the child projects .rhpj file in the Default Topic. Everything seems to work fine--the output launches the correct starting page. However, I have a header logo that should link to the Default Topic as defined in the child project that the parent project refers to in the  Default Topic field--essentially, when I click the logo in the header, I want to jump to the home page I have defined from the child project. The link doesn't work, says it can't find the file. Please advise. Thanks!

[Peter Grainge]

I suspect you have a relative path rather than an absolute path. I'll check in the morning.

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

[Gina39036576znwo]

As a note to your comment: I do not have Save output path as relative to project selected in any of my output presets. I have compared to your sample, and everything looks consistent. Something is clearly wrong, but I don't know what else to look for at this point. I do see (my Broken Links report) that I have broken links for all presets to a file at ../../contents/HOME.htm but I don't have such a file. Also, my output folder is separate from the source-project folders, but that should be okay, as you wouldn't always be generating output to your project directory if you're uploading to a separate server. 

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Were you following Peter's merged help instructions from his site?

[Gina39036576znwo]

Yes. As well as Matt Sullivan's Webinar as provided on Peter's page about setting up merged help. 

[Peter Grainge]

That's not what I am talking about. I am talking about the link from the logo. It has to be the path on the server, not the path as in the source. I'll explain more in the morning. 

________________________________________________________

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

[Gina39036576znwo]

Great. Thanks. If it's at all helpful ... when I click on the logo, the url indicates a link to the child project's .rhpj file, not to an actual html file from that child project. When I look at your sample MyMergeDemo files and output, your merged-project start page is an html file (as I woudl expect)--Child_One_Topic_One.htm from your child project as defined per the Default Topic. However, when I click on the logo in your sample, it brings me to Filter_Order.htm which is a file in your parent project, not the default file from the child--not sure why that is happening, but I want the logo to open to the same file as the merged-project home page. 

[Gina39036576znwo]

Also, the Image Path for the logo in my frameless setting looks the same as yours, with no path, just the logo filename--not sure what the actual path looks like in the code, but the logo displays fine; it's the link to the page that I want displayed when the link is clicked that isn't working. 

[Peter Grainge]

I will check as I said but thinking about it you shouldn't need to define a path from the icon, it should go to the default topic when left blank as far as I recall.

________________________________________________________

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

[Peter Grainge]

If the default topic is to be from a child project, you define the project as shown. Then when the merge opens the default topic set in that child will be displayed. 

Without doing anything more, when you click the logo, that will take the user to the same default topic. There is an option to specify a different location.

Hover your mouse over the information icon and it explains it is an option. You want the logo to go to your default topic so just leave that field blank. It's blank in the demo.

________________________________________________________

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

[Gina39036576znwo]

Thanks. But I have done exactly as you describe as I have followed your tutorial and checked and rechecked. It still does not work--the browser address bar shows it as if it the link is to the rhpj file--it does not translate it to the html file from the child's Default Topic. Your sample converts it to an html page; mine isn't doing that. I am also finding that other links from one child project to another are not working. I have reworked them numerous times using your instructions creating the links using Local FIles and am at a loss.  

[Gina39036576znwo]

"If the default topic is to be from a child project, you define the project as shown. Then when the merge opens the default topic set in that child will be displayed." 

The default topic is displaying correctly when the help system is launched. And the logo displays correctly. The breadcrumbs work fine to take me to the default homepage. But the logo link is not converting the rhpj file to the  html topic. I did notice in your sample that the logo does not open the default page of your sample help system; it opens the page you have in the parent. 

[Gina39036576znwo]

It is also opening the error message in a separate tab, as if the link target was New Window; it is not. 

[Peter Grainge]

It used to work so I will log a bug with Adobe on that. However, in the URL field I just entered the correct path to the child project default target and that worked.

Open the output you have created and in the browser address copy the path, then paste it into the Header URL field. That is all I have done. Does that work?

Then subsitute the full path as it will be on the server where the help is located. Depending on where the help is published, it may need to be modified. Try the step above first to see if that fixes it for you.

________________________________________________________

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

[Peter Grainge]

Let me know if you are still having issues.

________________________________________________________

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

[Gina39036576znwo]

I did test using the browser path for the Header Logo URL. That does work, which is great. It isn't the optimal solution, but at least it's only one link to fix when the directories change.

Also, I figured out the problem with my child-to-child broken links. I noticed the path for the target file was different (when it was accessed from the toc) than the broken-link path for the same target file. The project folders for the childern were not named the same as the output folders I created for them. The output folders were created from the filenames of the .rhpj files, so I didn't even think about the folder names needing to match, and I don't see it being explicitly mentioned anywhere that those folders must have the same names. But it did the trick! (I was more casual with the project folder names and a bit more formal for those that would display in an output string.) Maybe would be a good mention somewhere in the Merged Help Using RoboHelp New UI content? Thanks for all your support. Much appreciated. 

[Peter Grainge]

Isn't that covered here. I point out that RoboHelp creates the output folders and that you generate to those. 

The folders in the source do not have to be the same. The links will have relative paths and the same relative path will work in the output. 

________________________________________________________

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

[Gina39036576znwo]

Yes. And that is exactly what I did. And RH created output folders that mirrored the .rhpj filenames for each child. And I didn't worry about the folder names matching from project to output, because I then generated all children output to the new output folders that the parent created. All I know is that after renaming my project-folder names to match the output folders, the links between children work. I will do a test with both scenarios, starting from scratch with the output creation and see if I get the same result. 

[Peter Grainge]

Look in my demo. ẞource child projects and output folders are not the same.

Can you share the projects? If you can, see the Contact page on my site and send it as directed there. Happy to take a look.

________________________________________________________

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

[Gina39036576znwo]

Okay. So I tested making the folders umatched again, and now the child-to-child links are fine. I reattached those links so many times prior to matching folder names to prove to myself I wasn't going crazy, and nothing worked. Now it works. I have no idea what was happening. I literally have done nothing different in the process of creating the links. But now that I deleted everything and regenerated (without making the folder names match), the links work.  The only problem that seems to remain is the logo-link issue. That has not resolved and I still need to use the output link for the Header Logo URL. I don't think I need you to take a look at this point, but thank you for the offer. I'd be interested to know if they create a fix for the logo link or if something nefarious is going on with my  project. I may make a small sample projeect to test it out and see if it works for me when not using my current content. 

[Peter Grainge]

It just occurred to me. When you create the cross project links, you are creating them within the source files rather than browsing to the output files aren't you? If you are, then the name of the output folder doesn't come into the issue.

________________________________________________________

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

[Gina39036576znwo]

Yes. I am linking within the source content across children, not linking to the ouput. 

[Peter Grainge]

In the demo you will find the same issue. I'm pretty sure it used to work and have taken that up with Adobe. I will add something to the instructions on my site.

________________________________________________________

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

[Gina39036576znwo]

Thanks, Peter, for your support.