RoboHelp 8.02 inserts underscores at random into topic titles

[Guest]

When processing linked FrameMaker 9 files, RH 8.02 seems to put underscores under some, but not all of the topic titles generated from the headings in a FrameMaker file.

This isn’t a huge problem, until you use the Search capability in your Help output. Since the Topic Title is what is displayed in the search results, the end product is in need of a little polish.

Further, for topics created from linked FrameMaker 9 files, the Topic Title is not editable from the Topic Properties. If it was, at least I could change the offending titles prior to final generation of output. (though the titles would revert on the next update of the FrameMaker source content)

Any solutions?

[Peter Grainge]

Matt

I'm not going to be able to help with the FM side of things but if you send me a document that has this problem I'll see if I can identify a quick fix in RH. Not hopeful but it cannot do any harm.

Shouldn't you be tucked up in bed? It's only morning here.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[prairiewriter]

I would be interested to see the solution to this issue. I am experiencing the insertion of random underscores in my linked FrameMaker files as well.

[Art Campbell]

Is there any chance some of the original material started life in a Word file?

[prairiewriter]

None of the topics in my FrameMaker file were Word documents. They are all original FrameMaker files.

[prairiewriter]

One other very annoying quirk is that my custom master page is removed every time I run an update. After every update, I have to reassign the correct master page to my topics.

Perhaps I am doing something wrong.

[Guest]

It sounds like you're making those assignments in RH...If so, I beileve they'll be washed everytime you update your files.

I strive to do all content work in FM, and all formatting work in the Project Settings and the RHStyles.css file.

[Burtin]

Yes, editing work done in RH on the back end will be overwritten unless you change the file update settings to preserve modifications you have made to the HTML files. That is not generally recommended in an FM workflow, though, because it can cause you to have to rework material when you do update from your FM source.

A good place to start familiarizing yourself with an FM-to-RH workflow is at:  http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2009/10/getting_started_exploring_technical_communication_suite_2.ht...

Hope this helps...

Burtin

[prairiewriter]

So, when linking to FrameMaker documents you can’t apply a RoboHelp master page because it gets removed with every update? That sounds like a bug to me. When applying a master page, you are usually adding headers and footers that contain personalized information (corporate logo etc.).  The content of a linked topic is unaffected by the application of a master page. Therefore, the master page should not be removed after an update.

To avoid the headache of reapplying the master page to every topic, you can select Preserve modifications for these files in the FrameMaker Document Settings dialog. Unfortunately, any changes made to topics within RoboHelp are preserved, not just those settings associated with the master page. Like I said, this seems like a bug to me. You should be able to get a master page to “stick” to selected topics during an update.

I seem to have hijacked this thread. Thank you to all who provided suggestions.

The random underscores problem remains unresolved.

[Guest]

Since content is removed, then refiltered, I don't think it's quite a bug, but I do get your drift...

Have you looked at adding the things you desire in the SSL and the Skin, rather than the Master Page?

I'll ping some of my fav resources to see if they can weigh in on this as well

[Guest]

Regarding the Master Page assignment thread, Matt below made a great point in recommending customizing the SSL to ensure the proper assignment of Master Pages.

In other words, because we re-generate the HTML topics whenever you Update the linked FrameMaker documents, it's expected for these topics to also lose their originally assiged Master Page. However because of this, we added a new feature in RoboHelp 8, which allows you to automatically Apply either a CSS or a Master Page to All topics, which comes in handy for working with FrameMaker files.

Here's a short Adobe Captivate how-to on where this option is: http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/rh8applytoall/

Sincerely,

RJ Jacquez

on Twitter @rjacquez

Adobe Evangelist

[prairiewriter]

RJ:

I have updated the “(do not) use underscores in file names” setting. I will let you know if that resolves the underscore issue. I was familiar with this setting, but the randomness of the underscores led me to believe that changing it would have little effect.

I know about applying a master page to all topics using the Generate dialog. However, I do not want to apply a master page to all my topics. For example, I want the Welcome page to appear differently. Also, I would imagine that there are other RoboHelp users who might be using multiple master pages. When linking to a FrameMaker document, RoboHelp does not support the use of multiple master pages or allow the removal of the master page from specific topics. Currently it’s “all or nothing”.

Thank you for taking the time to provide your suggestions.

[prairiewriter]

RJ:

I am sorry to report that updating  the "use underscores in file names" setting did not solve the random underscores issue. Underscores are still randomly applied to my linked FrameMaker files. If I find a resolution to this issue, I wll provide an update.

Thanks again for taking the time to provide suggestions.

[AnneOfParadise]

FYI: the "Tools > Options > General > Use underscores in filenames" fix did work for me. I've been going nuts trying to figure out why some of the targets in WebHelp's Search came up showing some section names (that is, section headings) with no problems and others with underscores between the words.

I'd still like to know what was the difference. Regardless, turning "Use underscores..." off seems to have bagged the problem. Wish it had worked for you.

Perhaps this will help those still working on it: the targets that showed up in the Search  results list with hyphens had those hyphens every time, while those that showed  up without hyphens did this consistently as well. I was unable to discern any difference  among these headings WRT heading level or marker type/content/placement.  I tried various things in my Frame > Robo conversion settings and even replaced some headings (and their markers) wholesale. No joy. For my particular situation, looks like it came down to that single Robo setting.

I'm working in TCS2 with Frame 9 and Robo 8.0.0.203.

Best of luck ongoing, & thanks for the tip!

Anne

[Guest]

Hi All,

I've heard about this "underscore" issue a few times already and I've yet to encounter this on my end when testing with my demo files.  Having said that, please check/uncheck the "use underscores in file names" setting in the General tab of the Options dialog box, which you display by selecting Tools > Options.  I've have tried both checking and unchecking this option and both options give me consistent results. Please give this a try.

In case you want to see this in action, I have recorded and published a quick Adobe Captivate how-to here: http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/rh8underscores/

Please try this and let me know.

Sincerely,

RJ Jacquez

Adobe Evangelist

[Guest]

Hi RJ,

I just came across this thread today while searching for help with this same issue.

All of my FrameMaker files, imported by reference, display the underscores when searching in the output.  However, any HTML files created within RoboHelp do not display the underscores in the output.

Before finding this thread, I played with the Tools > Options > Use underscores setting and did, in fact, find that when I turned that setting off the referenced FrameMaker files displayed correctly (without underscores) in the output.

This being said, my questions for you are these:

• I find it hard to imagine that the system was designed to work this way.  Is this a bug in the system?  Am I doing something wrong when importing my FrameMaker files by reference?  Is there a setting I'm missing that will allow the file names to display without the underscores, but to still leave the underscores in the file name?
• Is tuning off the system wide setting (Tools > Options > Use underscores) the only way to prevent the underscores from displaying in the file name when a user searches in the output?
• My understanding is that as a best practice, file names should not use spaces.  Will turning the underscores off create problems within the file system?  (Our help system will only run in a Microsoft Windows environment.)

Thank you in advance for any advice, or elaboration on your previous post, that you may be able to offer.

Chris Miller

[Guest]

But why do the search results show the file name on some topics? Why would any user want to see the file name in an HTML-based help system? All my topics have a title and that's what I want the search to show to the user.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

It's actually the topic title that's showing, and the topic title at random intervals chooses to put in underscores. Try deselecting the "Replace spaces with underscores" option for the filename (suggested by RJ Jacquez) though that will give you filenames with spaces (and that may simply be a different issue to work around)

[Guest]

Thanks, Matt. This is what is happening. I did find that clearing the "Replace spaces with underscores" option fixed this in the search. However, I'm still unclear as to whether or not having spaces in a file name will be a problem. It is my understanding that (as a best practice) you should not have spaces in HTML files. Do you have any information about this?

Thanks,

Chris

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

I think you're in the same spot I am; which is the least irritating issue?

Personally, I feel safer having search results that contain underscores. At least there's no post processing involved, and I don't risk breaking links on various s/w configs.

[Guest]

It sounds like it. My developers chose to leave the underscores in for that very reason. I do not like the appearance of the underscores in the search, but at least users can get to the information they need. I cannot figure out why, though, this issue is appearing. It seems (from previous searching/questioning others) that this is not always the case. I wish I could figure out why it is occurring and how to fix it!

Chris