TOC Question

[Guest]

In my TOC I have a number of topics that are common to all books in the TOC; for example an orientation topic. When the common topic is clicked on in one book it opens the page correctly, but it also opens the first book in the TOC that has a link to that page and places the user in that book instead of the one they were in. It doesn't open any book with that topic page between the first occurrence and the book the user is in. I created the TOC by dragging and dropping the topics into the TOC books.

I am using RH7 and IE 6.0

Thanks for any help

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Pat@ffic. Are you creating Webhelp output? Knowing will help us answer although I suspect that this behaviour is the norm for multiple TOC entries.

BTW I question your appraoch to having a shared topic in multiple books. Could you not just have a topic once at the top of the TOC in a "Orientation" book or something?

[Captiv8r]

Hi all

@Pat - What you want could be achieved by using redirect topics. Basically you create multiple HTML pages that function as redirect pages. Then link the TOC nodes to them. The key is to only have the redirect topics in the TOC and never link directly to the topic in question.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

Captiv8r - Thank you. I think I understand what you are saying although I'm not sure how to pull it off. Do I create a different redirect page for each book? I have done redirects in HTML using Dreamweaver, but not RH. Can I create the redirect link in RH without going into the HTML code? I am fairly comfortable in HTML, but I have coworkers who can barely spell HTML.

Thanks again

[Captiv8r]

Hi again

Creating a redirect does involve a smidgeon of HTML editing behind the scenes. But I compare it to changing the air filter on your car. Even someone not versed in mechanics can usually pull it off.

Here is what you do. Visit the scary HTML code in RoboHelp.
Near the top should be a list of tags that begin with code that looks like this: <meta.
Somewhere in this list of tags you insert one that looks like this:
<meta HTTP-EQUIV=refresh CONTENT="0;URL=SomeFolder/SomePage.HTM">
Just change the SomeFolder/SomePage.HTM to reflect the path you need. If you like, just create a regular hyperlink on the page that points to the page you want. Then edit the link and copy what you see there.
Yes, you will need a separate redirect page for each TOC node you wish to point to the topic. The trick here is that you never directly link to the topic from the TOC. You always use the redirects. This prevents the TOC from synchronizing to the wrong section. And you always get the same topic to appear! This way it only has to exist in your project once.

If you are using RoboHelp 7, I suppose you might accomplish the same effect without using redirects by creating the topic content inside a snippet. Then create multiple topics that each use the snippet.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

This looks promising, thanks!

[Guest]

Thank you for your response.

Yes it is a Webhelp. I thought about putting all the common topics in one book at the top of the TOC. This Webhelp project contains the training curriculum for all employees and the books in the TOC reflrct the job roles. We wanted employees to be able to find all of their curriculum in one place (book). The problem is that there are many bits of curriculum that are common to many, but not all job roles. That said, we might have to reconsider our approach.

Thanks again