Topics in multiple places in the TOC

[darkagn]

Hi all,

I was wondering if it is possible to insert a topic more than once in the Table of Contents? This is probably a strange request, but the problem has occurred because I have imported a manual written in Word, but part of it contains information already in my RoboHelp project. I was wondering if I could erase the duplicate information in favour of linking to what was already there?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Cheers,

darkagn

[Peter Grainge]

You can.

Create a project with one topic and see how many times you can add it. Post back when you reach the limit. :-)

Where I believe you might hit a wrinkle is TOC synchronisation. I believe it might go to the first instance in the project rather than the topic actually displayed.

[MergeThis · Accepted solution]

Peter's right: the TOC will get synchronized with the first instance (top to bottom) that it encounters. However, you can use redirect pages to get around this.

1. Create a new topic (and name it target_topic_name_redirect.htm as a visual cue for yourself). Make the Title the same as the target topic's title (which is the name that will appear in the TOC).

2. Remove all text from the topic in WYSIWYG mode (leaving a blank page).

3. In TrueCode, add this line to the other META tags (in any spot).
<meta http-equiv=refresh content="0;URL=directory_path/target_topic_name.htm ">

4. Drag and drop the redirect page to the desired TOC location.

Hint: The 0 (zero) is the duration time (none) that this topic will display before redirecting to the target topic. If you prefer to make this redirect available to the viewer, you can increase it to, say, 8 or 10, and provide some text such as "Retrieving this topic from the 'Configuration' section. Please wait a moment."


Good luck,
Leon

[darkagn]

Thanks Leon, that's exactly the sort of thing I was after (although I didn't really describe it at all well ! )

[TorgeirH]

Hi

I have a similar problem, except different. My help file consists of chapters (books), where each chapter contains a number of topics which the user should follow in the order they are displayed. Some topics are identical across chapters and are reused (1 htm, multiple TOC pages).

My problem is that as soon as the user hits the Back button, the TOC synchs to the last topic, but in the wrong chapter.

Example: In ChapterATopic1 the user clicks a link. When clicking the Back button, the TOC is synched to Topic1 in ChapterB (same htm file, but wrong place in TOC). This interrupts the desired "workflow". Is there anyway to control this behaviour?

The obvious solution is to make identical htm files and use these in the TOC, but we'd like to avoid that for maintenance purposes.

Best regards,

Torgeir

[MergeThis]

Have you thought of using browse sequences, or some Previous/Next links at the top and/or bottom of each topic? Either method should sidestep the TOC altogether.


Good luck,
Leon

[TorgeirH]

Yes, we've considered it, but we'd like to see if there's an easier solution. Thanks though 🙂

[TorgeirH]

Hi

We decided to solve this by unchecking the "Auto-synchronize TOC" option in WIndows Properties. That way the user will not be confused by the TOC showing the wrong chapter.

Best regards,

Torgeir

[Guest]

What about use a snippet? (New with RoboHelp 7)
I needed to reference a topic several times in a table of contents
I create the topic and when it was finished I turned the body into a snippet
Now all I have to do is insert a snipped whereever I need it
To edit them all (even if I have 20) I just go to one instance, double click on the body (which is now a snippet). The snippet editor kicsk in, I do my work, save, and all my instances of that topic are updated.
In addition, this method allows me to edit the title of the topic which is useful if you have different audiences or if you cover multiple topics in one actual topic.

I don't have a large project so this may not solve the above problem.

No coding needed, which is why I bought RoboHelp in the first place.
Note: corrected language on 12/21/2007