How to Fix Index Keyword[colon]Subkeyword in RH 7 HTML

[Guest]

I have a longstanding RH X5 for Word help project that I have compiled as Win4 Help (*.HLP) countless times. The Index formats nicely with Keywords on the left margin and Subkeywords indented beneath their respective Keywords.

When I open a copy of this same project in RH 7 HTML (see post here), the Keywords in the Index format as expected, but the Subkeywords do not indent beneath their respective Keywords.  Instead, the Keyword plus a colon appears before each Subkeyword.

For example,

Reports
    Detail
    Summary

appears as

Reports
Reports:Detail
Reports:Summary

This use of colons and not indenting prior to Subkeywords persists in all my outputs from the newly-opened RH 7 HTML project.  This is not acceptable.

I hope that someone has the answer on how to either

• open a RH X5 for Word project in RH 7 HTML, such that either the Index Keywords and Subkeywords behave properly and show up like the first example above.

OR

• provide a workaround short of manually editing the HTML code, to supply the Index Keywords and Subkeywords as shown in the first example above.

Thank you,
Marjorie

[Guest]

Does the colon display happen only to index keywords/subkeywords that you converted from RH X5, or does it also happen to new keyword/subkeyword pairs that you added in RH7 HTML? It doesn't change the problem you're having, but it might target the solution better.

[Guest]

Yes, the keyword-colon-subkeyword display only happens to index keywords and subkeywords that I converted (imported) from RH X5 for Word into RH 7 HTML.

I hope this helps!
Marjorie

[Guest]

It helps a lot. It's a bug. I remember RH for Word, and the colon is the legitimate expression for index subkeywords on the Word side of RH. Converting the project into RH7 has interpreted the colon as text. It really shouldn't; the conversion process from RH for Word to RH for HTML needs to include subkeyword conversion.

I'll file a bug report; you should, too (you have the good evidence).

Meanwhile, I looked for a straightforward workaround. I opened a "native" RH for HTML index file (project.hhk) in Notepad. Subkeywords appear to be unordered lists of "objects" nested right below the list item "object" for the main keyword.

It would be possible, but fairly horrible, to edit the .hhk file. Rats. I was hoping for a simple find-and-replace, but no such luck. You might do better to edit in the index pod - it would still be a lot of work, but the GUI helps you see what you're doing.

HTH,

Elisa

[Guest]

Elisa,

I did file a bug report, referencing this forum post.  Here's hoping Adobe will fix this bug.

I did end up editing the *.HHK file using the following method:

1. Close RH7.
2. Open the existing *.HHK in Notepad.
3. Open Word.
4. Copy the contents from Notepad into Word.
5. Save the Word file.
6. Close Notepad without saving.
7. Create macros in Word that help edit the Subkeywords so they appear as unordered lists of "objects" nested right below the

list item "object" for the main keyword.
8. Use these macros to fix up the *.HHK file text.
9. Save in Word.
10. Open Notepad.
11. Copy all the *.HHK file text into Notepad.
12. Save the *.HHK in Notepad.  NOTE:  Save in a folder other than the RoboHelp project folder!
13. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the RoboHelp project folder.
14. Rename the existing *.HHK in Windows Explorer.  (I like to change the extension so RoboHelp won't recognize it as a *.HHK

file anymore.)
15. Copy the updated *.HHK into my project folder.
16. Open the RH7 project.

I did use the GUI Index pod to make a few changes, where I found any problems in the new Index.

So, I will keep my macros and they should help me if I ever need to do this again.

If anyone wants a copy of these macros, let me know and I will copy them here.  They work in Word 2003.

Marjorie