Using Find/Replace in Multiple Projects

[JimGilliam]

I maintain several RoboHELP HTML projects, and I have a global edit to make (global meaning in all projects, not just one).

Is there a way to have RH conduct a find/replace in multiple projects so that I don't have to open each one?

Thanks,

Jim

[Peter Grainge]

No.

What you might like to try is FAR from http://www.helpware.net/FAR.

You will need to point it to each project but you would set up the search and replace and then just point to project one, then project two and project three, one after the other so very simple.

Be aware, multi file find and replace tools are dangerous and can end your project and career in seconds. Make backups BEFORE you experiment.

The nice bit with FAR is you can specify the start and end of the string and specify includes and / or excludes. It searches across multiple lines. Note that it works at code level so be careful.

[Guest · Accepted solution]

Hi Jim,
A couple of thoughts on this...
I've only used the Multi-file find and replace facility in RH and from experience with this I would exercise caution as you only see the code view and are to some extent "flying blind".

Second thing, if you do find a search and replace method you like, perhaps consider replacing items with variables which can be more easily updated when the inevitable next time comes....

[Peter Grainge]

I wouldn't consider using the inbuilt tool. It only searches on a single line and can miss stuff as a result.

[Guest]

I can see from the dates on these posts that I'm once again a year behind everyone else - maybe that's a good thing. Could you explain the comment "I wouldn't consider using the inbuilt tool. It only searches on a single line and can miss stuff as a result."  I believe I am having this problem. I'm trying to Search / Replace a large project using the RoboHelp Multi-File Find and Replace tool and have discovered it missed about 10% of the hundreds of occurrences. I'm trying to figure out if there's anything I can do differently to avoid this problem. I will look into "variables", but right now I just need to get this project completed for a release. Thanks for any additional info or work-arounds.

[Guest]

I have the same problem - only I'd say it misses more like 30 percent.

Helen Schmidling

[Peter Grainge]

Text wrapping means that part of what you are searching for is on one line and part is on another. Many text editor search tools only search on one line. Thus if you are looking for "this string of text" the search will not find it if it is in the code as

this

string of text

because that is on two lines.

You need to use a search tool that does scan two lines such as those recommended.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[MergeThis]

FAR is also capable of "Start with/Include/Not include/End with" searches, batch runs, and much more.

Good luck,

Leon

[Guest]

Thanks for the observation, the explanation of the mutli-line issue and the recommendation. This would seem to fit what I'm finding. Searching for a single word instead of a string provided considerably better results. I was able to locate the rest of what I wanted to replace by compiling the help and then using the search feature within that. That was enough to get the job done. I'm trying to not install any more applications on my computer but eventually I'll cave in and get a better search tool. Again, thanks.

[JimGilliam]

Thanks Peter and Author care.

To the variable point AuthorCare mentioned, does this mean that an XML product (e.g., MadCap Flare) would work better for multiple project find/replace?

[Peter Grainge]

Why would XML make any difference?

RH7 has variables.