Hyperlink paths are wrong

[RonW63]

I am using RH7.03.001

I'm working on a project which consists of a Parent (with 1200-ish topics) and 5 Children (which are optional Plug-Ins for the software) each of about 100 topics .

All the source is stored in SourceSafe.  I generate to a project-specific folder on my desktop, and publish to a project folder in My Documents. I then copy the publish folder to a network location for the Dev team to pick up.

When testing the output, I am having two problems.

First, hyperlinks from a child project are reporting 'invalid link' to the parent project.  On closer investigation, it would appear that RH isn't converting the absolute paths to the correct relative paths. The path is showing as "../../../../../../Desktop/DimX/Appendix/Lists/GenLists.htm", whereas it should be "../../Appendix/Lists/VATRates.htm".  Is this a setting somewhere? I am using Xenu as the link validator.

Second, when testing the context sensitive help - which we do by generating an XML document which maps an app form to a Help topic - if you spawn into a topic located in the parent project, you can see the entire TOC, but if you spawn into a topic located in a child, you can only see the child TOC.

I'm really very confused, and more than a little stressed out with deadlines looming...

[RonW63]

sorry, the htm pages used in my example are two different pages.  I have fixed one

link, but not the other.

[Peter Grainge]

1] Take a look at the merged help pages on my site. They cover how I create links between child projects and the method works fine.

2] If you don't call the help via the parent, you will only see the child project TOC. That is also explained. RoboHelp 8 has an option that overcomes the problem but you can set RH7 to open the full merge. See the Calling Help pages.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[RonW63]

Hi Peter

Thank you for your advice.  I have followed your instruction in creating the links from child to parent, but the relative path is still going up too far?

Just to make sure I am following this to the letter...

• I am opening the child1 source document in RH7 (checked out to C:\Documents and Settings\me\My Documents\WIP\WIP SourceSafe\Help\child1\)
• Highlight text that will be the hyperlink, and click insert hyperlink
• drop down 'link to: and choose 'file'
• browse to the generate folder (the child is generated into 'parent/mergedProjects/child1/' and the link points to 'parent/system/settings/abc.htm)
• the path is shown as an absolute patch, and on save is converted to relative
• double-click the link within RH. The destination page is shown in the preview pane correctly.
• generate the output and test link

expected outcome:

../../System\Settings\abc.htm

actual: the hyperlink does not work

../../../../../desktop/parent/System/Settings/abc.htm

so it seems that the path is keeping the relativity between the Source projects, not the relativity between the Generated projects? Should I be browsing to the source document for the parent when inserting links?

Thank you kindly

Ron

[RonW63]

I have just tried to insert the hyperlink from the source child1 to the source parent and re-generated the child. the hyperlink still doesn't work? when viewing the source now I get ../parent/System/Settings/abc.htm ...which is closer, but still no cigar?

[Peter Grainge]

Compare the folder structure of your source projects with what is on my site. Using that structure I have been creating merged webhelp since version X3 (five versions back) and it works fine.

Linking between source projects is the way to do it.

If child 1 is at the same level as child 2 in the source, then your links should be good in the output as that is how they will appear under mergedProjects.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[RonW63]

hello again. sorry for the repeat posting...

Peter: I have worked through your tutorial.  Thank you!  If i place the projects at the same level, the hyperlinks work perfectly (child-to-child links) but if i try to link from child-to-parent, the hyperlink doesn't work, but misses the target as described above.

I have become the one-and-only tech author for my company, and am a relative newbie to RH.  I'm picking up at least 15 years of previous work, and with deadlines, multiple projects on the go, and my relative new-ness to the company, i don't have the time or the clout to restructure by creating a 'dummy' parent project, and subordinating the existing parent to sibling status.  Also, the Help has worked before I arrived ...so I must be doing something very different to my predecessors (who are no longer contactable).

Is there a workaround (other than manually fixing every hyperlink) to get the child-to-parent thing working?

In anticipation, and frustration

Ron

[Peter Grainge]

The reason for the structure on my site is so that all content is at child project level so that all links are between child projects. That is done precisely because child / parent links will break unless you manually fix them.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[RonW63]

is the child > parent thing a RH issue?  Is it fixed in RH8?

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

It's not a RH thing. It's about the path in the source creating the link you need in the output, doesn't matter what you use to edit.

Fight it if you want or use the method that works.

Try creating merged help links in Flare if you want some real fun.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[RonW63]

Nah, I have no intention of fighting it...  i just needed to have the evidence so I can go to my boss with a confident argument for more project time.  I'm going to need to restructure 3 MAJOR projects.

But I will sleep well tonight.  Even being a newb, I have found issues that the last few Authors didn't, and the existing Help DOES have the issues above - they have just never been found.  Yay For Me

Your help has been invaluable.  Please accept my sincere thanks

[Peter Grainge]

I just poked around some more and there is a way of creating parent / child links but you really do not want to go there.

In Windows Explorer you would create a folder in the parent project called mergedProjects and put all your child projects in that. Then when you create a parent / child link it will work in the output. However putting projects within projects just has to be a recipe for disaster. Also bear in mind I didn't test for other issues.

Not sure why it would be a major restructure. At the moment all your child projects must be at the same level so they will still be OK. It's only parent / child links that need to be changed and they are not working anyway!

Make a complete copy of the projects and then play around with those. Then if things go bang, you can start over.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[RonW63]

Peter...

sort of on a tangent from the above, if I am going to restructure, it would be quite useful (and more stable) if i was to split the existing 'main' help into smaller chunks.  in a post i made a couple of weeks back i mentioned that RH7 crashed and i lost this project - only having to rebuild it from SourceSafe backups. As a prevention-over-cure approach, is it possible to export/ import whole sections into new projects?

Thanks again

Ron

[Peter Grainge]

When importing you can select all the files in any one folder.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge