Pulling keywords from Index and putting them at bottom of topics

[meKarla]

I have a variable in my topic template that displays the last modified date of the topic like this:

<p class=footertext><span style="font-size: x-small; font-style: italic; x-condition: Not_Print;">Last
modified: <variable name=date x-format=default x-constant=TRUE x-value=40381.572928>July 23, 2010</variable></span>

I don't recall where I got it from, but I'm sure it was in this forum. I'm wondering if whoever wrote that knows how to create a similar variable that would grab the index keywords from the topic (e.g., <meta name=MS-HKWD content="System Requirements">, <meta name=MS-HKWD content="Exchange Server 2007">, etc.) and paste them at the bottom of the topic like this: "Keywords: System Requirements, Exchange Server 2007" (An example of something similar is in our knowledgebase articles: http://kb.globalscape.com/KnowledgebaseArticle10369.aspx, but they use the term "Tags." That's "canned" software, so I don't know how they did it, except that I have to type the tags one at a time in a form that populates the bottom of the article.)

WHY? Because I have all the keywords anyone would possibly want to search for (I hope) in various topics (which were entered manually or with Smart Index), but the only words that get results in the search are words that are actually IN the article. The words appear in the Index, as expected, and link to the proper article, as expected, but typing the word in the Search box in WebHelp does not return the article unless the word is displayed in the article. Some people use different words for the same idea, so they might not always search on the word that is in the article. (e.g., .bat, batch file, script, vbs, code, command...) So the simplest solution is to add the list of keywords at the bottom of the topic, but there are 1000s of topics and I'd rather not do that manually. (And no, I don't want to use ZoomSearch or other 3rd-party tools, thereby negating the "single-source" idea.)

OH, for those of you who prefer to ask questions rather than answer them: I'm using RoboHelp 7 on Windows XP and generating WebHelp, HTMLHelp, Word docs, and JavaHelp. My computer has all of the latest updates and fixes for all of my software. Everything in the help works absolutely perfect, I just want to know how/if it's possible to create a variable as I describe.

Thanks for any and all assistance!

Karla

[MergeThis]

As a forum member who "prefer to ask questions rather than answer them," have you read the "Index Basics" topic in the RH 8 help?

In there, you'll see that Index keywords and Topic keywords are different:

• Topic keywords appear the same as index file (HHK) keywords, but they are stored within individual HTML topics.
• Index file keywords are saved in the project index file (HHK) rather than in the code of individual HTML topics.

Unless you can find some technical resource in your organization, your assessment of a manual solution is probably accurate. For an automated solution, you would need to run some type of script (before or after runtime?) to pull the Index keyword from the HHK file and place it inside the topic.

For example, the Index keyword, the topic title, and the topic file name all appear in the HHK in this manner:

  <item name="Add-on Premium">
  <section name="Add-on Premium for Derivatives Exposure" link="add-on.htm">
  </section>
  </item>

Another question: have you considered cross-references or user-defined variables in the Index? (See the "Add and link index keywords" help topic.) That's another manual solution, but would require less maintenance issues in the future.

Good luck,

Leon

[meKarla]

I have RH7, not 8, so no, I haven't read the RH8 help. I have read the RH7 help, though, and it was less than helpful. I've always added Index words on the Topic Properties Index tab, which I'd thought would have allowed search to find it. When I add index words that way, they are listed in the meta tags for that topic, but not the HHK. When I view the Index in the RH project, all of the Index words are listed, both ones I added in the topic and ones I added manually in the Index pod. Weird that the HHK only shows the ones added in the Index pod. I wonder where the keywords in the Index pad are stored, then? I guess just in the database (cpd) file.

[MergeThis]

You say you add keywords "on the Topic Properties Index tab, which I'd thought would have allowed search to find it." No, Index and Search are totally unrelated functions.

As to RH 7, I've never used it, so I can only refer to RH 8 help, which states:

Keywords You can assign a keyword to a topic that does not contain that word. For example, you can assign the keyword "formatting" to a topic about fonts, styles, and point sizes. If you enter "formatting" as a search term, RoboHelp displays that topic even though it doesn't contain the word "formatting."

The Properties General tab contains a Keywords entry box. Entering "test" in that box, just now, produced this HTML entry:

<meta name="search-keywords" content="test" />

Sorry if this doesn't apply to RH 7, but I think it might.

Good luck,

Leon

[meKarla]

Yeah, it's creating the meta tags like that. What you describe in RH8 is similar to RH7's Index tab. (Right-click in the topic, click Properties. The topic's Properties appear. One of the tabs is Index.) I add words to that, the meta tags are created in the topic, and the word is added to the Index pod. It looks as though RH's search just crawls the text that is displayed, not the meta tags. I (and my PM and users) are just spoiled by Google, I guess.

[meKarla]

So this is interesting: Last week, I had added "anti-virus" "antivirus" and "virus" using the Topic properties, and RH created the meta tags at the top of the topic and in the Index pod. Today, I decided to delete "anti-virus" from the Index pod and add it there manually, to see if that would make any difference in search. When I removed it from the Index pod, the meta tag was removed from the topic. (I had the topic open and RH asked me if I wanted to save the changes.) Then when I added "anti-virus" to the Index pod and referenced it to the topic, a meta tag was added to the topic. So it doesn't matter whether you add the word to the Index pod or add it to the Index tab in the Topic Properties dialog box. Either way, it creates the meta tag.

[Peter Grainge]

RH saves according to the setting at the time in Project Settings > General Tab.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MergeThis]

meKarla:

NO, THE KEYWORDS FIELD IN THE GENERAL TAB, NOT THE INDEX TAB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With this entry now in the topic (note the search-keywords name),

<meta name="search-keywords" content="RedRabbit" />

typing RedRabbit (which has no Index entry) in the Search entry box would return the "Batch Reporting Overview" topic.

Good luck,

meLeon

[meKarla]

Wow, chill, meLeon. I am using RH7. I am not using RH8. There is no keywords field on the General tab in RH7.

In the Topic Properties dialog box in RH7, there are 7 tabs: General, Status, Appearance, Index, See Also, Advanced, and File.

On the General tab in RH7, the fields are Topic Title, File Name, Template, and Editor. That's it. There is no keywords field on the General tab in RH7.

[MergeThis]

bummer!

never mind...

[meKarla]

mLeon: I was reading your posts in Outlook, in plain-text, so I didn't see the screenshot you did. I'm looking at it online now. I really appreciate the work you did to try to explain this to me, even if it is in RH8. The idea that RH8 might have an actual search functionality might be enough for me to get approval to upgrade--search is a big sticking point here with the WebHelp.

Thanks,

Karla