Different Color Text of Topic Titles by Child Project in Search Results List

Report · Oct 27, 2010

Does anyone know how I can change the text color to indicate the source project of a topic as displayed in the Search Results list?

I have followed Peter Grainge's directions for setting up a parent project that has several child projects, one of which contains outdated version-specific information. Thanks, Peter!

I would like it to be obvious to the user before they open a topic from the Search Results list that it is from the old legacy project.

I have found where the font is set, (thanks to the RoboWizard), but I am not a Javascript programmer and am uncertain how to code the "if document is from this project, then use this font" logic.

I would also like to put a "caption" below the "Search Results per page" line to explain the purpose of the color change.

I am using RoboHelp HTML 8.0.2. I generate WebHelp output which is then FTP'd to our server.

Thanks in advance!

Report · Oct 27, 2010

I don't believe that would be possible. The only thing I can think of is using ZoomSearch and having multiple search buttons that access the different projects separately or one could exclude the stale project. Good luck setting that one up!

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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Report · Oct 27, 2010

Wow, thanks for the quick reply and good wishes, Peter!

I have noticed that if I do not include the Search Toolbar button when I generate WebHelp for the legacy child, its topics do not show up in the Search Results list. I may have to take that route or give up the idea of having a single point of entry that offers access the old and the new, although I suppose it is not too much to ask for them to use the TOC to view the older material. I'll explore your suggestion as well.

Thanks again!

Report · Oct 28, 2010

I just did some testing and you need to be careful turning off the Search button.

It doesn't just exclude that project's text from the search, it excludes all subsequent projects in the merge. Same with the index.

You would have to make sure that project is the last. Also I only ran some quick tests, there could be other undesirable results so test thoroughly.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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Report · Oct 29, 2010

Thanks for the warning, Peter! The legacy knowledge base was the last one in the list of children in my parent TOC, so I probably would not have realized that deselecting the Search button would have affected any subsequent projects.

May I ask why you do not think that we could get the url of each topic, check for "legacy", and if found, change the font of the affected topic when the search results list is being built (written)?

Report · Dec 28, 2010

I considered adding something to my site about using this method to exclude a child project from the search. The fact that all subsequent child projects get excluded from the search deterred me. The better solution if you have RoboHelp 8 is to select all topics in the Topic List and then select Topic Properties. Tick Exclude from search and the required result will be obtained.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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Report · Oct 28, 2010

Since the Search panel results list the title (<title>MyTopicTitle</title>) first, then usually a Heading 1, then the body, couldn't you just add something to your title tag, such as <title>MyTopicTitle [obs 8/15/09]</title> or <title>MyTopicTitle [LegacyProjectName]</title>? You'd want to keep it short because there's precious little real estate in the default Search pane.

Since this tag is in the <head> section, I doubt that you could do any formatting such as color, though.

Good luck,

Leon

Report · Oct 29, 2010

Hi Leon,

Let me make sure that I understand your suggestion - I should change the title of each topic in the "legacy" knowledge base so that they each include a short identifier, such as "First Topic - Legacy"? If so, I suppose that would work, but I'd have to change 1,000 topics. The topic titles would no longer match the filenames (I'm trying to freeze changes to the old knowledge base to which there are many links from our user forum), which I suppose is not a big concern at this point. I'll run some tests.

That has also raised another question in my mind, but I'll post that separately. It's about the way Robohelp selects the text that is shown immediately after the title of the topic in the Search Results list.

Thanks for taking the time to help!

Report · Oct 29, 2010

You should be able to add the trailer text in bulk via:

Replace: </title>

With: trailer text</title>

A few seconds' work.

As to "topic titles would no longer match the filenames...to which there are many links from our user forum," and "the way Robohelp selects the text that is shown immediately after the title of the topic in the Search Results list."

The <title> is used to populate the TOC.
The <title> does not have to match the filename exactly.
The <title> does not have to match the "title" of the topic (usually a <H1> heading).
The Search results present the <title> first, then a context string that begins immediately after the <body> tag. Note in the following example of a quick test, the <H1> heading is followed by the intro text.

Good luck,

Leon

Report · Oct 29, 2010

Thanks, Leon. I'll give that a try.

Report · Oct 29, 2010

It seems that Robohelp's Find and Search only searches files that are in the top level folder of the project. Unfortunately, our legacy project has an extensive folder structure (that I am abandoning in its replacement). Is that another fringe benefit of using ZoomSearch?

Report · Oct 29, 2010

Never mind - I'll go see what the product offers before wasting any more of your time. Take care! Sheryl

Report · Oct 29, 2010

Not to belabor the issue, but even though I had Include subfolders checked when I ran the Find and Replace in a test project, it only found articles that were in the top level folder. I have since tried it again in another project (since I remember it working before) and it has found instances in the lower level folders. Perhaps it is a good thing that it will soon be the weekend!

Report · Oct 29, 2010

No, no, Zoom Search will not help you Find & Replace text strings within RH (it would be a replacement for the RH default Search function).

To do that better than RH does it, you should try FAR or BKReplacEm.

Good luck,

Leon

Report · Oct 29, 2010

Gotcha! Thanks again!

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Different Color Text of Topic Titles by Child Project in Search Results List