One Project, 2 Sign-ons, 2 Versions?

[Guest]

In addition to our existing product, we are creating a new software that  needs to share the same help system . In RoboHelp 9, I know that you can apply conditional tags to the project to create two versions from the same project.

However, some of the users of our new product will not necessarily be users of our existing product and must not have access to its help topics. Can RoboHelp 9 be set up to have one sign-on to the existing product and one sign-on to the new product? Users of the existing software could see both versions if they buy the new product, too.

What option in RoboHelp allows users to see one version or the other?

Thanks.

Bill

[Captiv8r]

Hi Bill

The only way you can manage that is to create two different versions of the help. I'll call them version A and version B.

Allow one group of users access to version A and the other group access to version B. And nary the twian shall meet.

Or, you could restrict one group of users to one version and allow the other group access to both. Your call as you will need to decide who can see what.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Peter Grainge]

I wonder if merged help can be considered?

The parent would have no content or just an introductory page.

Your existing Version 1 help would be child one.

A copy of that would then be used to create the Version 2 help that would be child two.

Depending on version your installers would then install the parent and appropriate child.

There is more about merged help on my site.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

Peter,

The following may work:

The parent would have an introductory page with two login options:

Option 1:

For users of product A (version 1, child 1) and/or product B (version 2, child 2). Both versions are visible at all times to both user types.

Option 2:

For users of product B (version 1, child 1).

Thoughts?

Bill Janke

[Peter Grainge]

But everyone could access anything and in your first post that was not an option.

If everyone can access any part, then Dynamic User-Centric Content DUCC is what you want. I'm not sure that can be done from RoboHelp for Word. Indeed, I missed that point before when suggesting merged help. Merged help can be done from RoboHelp for Word but it is not straightforward. There's a page on my site about it within the Merged Help pages.

All the real solutions you need are available in RoboHelp HTML.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

Hopefully, this message will correct and clarify what I am attempting:

Create one project that serves the needs of several customer types:

• Customers of Product A only

• Customers of Product A and B.

• Customers of Product B only.

When customers of each type open online Help, they see their own versions of Help. I imagine that my developers will need to do some work to point a customer to the correct version. Also, each customer type would see their own Table of Contents, Search Results, and Index.

>I am using RoboHelp HTML, not for Word. Sorry for the confusion.

Is Dynamic User-Centric Content DUCC is what I need?

Thanks.

[Captiv8r]

Hello again

The source of the confusion with RoboHelp for Word is stemming from the simple fact that this is the forum you elected to ask your question in. As such, an assumption was likely made that this is the RoboFlavor you are using.

You stated:

Create one project that serves the needs of several customer types:

     • Customers of Product A only

     • Customers of Product A and B.

     • Customers of Product B only.

Indeed one single project is capable of doing this. You would use Conditional Build Tags along with a Conditional Build Expression to do it.

When customers of each type open online Help, they see their own versions of Help. I imagine that my developers will need to do some work to point a customer to the correct version. Also, each customer type would see their own Table of Contents, Search Results, and Index.

Unfortunately I'm going to reiterate what I said earlier in this thread. You will need to create Three separate outputs. One output will be used to point Product A customers to. The second output will be used to point Product B customers to. The third output will contain both Product A and Product B information.

As my colleague Peter advised, you might accomplish this using Merged WebHelp.

Is Dynamic User-Centric Content DUCC is what I need?

No, with DUCC all customers would have access to all content. Certainly each could click the drop-down and filter the content to only what applies to them, but Product A users would be able to access Product B information and vice-versa. As you are stating that certain groups should only have access to their own information, separate help systems or a spcially configured merged help setup would be the way to fly.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Peter Grainge]

Thread moved to correct forum.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

I appreciate everyone's patience, perserverance, and advice. After conducting further research on Adobe's online help, reading Rick's "Build Tags on the Brew," and studying Colum's "The definitive RoboHelp Conditional Build Tag Guide," I feel fairly clear about how to proceed.

I will create and apply conditional build tags with expressions for each customer type, generate the different outputs by customer type, and then merge them as needed to create the appropriate tables of contents and indexes. Simple, yes?

One final question. Is the process for building conditional tags and merging projects in RoboHelp version 8 and 9 the same?

Thanks.

Bill Janke

[Captiv8r]

Hi Bill

Aside from some of the dialogs looking different, indeed the process is the same.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Peter Grainge]

Bill

Download the merged webhelp demo from my site and play with it so that you can see how it works.

Wait 24 hours though as I have learned the link to the download is broken and I cannot fix it until tomorrow.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Amebr]

Are you delivering software installed on the user's PC or is it a web application accessed through a browser?

If installed on the user's PC, then merged CHM files could work, assuming that product B is a separate installation to product A. If this is your situation I can post additional details.

[Guest]

The software is delivered on a browser.

Thanks.

Bill Janke