RH9/WebHelp/Content Categories/Zoom

[JGaf]

Hi,

This is a tricky explanation (or problem), so please bear with me.  I think I'm trying to do something that's just not possible.

RH 9.0.2.271

Webhelp

Zoom 6 10.08

I have one RH project with conditional build tags.  Previously, in RH8, I used the tags to generate 2 outputs, 1 User and 1 Admin. guide. On the skin, I created buttons which launched  the "other document"; in the User Guide, this button launched the Admin Guide (in a new window) and vice versa.  Zoom search files were separate; a customer could only search in the guide they were viewing.

Now, in RH9, I've tried to make it a little easier for the customer by using the Content Categories feature. In my case, the pull-down choices are User and Admin. With this, I can remove the "launch the __ guide" buttons on the skin and the change from user guide to admin guide is pretty seamless. Also with this new structure, I have made Zoom search "global", meaning the customer search both User and Admin guide simultaneously.  Everything works fine until the customer clicks on a result....and the trouble begins. I'm having problems with the TOC.... see the scenario below:

1. View/Content Category =  User Guide

2.  Customer enters "save" in the search field, but wants to search "all categories" (across the User & Admin Guides).

3. Search results display both User and Admin Guide results. (expected)

4. Customer clicks on an search result from the Admin Guide.  This causes the correct page to display in the content pane. (yeah!)  However, the TOC still displays "User Guide" (see #1) so it does not sync with the page being viewed because the page being viewed is from the Admin. Guide.  (as a 2nd step, if the customer were to click on the breadcrumbs from the page they are viewing, (they are still within the Admin Guide), the TOC does not registering anything and still displays User Guide in the content category list, it's effectively dead)

5.  Customer clicks on a User Guide result from step #2.  The correct page displays and the TOC syncs with the page being viewed. This is because of #1.

What I'd like to have is that if the customer is in the User Guide, does a search, but wants to see a result from the Admin. Guide, they could click on that link which would cause the Admin Guide TOC to display and sync with the page being viewed.  Is this possible? 

I have dbl-ckd that sync toc is on (it works fine, except during the scenario above).

For those that use RH search.......how does content categories work with it?  Can you only search the Content Category you are in? Or can you search across all content categories? How does it behave?

Thanks in advance......

JGaf

[Peter Grainge]

I have skip read this and will happily look again later if I have got your problem wrong.

If you have used Content Categories, then the RoboHelp search only searches the topics accessed by the topics in that build. If you are getting results from topics that should not be in the build, you have got the layout wrong.  You could also have an All category.

With that setup, I am not sure why you would still want to use ZoomSearch. I haven't tried doing that but I'm pretty sure it could be done, albeit maybe with some difficulty. 

Take a look at Employee Care, on of the supplied sample projects. That shows and describes how Content Categories should be set up.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[JGaf]

Thanks for the quick reply......

I'm a big fan of Zoom Search, I've used it for years, even before I used RH.  RH search didn't suit our needs...

I have Zoom search + content categories.  I have configured zoom to search all content categories.  No problem.  It took a little tricky configuration and folder usage, but it works.  My issue occurs when a customer searches "all categories".  In my earlier example, the customer was in the "User Guide" content, searched "all categories", and clicked on a search result whose link is from the "Admin. Guide". When that page displayed, the TOC stayed on "User Guide" ;  it didn't sync with the page being displayed because the page displayed was from the Admin. Guide.  What happens in this instance is that the content pane displays content from the "Admin Guide" while the TOC displays "User Guide".  There's a mismatch.  Hope this clarifies my issue.....

I asked a question about RH search because I was curious to know how RH handles searching content categories, if it only searches within the content category displayed, or searches all content categories, and how it handles search results from "other" content categories.

[Peter Grainge]

RoboHelp will search just the category the user is in, that part is that simple.

The result you describe with ZoomSearch is exactly what I would expect. ZoomSearch is showing what it has been asked to show and RoboHelp is showing the TOC for the category the user chose. RoboHelp is not what is changing the topic displayed, it is merely providing the viewer for ZoomSearch to do that.

Even if someone could figure out how how RoboHelp changes from one category to another, take the scenario where the topic found is in two categories, which TOC should then be displayed?

When your users click the ZoomSearch button, the search input page is displayed. Could you not add something to the content of that explaining the results will include pages from outside the current category. Could you use a different CSS for each category so that when the user is in the X category the background is a certain colour but the All category is a different colour, indicating the topic is not part of the current category. Maybe users would not get the point.

I have to say the point of categories is to limit the topics a user sees in their chosen category and what gets searched. Using ZoomSearch in the way you are is rather undoing that. What they should do is choose the All category and then search.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[JGaf]

Good point, I could add a disclaimer on the search input page (hey, they were warned!).  

Another idea is to launch different search pages, similiar to changing css styles (based on the doc the user is viewing) and explain on that search page that choosing X category is outside the document they are viewing.  What I don't like is that the user could be scrolling a page of the Admin guide, while displaying the TOC of the User Guide.......it looks and feels awkward because it is.

You're correct, the point of categories is to limit the topics.  I have 3 options to search; User, Admin and All.  The mismatch occurs when the user chooses a category that is different than the TOC displayed and/or selects a link that originates from outside the displayed TOC. Even if I remove the 'All" category, I still have the issue because search is global...

Maybe this is too much work and I'll have to go back to separate search files.......it's very tidy 🙂

I'll post back the conclusion....

Thanks for your advice!

[JGaf · Accepted solution]

Just posting back in case anyone else comes across this issue.......

No way around the mismatch where the TOC does not correspond with the content pane because both "guides" are in a combined zoom search configuration.

I added 2 different search redirects so that clicking on the search button in the toolbar while in the User Guide will launch a specific search.html for the User Guide and vice versa for the Admin Guide.  On each search page page, I just added a specific warning about the issue. "You are currently viewing the xxx Guide" etc.   I also added and extra breadcrumb placeholder on each page of the docs and then applied conditional build tags which will display where the user clicked through more accurately.

Sounds confusing, but it works......... !