Conditional User Defined Variable in TOC in RH10

[WriterDelly]

Hi

I have a single project created with conditional build tags for a product in multiple countries. The company name has been the same in all three countries, but now the company name in one country is about to change. I have created UDVs with conditional build tags to apply the appropriate company name when the help is produced (Yay for RoboHelp 10 for allowing this).

There are 58 topics in the TOC that include the company name within the title of the topic. My problem is, if I include the UDV in a page title in the TOC, the conditional text is ignored.

I am assuming this is because the TOC only allows for conditional builds to be applied to the page or book itself and not to text in the name of the page or book.

Can someone please confirm this is the case? If so, I will be making a suggestion to Adobe.

Thank you.

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Hi,

You can use UDV in the TOC. If I remember correctly, if you add a topic to the TOC, the TOC should use the title UDV.

However, if you have already created the TOC and then amend the topic title, the TOC remains the same. This is as expected and I believe this to be desirable.

Right click the item in the TOC and select Properties. You can now insert a UDV in the TOC.

Greet,

Willam

[WriterDelly]

Hi William

Thank you for your response.

That is what I have already done, but on producing the output, the TOC ignores the conditional part of the UDV and adds both company names to the page title.

Regards

Adele

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Why would you use a CBT in a UDV? (Didn’t even know you could.)

RoboHelp supports variable sets. You can create a single variable and every set can contain a different definition for a single variable, some variables or even all variables. My bet: Create a variable set for every customer with their name. In the SSL, assign the correct set to the output for the customer and you’re done.

See http://help.adobe.com/en_US/robohelp/robohtml/WSBE4EE60C-6FBB-4062-AF93-27F9C233D0C3.html for information on how to create and use variable sets.

Greet,

Willam

[WriterDelly]

Hi Willam

I didn't know you could until recently either, and because I was looking for a way to have the two company names, that was the path I went down.

It looks like the wrong path and you and Rick may have put me right.

I will be investigating further.

Thank you for your help.

Regards

Adele

[WriterDelly]

Hi Willam or Rick

I just have one other question in regard to the variable set.

What I would like to do now, is a Find and Replace on the company name and replace it with the UDV.

Is there anything I need to look out for?

I assume I will have to update all instances in the TOC separately to insert the UDV, but is there any impact to the file names of the topics?

Thank you once again for your help. It looks like you have saved me an awful lot of time.

Regards

Adele

[johndaigle]

Hi, Adele

Earlier this month at the WritersUA conference I discussed a similar issue to yours with the Adobe team. However, it did not involve UDVs in the TOC. Rather it was to look for words (a company name as an example) and replace each instance in a topic with a UDV. This is an enhancement of the existing script you will find in the Script Explorer called "UDV Converter With UI.jsx". Because it is still in testing stage, I'd ask that you email me at the address in my Profile and I will arrange for you to get you the latest version.

Thanks

John Daigle

Adobe Certified RoboHelp and Captivate Instructor

Evergreen, Colorado

www.showmethedemo.com

[Captiv8r · Accepted solution]

Hi there

Hopefully Willam won't mind my expanding a bit on the issue here.

I do note that you seemed to already be aware that UDVs are possible within TOC text. And as I understand it, your issue here is that you want to conditionalize the UDV within the TOC, no?

Certainly one way to do that would be to have two different TOC entries. And apply tags to each so that one or the other would be excluded. But to be honest, I have always avoided tagging the TOC items as I've seen mixed results myself.

The thought here for me is that I wonder why you feel the need to apply a condition to a variable? Why not use a different version of the variable? Sure, you create the variables and insert them, but you may actually create different Variable Sets that offer different values, then when you create your output you simply choose the Variable Set you wish to use.

Cheers... Rick

[WriterDelly]

Hi Rick

Thank you. I might have to do some research on variable sets. I have not needed to use these to date.

If you know of a site that might have some useful information on using variable sets, and could let me know, it would be much appreciated.

Regards

Adele

[Willam_van_Weelden]

@Rick: You’re always welcome to chime in, but I missed you there. Variable sets, great minds think alike

Greet,

Willam