File Version - Is it possible to assign this attribute to a compiled *.chm file?

[Guest]

The testers in my development group are asking me whether I can provide a file version attribute that would be listed in Windows Explorer for my compiled *.chm file. Is this possible to do in RoboHelp HTML? My alternative was to provide a hardcoded date in the footer of a topic template.

thanks in advance,
ChristyG

[Captiv8r]

Hi ChristyG

I've never known this to be possible. It's not a RoboHelp thing either. I believe it's a limitation of the way .CHM files are constructed and presented to the Windows file system.

I'd say you are on the right track with inserting version information in other areas.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

Thanks for the quick reply back, Rick! I'm going to use the footer-in-a-topic-template method.



ChristyG

[MergeThis]

You could also add a file version/date trailer to each build version, then add none for the final build (MyBuild_May21,chm, MyBuild_May22,chm, MyBuild_May23,chm, etc.). Just change the chm file output name as you generate it.


Good luck,
Leon

[Brendan_S]

I am looking to do something similar but due to the update nature of my online documentation I would need this to be updated regularly for a large amount of files.

Is there some way to update the footer in a more automated way?

What I am thinking of is creating a user defined variable with my version number and then adding that to the footers.

[Guest]

Hi Brendan,

I think using a topic template is the best method. You can assign the template to multiple help topics in one action.

Here's what I do:

1. Right-click on the Templates folder and select "New Topic Template."

2. From the View menu, select "Footer." The text box for the footer appears in the template.

3. Type the text you want to use as the footer. Format the footer text as you wish (alignment, font, pt. size, etc.)

4. Save the template as a recognizable name, such as "Copyright_Blurb_projectXX."

5. In RoboHelp Explorer, click the "Topics" tab to view all help topics for the project in the main window.

6. Press the "Ctrl" key and select all topics that you want to assign the template to.

7. After you've selected the topics, right-click and select "Properties" from the pop-up menu. The Topic Properties window appears.

8. Click the "General" tab, then from the Template drop-down list, select the template you want to assign to the topic (for example, "Copyright_Blurb_projectXX").

9. Click "OK" to save your changes. RoboHelp assigns the template to all the help topics you selected.

Later on, if you need to change the footer, you just change it once by updating the topic template. All help topics that are assigned that topic template will automatically be updated with the change.

Hope this helps!

ChristyG

[Brendan_S]

Great answer. Thank you very much.