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Merging two projects.

Participant ,
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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Hi:

Let me try to explain this clearly and in the least amount of words.

1. I have two RoboHelp projects that I maintain: Project A and Project B.
2. Content that needs to be added to Project A should also be added to Project B.
3. However, content that needs to be added to Project B should ONLY be added in Project B.
4. Using conditional tags is not an option since this content isn't a discrete topic. For example, (I am simplifying things here), the sentence "The dog is brown in color" in Project A will be "The dog is brown, but his leash is green in color" in Project B.

So in a nutshell, Project A is being maintined for version 1.0 of our s/w whereas Project B isbeing maintained for version 2.0. Which is why, content for Project A is applicable for Project B (since s/w version 2.0 will have all the features of s/w version 1.0), but content for Project B will not be added for Project A (since features for version 2.0 will not be in version 1.0).

My question: Is there any third-party tool or a RoboHelp feature that will intelligently allow me to merge content from Project A into Project B? Or do you have other solutions for me to manage this better?

Thanks,
K

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Guest
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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You can still use conditional tags - place a version tag on the version-sensitive content within the topic, not on the entire topic. I constantly have to do this and it works very well.

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Participant ,
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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So you suggest the following:

1. Maintain a single project.
2. Have two sentences in the topic: The dog is brown in color" and "The dog is brown, but his leash is green in color" in the same topic. Mark the former sentence with conditional tag "1.0" and the latter sentence with "2.0".

I don't know, but using conditional tags just sounds cumbersome for me...reason being I am afraid there's going to be so much content marked with conditional tags that maintenance would be a nightmare. I am not looking at one or two topics that will be changed, but hundereds of them.

What do you think?

Thanks,
K

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Guest
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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Conditional tags are easy to create, easy to assign, and one of the reports can tell you which tags are assigned where. In my experience, the build statement that excludes content by conditional tags is sometimes trickier to deal with - it can be fickle unless you pay attention.

I use at least one conditional tag in every topic I write. My builds are either based on version or on audience, or on a combination of the two (which explains the gray hair) - but the tags are the least worrisome element of the process. Give it a shot, if you can.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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Imarden: I think the difficulty here is that Kutra already has two projects. Had one project been kept going using tags like V1_Only and V2_Only, tags would have been a great answer. As it is, Kutra needs to change perhaps "The dog is brown in color" to "The dog is blackin color" in Project One and wants that to update Project Two before also changing the colour of the leash.

I think, to use Rick's favourite, Kutra has painted themself into a corner.

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

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Guest
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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well, they could set up the tags in both projects, write the entire content in one project and assign all the appropriate tags (for both projects), and then just paste the new content + tags into the other one. At least they wouldn't have to write everything twice. But yeah, hindsight is 20/20 - depending on the size of the two projects and the amount of tweaking that would be required, I would even consider creating a new single project that houses both versions' content so that life would be so much simpler going forward.

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Participant ,
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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Peter and Lmarden:

Actually, we are just starting on adding content to Project B. As of right now, nothing is late since Project B is an exact duplicate of Project A. So if you all think, it is easier to maintain just one project "Project A" and use conditional tags for version 1.0 and 2.0, I can still do that in Project A.

So, is the approach that I discussed in my previous post appropriate? You guys mentioned other possibilities as well.

Thanks,
K

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LEGEND ,
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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You've got the idea Kutra. Whether build tags are cumbersome in your circumstances only you can decide. They are easy to use once but you do have to think a little more when you are using them.
Tip: If you do decide to go down this line, create two identical single source layouts and just change the build tag option to exlude the one you don't want. It's very easy to forget to set the right one. This way you don't have to.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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Let's see if I can finish this post before my wife blows the electrics again!

You could have two sentences but one is enough.
The dog is brown [no tag, note no full stop]
, but his leash is green in color [V2_only]
. [no tag]
That gets you both sentences.

I think two projects is going to be more prone to error. Updating a whole topic in A and then missing one of the changes in B. With one project, you can see what is unique.

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

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Participant ,
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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Thanks, guys, for your replies. I am going to experiment with the tags now.

One test for sure is this:

1. Add a new bottom row to a table.
2. In this row, all content is using conditional tag "V2_only".
3. When I generate WebHelp WITHOUT USING the conditional tag, will the new bottom row of the table show up at all, or will it show up without any content?

Regards,
K

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LEGEND ,
Oct 15, 2007 Oct 15, 2007

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LATEST
If you apply a build tag to the table contents in the WYSIWYG the table row is still displayed in the ouput without the content. This can be easily corrected by moving the build tag expression (x-condition) in the Truecode.

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