• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
0

TC version of RH7 crashing

New Here ,
Nov 01, 2007 Nov 01, 2007

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Is anyone using the "enhanced" versions of RH and FM in the tech comm suite? I'm trying out the demo, using a relatively simple Framemaker 8 book and using the feature where I can add the book to my RH project, make changes in FM, and then have the changes reflected in the RH project. After a few changes, I inevitably get a corrupted project and RH either won't open it any more, or the program quits when I try to do the "update" in RH, causing me to have to start over with a new project.

I've found the documentation to be very sparse concerning the integration between the two programs and how to use the FM/RH workflow. Does anyone know if the full version comes with more documentation regarding the "enhanced" features?

Tks,
Linda

Views

371

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Advisor ,
Nov 01, 2007 Nov 01, 2007

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hey, Linda!
Doh! I wrote this long answer only to find that you do indeed have the TCS version! Anyway maybe some of this info will help lurkers who may not be familiar with the new versions.

So other folks will understand, there are two versions of RoboHelp that have just been released. One a standalone and one which is part of the Adobe Technical Communications Suite (TCS)

As for your specific crash problem, I'm afraid I can't answer it offhand. Maybe it was the process you went through?

The update/linking feature of FrameMaker files in RoboHelp projects is part of the TCS version.
There are certainly benefits in the standalones, but the Suite is more than the sum of its parts.

Even if you don't have the TCS and just have both standalones on the same computer you can import (.FM, .MIF, .FRM, .BK, and .BOOK) files.

In the Suite version of RH, you can "link" the FrameMaker file to the RoboHelp project and "update" it to reflect changes that have occured in the FrameMaker file. Instead of importing in the normal way, you use a command called "Add by reference."

I am not a FrameMaker practitioner, but I wanted to see how the process worked. So when Adobe asked me to write a RoboHelp 7 Reviewer's Guide, I wrote a tutorial (from a RoboHelp author's perspective) for importing.
You can download Adobe RoboHelp 7 Reviewer's Guide here:

http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelp/pdfs/robohelp_7_reviewers_guide.pdf

Things are still being posted on the Adobe website because the product has just launched. I see they haven't yet posted the downloadable exercise files I included for the tutorial. That said, you might get some tips from the "Try it" narrative in Part 3.
If you subscribe to this post, I will update this topic when the files (and Adobe Captivate movies!) are posted.

Also, here is the Adobe RoboHelp 7 live online help site. I realize you may have already done so, but check out the Importing FrameMaker Files topic
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/RoboHTML/7.0/

There is also a separate TCS Reviewer's Guide that I see has not yet been posted. It will have more tutorials as well.

Because the products are brand new, you will be seeing a LOT more articles and tutorials published in the coming weeks on the Developer Connection. I'll keep you posted on that here in the forums.

Meanwhile, I'm sorry I couldn't give you a simple, direct solution to your problem, but I'm glad you're giving the new model a spin

Thanx,
John
Adobe Certified RoboHelp Instructor
John Daigle
Adobe Certified RoboHelp and Captivate Instructor
Newport, Oregon

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Nov 02, 2007 Nov 02, 2007

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hi John,

Thanks for your input! I had watched the eseminar that Adobe did that showed how to add by reference FM files to a RH project, so I followed that procedure. Since then I started over again and just added a FM file one at a time (rather than a book), and I haven't had crashes doing that. Next I'll try adding a book with only two files in it to see what happens (adding the files via a book appears to be necessary so the cross references between files work).

I had looked at your reviewer's guide - that was very helpful. Yeah, I noticed that the movies weren't posted - I was going to ask you about that until I read your email more thoroughly :-).

So there is one for TCS? If it's not posted yet, is there a way to get it? There are a lot of things that could use more explanation - for example, how is the glossary in RH automatically generated - that is, how does the glossary have to be set up in FM for this to work? I haven't been able to figure that out yet. Or even small stuff, like what exactly is the difference between "Update", "Force Update" and "Update All". There's other things to consider as well, especially if you're already used to using RH and customizing it a lot... How can you easily still maintain some customization while keeping all your content maintained in FM, and so on... Other things, like for example how the program uses the fmstyles.css file. I already had a css file that I was using in RH6, so after a little experimentation, I realized that the fmstyles.css file is the one that RH uses for topics that are FM files. So I added my custom css to that file. Now, if you add the FM files individually, each file has it's own css file that it references that is generated from the fmstyles.css file. Well, the program doesn't copy all the customized css from the fmstyles.css file, just what it thinks it needs. So, for example, it didn't copy my definitions for links. This leads to a conundrum - if you copy the missing css to the file, you have to either mark the file as not to be updated automatically, or else each time you update your FM file, you'll lose the added css declarations. Another method would be to just link another css file with your customizations to the topic, but that would have to be re-added every time that the topic is updated.

Well, this is the first time I've tried to do some kind of "single-sourcing", and I have projects that are due soon that I want to use this with, so that's why I'm anxious to see more help info and get feedback from others using the product :-). There's nothing like being an early adopter :-).

By the way - you mention the "try-it-assets" folder in your guide - where is that? I can't seem to find it, but maybe it wasn't included in the trial. (My company is supposed to be ordering the upgrade the beginning of next week.)

Thanks for your help,
Linda

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Advisor ,
Nov 02, 2007 Nov 02, 2007

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

LATEST
Hey Linda.
A couple of things here. The easy one first. The "Try-it Assets folder" refers to the Sample download files I mentioned which (like the Adobe Captivate Demos) have not been uploaded to the site yet. In an effort to get stuff up quickly, not all of it is posted. The same is true for the TCS Reviewer's Guide. I've seen a draft of it and I think it will be very helpful when it's finally posted.
The way I've found content that is brand spanking new, is to type in "reviewer guide" into the search box of any Adobe website page. Keep pinging that and hopefully it will pop up.

I've asked the Adobe folks to look into this. Though I try to keep these threads open, you are welcome to email me offline for more information (see my address in the view profile).
Thanx,
john

John Daigle
Adobe Certified RoboHelp and Captivate Instructor
Newport, Oregon

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Resources
RoboHelp Documentation
Download Adobe RoboHelp