Browse Sequences in Merged File?

[Jared Hess]

*RH 6
*Vista
*HTMLHelp (.chm) Output

Hi All,

I want my browse sequences to show up from my merged .chm files. Right now the master chm file that they are merged into shows its own. But only some of the merged help files are showing theirs. How would I go about getting them all to appear? I've checked that the check box to enable them is checked in the defined window and that that window is being used in both master and sub projects.

Thanks,

Jared

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Jared.

Merged projects handle browse sequences in the following fashion:

1/ If you have browse sequences in your master project, these are displayed first in the drop down list in alphabetical order.

2/ If there are browse sequences in your slave projects these are displayed in the drop down below those in the master - again in aplhabetical order. For example if project master has a master_BS browse sequence and two slave projects have a BS1 in project 1 and BS2 is in project 2, they are displayed in Master_BS, BS1 and BS2 order.

3/ If the topic displayed is not part of a browse sequence, the first browse sequence is displayed in the toolbar BUT notice that no topic is highlighted.

4/ Open a topic that is part of a browse sequence and you'll find not only that the browse sequence is displayed but the topic is highlighted in the toolbar.

Are you saying you are getting different results? If so, do the browse sequences work OK when each project is viewed independently?

[Jared Hess]

Thanks Colum.

What I'm saying is that my sub project has browse sequences turned on but they aren't showing up in the merged list in the toolbar when I view the sub project from within the master help file. I mainly want them to show up in the horizontal bar I have above my topic.

Note that If I open up just the sub project, the browse sequences do appear just fine.

Anyone have suggestions on how to resolve this?

Thanks!

Jared

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Jared,
Have you tried, deleting the sub-project reference in the master TOC and readding it.

[Jared Hess]

I just tried it. That doesn't solve the problem.

[RoboColum_n_]

Are there any underscores (or other non-alphanumeric) characters in the BS name? If so, remove them.

[Jared Hess]

What do you mean in the browse sequence name? Do you mean the merged TOC entry? The merged TOC entry just has this:
pcdmiscmm.chm::/pcdmiscmm.hhc

[RoboColum_n_]

Definitely in the CHM file name. These do not work correctly in merged projects. I was referring to the name of the browse sequence though in your sub-project - i.e. the name in the Browse Sequence Editor. I seem to remember something from the long and distant past about underscores there also causing problems.

[Jared Hess]

The name of the browse sequence file in the sub project is PcdmisCmm.BRS. So, no underscores there. There are underscores in some of the topics' names in the sub project (bug from importing topics using RH6).

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Jared.

Look at the names of the actual browse sequences ( can't remember where that is in RH7 - via the Tools menu?) not the project browse sequence file which should always follow the projectname.brs naming convention. The Browse Sequence Editor - where you create and edit each browse sequence - allows you to specify a name. Check there.

[Jared Hess]

All the browse sequences are fine. They are automatically generated from the TOC. I also went and checked every file and ensured each file's topic didn't have underscores either. Rebuilt all files. Still no merged browse sequences for this sub project.

[RoboColum_n_]

If you want to zip up the projects and email them to me I'll take a look and see what I can find. Contact me via my profile.

[RoboWizard]

Hi Colum and Jared

Hopefully you won't mind my offering a bit of possible insight here. I need to preface what I'm about to offer with a small story to give context.

Back around 2000 or so (RoboHelp 2000-Logical version 8) we saw the same thing with Browse Sequences. I recall discovering that one needed to hand edit the .BRS file of the master in order to see the subs. Seems the edit involved opening each of the sub .BRS files, then copying most or all of it and pasting into the master .BRS file. Not only that, but you had to make certain that the coding occurred in a certain way. Shortly after posting this tip to the eHelp forum, a RoboHelp instructor oddly had the same information appear on his site as a tip. Fortunately that site remains and you can view the content.

I'm thinking that maybe RoboHelp 6 broke the functionality that once worked. Seems that eHelp finally managed to make Browse Sequences work with merges. Sooo, you may wish to investigate the following link and see if you can use what is presented to make the merged Browse Sequences work once again.
Click here to visit the info.

Cheers... Rick

[RoboColum_n_]

Well I never! In my defence I say I'm not old enough to remember that - at least in RH terms Thanks again Rick.

[Jared Hess]

quote:

---

....I'm thinking that maybe RoboHelp 6 broke the functionality that once worked.

---

Thanks Rick. The one thing that makes me think this isn't the problem is that other projects developed in RH 6 do have their browse sequences properly merged. And I remember that this one USED to work fine in RH6 for these problem projects. In any case, I'll take a look at the link and see if there's anything applicable.

Colum, I'll zip up my projects for you to look at. One is quite large so I will provide you with a link to download them from our website once ready. Thanks for your offer of assistance!

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Jared.
With a cursory look I can see that both projects have massed of broken links and that quite a few - if not all - of the topics in one of the browse sequences are in the list of broken links. It looks loke the topics have had a "STEP x" prefix added to them. Fix these and see if the problem goes away.

[Jared Hess]

Hi Colum,
Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. I have been working on this along with normal topic documentation. However, I don't think the broken links were the problem here. I resolved all the broken links in both projects, recreated the automatic browse sequences in both, rebuilt both and retested. I still can't get browse sequences to show up in the sub project when viewing it from the master .chm.

[Jared Hess · Accepted solution]

I fixed this. I had to delete and then add back in all the merged TOC references for the sub .chm projects, allowing PC-DMIS to copy those sub .chms into my project directory.