6 Replies Latest reply: Sep 8, 2014 8:06 AM by Jeff_Coatsworth RSS

    cross book link

    asaomiwa Community Member
    asaomiwa May 23, 2014 10:10 AM

      Trying to generate cross-book HTML links using Frame12.

       

      Book1 location: C:\test\Book1\Book1.book, and all *.fm files are in the same folder.

      Book2 location: C:\test\Book2\Book2.book, and all *.fm files are in the same folder.

       

      Book1 - has a book1chapter.fm containing a Header1, where I have created:

      - Hypertext Marker newlink book1chapter-test-header (as a target for book2chapter.fm)

      - Hypertext Marker gotolink ../Book2/book2chapter.fm:book2chapter-test-header (to link to book2chapter.fm)

      - Inserted a cross reference to the Header1 in Book2. (also testing to see if a regular cross-book link will work)

       

      Book2 - has a book2chapter.fm containing a Header1, where I have created:

      - Hypertext Marker newlink book2chapter-test-header (as a target for book1chapter.fm)

      - Hypertext Marker gotolink ../Book1/book1chapter.fm:book1chapter-test-header (to link to book1chapter.fm)

      - Inserted a cross reference to the Header1 in Book1. (also testing to see if a regular cross-book link will work)

       

      Then, I keep both books open, and generate PDFs for both books. I keep the PDF in the same

      folder as their respective *.book and *.fm files. The cross-book link appears active in the PDF,

      as in, the icon changes from an arrow to a hand, but clicking on the link does nothing.

       

      I also published to Responsive HTML5, but the cross references appear as blue underlined but

      are not live links - they are just blue, underlined text.


      Does anyone have any advice on what I can do to get this working? Is WebWorks with Frame12 a

      better option for accomplishing this, or is this something that can be done with Frame12 alone?

       

      Thanks for any help!

        • 1. Re: cross book link
          asaomiwa Community Member
          asaomiwa May 23, 2014 10:11 AM (in response to asaomiwa)

          Also forgot to mention - before I generate either PDF or HTML5, I test the links in Frame12 using

          CTRL+ALT+click and the links work inside Frame12.

          • 2. Re: cross book link
            Arnis Gubins CommunityMVP
            Arnis Gubins May 26, 2014 8:59 AM (in response to asaomiwa)

            In Acrobat, select the Add or Edit link option and inspect the actual link to see where the link is pointing to and compare that with the actual location of the PDF file.

            For the HTML5 output, use the browsers inspection tools (e.g. in Chrome or FireFox use Inspect Element from the context menu) to see where the link (and if it's even an actual link) is pointing to.

            • 3. Re: cross book link
              asaomiwa Community Member
              asaomiwa May 27, 2014 9:38 AM (in response to Arnis Gubins)

              Arnis,

               

              Thank you for the response.

               

              I was able to figure out how to get the PDFs to open each other (different books).

               

              Here's what is inside the HTML file:

               

              <p class="FM_Body">here is a link to the SLB book: <a><span class="FM_Hyperlink" style="color   : #0000ff; text-decoration  : underline  ;

                letter-spacing : 0.00em; ">TESTING CROSS BOOK REFERENCES</span></a></p>

               

              There doesn't appear to be any target listed, even though I've created the cross reference in two different ways.

              • 4. Re: cross book link
                Arnis Gubins CommunityMVP
                Arnis Gubins May 27, 2014 10:25 AM (in response to asaomiwa)

                I think you might be hitting an arcane bug coming from the RoboHelp components used in FM12. There apparently is a limit of 35 characters to the file path plus filename that is used for the links. So if you're over that limit, nothing gets created for the link href (even though you get the <a>....</a>). For more info see: RoboHelp apparently doesn't support FM text insets or other "referenced content"

                • 5. Re: cross book link
                  amitjha-lt Adobe Employee
                  amitjha-lt Sep 8, 2014 4:12 AM (in response to asaomiwa)

                  Hi Kevin

                   

                  Thanks for reporting this issue.

                  Currently RoboHelp/FM removes those links pointing to unresolved(outside book/project) references.

                  It should work if you create a master book containing both of the books. And then publish.

                  The links across books will be active and working.

                  Please let us know if it is not working for you.

                   

                  Thanks

                  Amit Jha

                  • 6. Re: cross book link
                    Jeff_Coatsworth CommunityMVP
                    Jeff_Coatsworth Sep 8, 2014 8:06 AM (in response to amitjha-lt)

                    @amitjha-lt – even if you use the “book of books” technique, your paths can’t get too long or you lose the links again. Found that the hard way ;>)