Generate two different CHMs that has its own Footer section

[ROBOPM]

OS = Win 7

Rh Ver = 11

My goal: To generate two different CHMs that has its own branding (proprietary verbiage in Footer section) appear on bottom of help topics located on the Online Help window (CHM), WITHOUT using the old configuration (mentioned below).

Current configuration (Old): A single Master page with a Footer that has Product B proprietary verbiage. Note, this master page is used for both instances (Product A & Product B). What makes the two products (Product A and Product B) unique during the generation process showing this header, it is using a Conditional Build Tag over the verbiage in the footer section hence, trigger by the “Conditional Build Expression”. Picture below shows the HTML Help Options.

Since the inception of Rh 11, we now have the optional to use multiple header/footer master pages for “Print Documentation” hence; I can assign a specific footer for Product B and in theory, I can remove this footer section.

Questions:

1. If I remove the footer verbiage, how can I apply a different footer for Product A and Product B when I generate CHMs?
2. If I select the Master Page check box (enables the Master Page and CSS radio buttons) and select Master Page (i.e., my pull down list would show Product A and Product B), will this affect any Styles that are using my RhSytleMapping.css?
3. Does the Gray-out section (ref. above in the picture, outlined in red) mean that these features are disabled?

Below, I typed out Rh help topic, but I am still unclear on the descriptions.

Thank you,

~PM

Rh 11 help topic descriptions in question are as follows:

Apply To All Topics: Select this option to apply master pages or CSS at the project level:

• Master Page: The selected master page overrides the settings of all the individual topics with or without a master page applied to them in the project. The CSS and layout of the master page override the CSS and appearance of all the topics. For example, if the selected master page doesn’t have a header or footer, topics won’t either.
• CSS: The master pages associated with individual topics become effective. The selected CSS overrides all the topics and their CSS irrespective of whether they are associated with a master page or not.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

I don't have the full answer to what you are asking, but I do have a suggestion that may help.

I see you mention using a Conditional Build tag to control the footer information. While that should work fine (for CHM output) I'm wondering if you could achieve more efficiency by declaring and using a variable instead.

Hopefully Peter will pop in here to offer some guidance with the printed stuff.

Cheers... Rick

[ROBOPM]

Hi Rick!

Thanks for popping in...

We already use Variables for product_name and reference_guide, which we used for CHM's and Printed Documentation. That said, there is only one spot, drop down to select for Variables (e.g., the picture in my initial post), I'm not sure how I could apply it to using a Footer. My curiosity is that if I can use both the ;Master Page' and 'CSS'. I realize that select a radio button is a determine selection, or is it? For example, if I click 'Apply to all Topics' which enables the radio buttons (Master Page and CSS), select Master Page, choose my master page from the drop down, then select the CSS radio button and choose a css file. If 'Apply to all Topics' is Not selected, how do I know what style sheet I am using? Or, does Rh use the default Styles or Styles I create in Rh?

[Captiv8r]

Variable, CSS, Master Page, Headers and Footers, Oh MY!

LOL, yeah, there are lots of variables in the mix here. For example, your Master Page might have variables that are part of a Header and/or Footer. The Master Page has a specific CSS that it is linked to. Or you might want to use a separate CSS entirely. So I'll try to provide some insight.

For the moment, let's assume we are NOT selecting anything related to Master Pages or CSS in the HTML Help Options dialog you shared.

If you compiled your CHM file, the topics in the resulting file would use whatever CSS was associated to the topics. There could be more than one. Especially if you have topics that were imported from Word or linked to Word. So this introduces the distinct possibility of inconsistency, as all topics possibly aren't using the same CSS. The complier has no clue about it and RoboHelp respects whatever the setup is and you end up with a CHM file with maybe a mishmash of formatting. Perhaps you have one CSS file that specifies the background as being pink, and another that specifies the background as being green and a third specifying an automatic background. You would possibly have some topics with pink backgrounds and some with green backgrounds and others with basically white backgrounds.

Now, let's say that you modify one of the CSS files and choose silver as the background color. You then apply it to all topics. When you compile, all topics should follow suit, because they all share the common CSS that says the background should be silver.

Now let's talk about the options in the output settings.

If you choose the CSS option, you are simply commanding RoboHelp to use whatever CSS file you choose for all topics in the output. If you choose the Master Page option, my initial tests seem to indicate there may be a bit of a bug at play. The Master Page is certainly applied, but oddly, the CSS was not. I'll have to test that further.

Cheers... Rick

[ROBOPM]

Thanks again Rick for the detail info. Please let me know your test results for the Master Page test (ref. Radio button selection).

I have another question if I may... If I create/select New Master Page in my Rh project. Then I select the Appearance tab (located on the New Master Page pane), and then select a .css file that has the Styles and Footer I require (e.g., mycompany_rh11.css), then in theory, selecting the Master Page radio button for 'Apply to all topics' should work for me, correct? That said, is this is where you are talking about when you use a Master Page (configured as noted above) and that no CSS Styles is applied to the master page (e.g., help topic Design mode, and the "Styles and Formatting pod is empty (shows no Styles)?

~PM