4 Replies Latest reply: Aug 28, 2009 8:22 AM by jdcyclone1 RSS

    Multiple versions of help - Are areas the answer?

    RoboColum(n) MeganK
    RoboColum(n) Aug 21, 2009 7:21 AM

      I have a scenario where we need to be able to have multiple products with multiple versions of that product's help file being published to RoboHelp Server. We are using RoboHelp 8 to publish to RoboHelp Server 8. I am happy with the concept of areas but do not want to have to get the developers to change the path to a new area each time there is a new product version. I want it to be seemless from the application. I am assuming that this would mean always publishing to the same area in which case I can not have multiple versions.

       

      For example ProductA could have Version1 and Version2. By defining areas called PRODAV1 and PRODAV2 you could change the SSL properties in the project to point to the relevant area. However the server path would need to change to point to either the PRODAV1 or PRODAV2 area.

       

      Has anyone else already done this and therefore has some advice to offer?

       

      Read the RoboColum(n).

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        • 1. Re: Multiple versions of help - Are areas the answer?
          RoboWizard CommunityMVP
          RoboWizard Aug 21, 2009 7:50 AM (in response to RoboColum(n))

          Hi Colum

           

          Colum McAndrew wrote:

           

          ...do not want to have to get the developers to change the path to a new area each time there is a new product version....

           

           

          It would seem to me that this would be a routine thing for developers. To code new help calls with new versions of the product.

           

          I'm wondering if perhaps you could ease some of that by including a version number in the path. Bear in mind that I don't use RoboHelp Server, so maybe I'm tilting at windmills a bit here.

           

          I was thinking if you published currently to \\server\product\startpage.htm that maybe you could change things so that you instead published to \\server\productA\startpage.htm. Then when productB comes along the path changes slightly to \\server\productB\startpage.htm.

           

          That way everything would be in the same server, just in different folders. From the developer standpoint, they would only need to worry with coding a call to the correct product version folder.

           

          Just thinking out loud a bit... Rick

           

           

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          • 2. Re: Multiple versions of help - Are areas the answer?
            RoboHobo Community Member
            RoboHobo Aug 21, 2009 8:00 AM (in response to RoboColum(n))

            Having umpteen versions of Help to maintain sounds like a writer's nightmare, but if that's what you need to do, instead of hardcoding the area name, maybe your developers could use a variable for the area name (Area=<area_name>) and define it on the fly according to which version of the product it is (say by placing its definition in the configuration file for each product's version). You'd just have to coordinate on the area names for each version.

             

            Good luck.

            • 3. Re: Multiple versions of help - Are areas the answer?
              RoboColum(n) MeganK
              RoboColum(n) Aug 21, 2009 8:32 AM (in response to RoboHobo)

              Believe you me I welcome any advice on this Rick as there is precious little formalised information from what I've seen. We do need to maintain multiple versions - perhaps as many as 10 for one of our product suites! - and yes it is a nightmare.

               

              The idea of renaming the area sounds good and perhaps with a combination of that and the RoboHobo's variable idea I'm on to a winner. I'll have a further think about this over the weekend as my brian is fairly frazzled for a Friday afternoon. It's been one hell of a week.

               

              Anyone else done this for real?

               

              Read the RoboColum(n).

              • 4. Re: Multiple versions of help - Are areas the answer?
                jdcyclone1 Community Member
                jdcyclone1 Aug 28, 2009 8:22 AM (in response to RoboColum(n))

                I believe areas are definitely the way to go. There are a couple of ways to look at it:

                • Reporting - If you create a new area for each version, you'll be able to have individualized reports for each version, versus combined results. This would be useful if you noticed something in version 3 that was confusing to people, fixed it for version 4, and in a perfect world you'd be able to tell if the users seemed to be getting their question on that topic answered.
                • Database Maintenance - My network guy has been extremely happy since I've started putting multiple help systems on one context (using areas), vs. having requesting new databases for each project I work on. It's typically a 2 day process for me to request a new database vs. 2 minutes to create a new area.
                • Organization - I think areas make organization of projects soooooo much better than ever before. Now I don't have to keep a HUGE list of urls, I just need a few, then can look in drop downs on the server set up pages for the correct area.

                 

                If you can't tell I'm a big fan of areas Like 'em a lot!