Conditional Build Tags Break Links

Hi all,
I have a solid, 3-years old, RHX5 project that works fine.
Delivering a part of it using
conditional build tags, I found out that some of links are
broken.
The topics configuration looks like this:
Parent topic - with a link to several
child topics
(many) Child topic(s) - each with a
link to the parent topic
Now, using conditional build tags, all of the topics go to
the main deliverable and are marked accordingly.
Some of the topics go to the secondary deliverable. This
includes the parent topic and some of the child topics.
So, the parent topic is marked with both tags, and the links
that point at topics that doesn't belong to the secondary
deliverable are tagged accordingly. This part works fine.
The links that belong to both deliverables are tagged with
both tags. Some of them - not all - are broken.
In these cases, a child topic exists in the deliverable, but
the link from the parent topic is broken.
I have deleted all links and written them anew. This did not
solve the problem.
Where elese should I look into?
Thanks in advance (please help the poor writer regain his
weekend :-)
Avi

quote:
Originally posted by:
Peter Grainge
It sounds like topics that belong to both versions, like the
parent, have both tags. I am wondering why they have any tag as you
only need a tag on a topic that you might want to exclude.
Hi Peter,
Until this project, I had two tags, when each topic belongs
to either tag A or tag B, and no topic belongs to both. (the reason
to this configuration was to keep everything on the same source,
when topics could move from tag A to tag B.)
Now, in the current project, I have a new tag, C. Topic may
belong to:
Tag A only
Tag B only
Tag A + C
Tag B + C
Tag C only - there are very few such topics (maybe 5 or so).
These topics are not problematic.
The problem of the broken links always occur among topics of
the type "tag A + C".
How do I proceed from here?

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Conditional Build Tags Break on Chinese

Using RH7 (for word) on Win XP with Word 2007.
Generating HTMLHelp (chm only)
I am trying to take full advantage of Conditional Build Tag
to implement single source output. I have created my help files and
had the text translated into Chinese. I had the person doing the
translation simply add the Chinese text to the end of every English
paragraph. Then I created conditional build tags for English and
Chinese and applied the build tags the appropriate bodies of text.
If I generate "Chinese" it appears to work correctly, however
when I generate "English" I get the English text as well as a few
characters of Chinese at the end of each paragraph. The Chinese
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those particular characters are inserted.
Things I have done to troubleshoot...
- Explicitly excluded Chinese text from output (expression
was "NOT Chinese") (No Change)
- Added line breaks between English and Chinese (No Change.)
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(No Change)
I only tried this because the original Chinese text used
both fonts.
- Removed punctuation from Chinese text. (No Change)
I suspect there is a problem in RH7 for word when using
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I have uploaded my doc, and an image that helps illustrate
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The Doc: Job_Console_ExtraTech.doc
The Image: Job_Console_ExtraTech.jpg
They are on the Support Portal FTP site...
Here is the information I used to get there...
https://www.adobe.com/support/crm_portal/ssi/ftpinfo.html
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Thanks, J

I was a bit bummed when I found out I couldn't do the TOC
with conditionals either. But I made the help files intentionally
graphical so that the TOC, index, and searches are of less
importance. I am using the help files as a sort of graphical
trainer for an application suite.
It is disappointing that Adobe touted the multilingual
functionality of version 7 and this is what they meant, but it's
better than nothing.
I am just confused about how the Chinese characters are
showing up when the conditional build tags are clearly supposed to
be omitting them.
I think the next step is to embrace the HTML transition and
see if I have better luck there. The only daunting thing about that
is recreating all the conditional build tags.

Conditional build tags/expressions in the TOC

Hello all,
I've run into another issue with my conversion, this time with Conditional build tags and expressions.
All seems to be fine in my topics, but not in my TOC.
Some of my topic titles have words that have conditional text applied in the source FrameMaker document.
These topic titles also appear in the TOC that's automatically generated when I link my Frame book to Robohelp.
I set the conditional build expression in the Webhelp settings dialog and then Save and Generate.
These topic titles appear to pick up the correct conditional build expression in the topics themselves, but the TOC heading shows multiple conditions (including the condition I've set to "Exclude").
So, for example, if my topic title is
"Conventions in this documentonline help"
WHERE
document > should appear in PDF only
and
online help > should appear in Webhelp only
I can get the Webhelp topic to use the title "Conventions in this online help"
but the corresponding TOC heading looks like this:
"Conventions in this documentonline help"
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Sue

Conditional build tags are not imported to TOC from FrameMaker content. However, one can follow another approach to achieve this. One can manage the Conditional build expression in FrameMaker itself and import the filterted content in RoboHelp. Inorder to achieve this, set the conditional build expression in FrameMaker. Turn on the setting in RoboHelp to "Apply FrameMaker Conditional Text Build Expression". [File->Project Settings->Import->Edit(FrameMaker Settings)->Other Settings]
This way RoboHelp will import only the filtered content with Conditional Build Tags resolved as per the expression applied in FrameMaker.
Mayank

Switching off conditional build tags

I now have quite a few conditional build tags in my RH7 project and it's getting a bit difficult to see what's what in my topics as they are covered in coloured hash lines. Is it possible to switch off the view of individual tags? For various jobs I need to see certain ones but not others.
Also, can I just check that I am using them right?
Our software has web and windows versions so I have a 'Web' tag and a 'Win' tag for where the content differs and I create different outputs for each.
Within the web version, we now have 2 different sets of customers who each need slightly different content and different names/logos etc. So I have created 'Customer X' and 'Customer Y' tags as well as 2 separate tables of contents. So in places, I have text which has 2 tags on it, 'Web' and 'Customer X' or 'Customer Y'.
Does this sound ridiculous? Is there a better way?
I know I could have used user defined variables for the company names but I would still need the cond build tags for the content so figured it would keep it simpler just to use tags.
Helen

Hi there
Sorry, no way to turn off individual tags. You can turn off the shading if you like.
Click View > Show > Conditional areas.
You might also consider submitting a wish form to ask for this type of functionality to be added to a future version.
Cheers... Rick
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RH 11: Conditional Build tags applied: Content still showing up in search

Hello. I am generating WebHelp using conditional build tags using RH 11.
I have marked books in the TOC with a CBT of Not in 6.1.
I generated help and excluded content marked with the CBT Not in 6.1.
When the Web Help is generated, the books marked with the CBT do not display in the TOC. However, if I do a search, topics that are under the books and therefore should not be included in the output have search results returned.
Is there a scenario in which topics that have been excluded from the generated help would still show up in search?
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Jenny

Hi Jenny
Indeed there are a few reasons this may happen.
First, simply excluding a topic or a book in the TOC simply makes sure that the TOC doesn't have a link pointing to the topic. Normally, I'll just tag the topic itself and ignore tagging the TOC. If a topic has been excluded, it won't appear in the TOC.
In the WebHelp SSL recipe, click to expand the Content Categories section and look at the settings on the right. You might try ensuring the following option is enabled. It's named Exclude Unreferenced Topics from Output. As long as nothing else is linking to the topic, ensuring it is removed from the TOC *SHOULD* cause it to no longer be included.
Cheers... Rick

Text coded with conditional build tags still showing up in TOC even if tag is "excluded"

I am using TCS2, Windows XP.
After creating a book in FM and coding with conditional build tags, I imported into RH. When I generate, I have the output tag set:
NOT NoOUtput AND NOT Internal AND NOT Print - I want to generate my External, Online Help webhelp. And it works like a charm. Except that:
In the TOC, I can still see headings for things that are "internal" - when I click on it, they don't go anywhere... but I don't want them to appear in the TOC!!
It seems to be excluded from the index and the search. I am sure I am just missing a step or something...
In looking through the forums I found this... http://forums.adobe.com/message/751847#751847 -- I don't know if it is still applicable since it seems to be referring to RH6 (which is a bit away from RH 8 that I am using)...
Any help is appreciated!
TIA,
Adriana

Hi Daggins,
Thanks - that is good info to have. But as we all agree, that does take away from the point of single-sourcing.
You aren't misunderstsanding exactly... I am doing all my conditional tagging in FM and it works like a charm in terms of the PDFs that I generate from FM, and even the conditionally tagged text in RH shows/hides correctly. The issue is I am also importing my index and TOC from FM... and even if I have an entire file in FM tagged as conditional (all the text is tagged as conditional, I don't know if you can tag a file as conditional), the file name as a heading it still appears in the RH TOC. There is no text... but in my view it shouldn't appear in the TOC either (it looks like just a broken link when I generate my online help) - this is not ideal.

Conditional Build Tags for Text Blocks Applied to Entire File

RoboHelp 8.0.0.203. This post also deals with conditional build tags, but in this case the conditional build tags have been associated with sections of text and text blocks within a topic. The design was implemented originally in RH7 and the project has since been updated with RH8.
For example, you could have three blocks: Purpose, Procedure, Tips, and a Notes block. They are disabled by applying blocks Tag A, Tag B, Tag C, and Tag D respectively. If Tag A is applied to the Purpose, it is cross-hatched in the design window and does not appear upon generation.
The problem is that tags that are seemingly unrelated to blocks, such as Tag C and Tag D, are spontaneously applied to those blocks -- by the software. In fact, they would be spontaneously applied to all of the blocks and text in a some of the files (for no apparent reason), cross-hatching every element and every block of text in the file. When we unapply the tag and store the file, when we re-open the file, the tag is mysteriously re-applied to all the blocks -- again by the software.
Has anyone seen this type of problem in RH8?
Below is further detail about the problem
An example of how tags shold be applied involves a block involving three banners
<div class="banner">
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner A" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-udv_end ?>
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner B" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-udv_end ?>
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner C" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-udv_end ?>
</div>
Under normal conditions, an associated tag would be applied to "unselect" two classifications, thus selecting the third by default. This is done by highlighting the associated banner, right-clicking and selected the "UnselectedBanner" tag, Below, banner C is selected by unselecting Banners A and B. T
<div class="banner">
     <?rh-cbt_start condition="UnselectedBanner"?>
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner A" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-udv_end ?><?rh-cbt_end ?>
     <?rh-cbt_start condition="UnselectedBanner"?>
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner B" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-cbt_end ?><?rh-udv_end ?>
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner C" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-udv_end ?>
</div>
The <?rh-cbt_start condition="UnselectedBanner"?> indicates that the section is de-selected.
Note, that the "<?rh-cbt_end ?><?rh-udv_end ?>" are in opposite order in the example (but that's how it appears in the file).
In the cases where this problme occurs, we the html riddled with "Tag D" and "Tag C" condition tags for all the elements.
<?rh-cbt_start condition="Tag C, Tag D"?><div .......     </div><?rh-cbt_end ?>
I cannot attach any files because these files are on a classified system.
Thank you much.

Hi Tammy
It will also be helpful if everyone that encounters the issue reports as a bug. It's like a voting system. The more reports of bugs that are seen, the more weight is given to the priority. This directly translates to the fix being posted sooner rather than later.
So even though the bug has been "reported", you and others should take a moment and report as well!
Cheers... Rick
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Can I use conditional build tags in CSS files?

I am using RoboHelp X5.0.2 and building CHM files.
I use conditional build tags to output different Help files
for the different products we have that all have similarities.
In the past I have setup the CSS file to show headers, links
etc in the color scheme we use to keep the look and feel of our
branding. One of the new products uses a different branding color
scheme.
I was wondering if there is a way I can use conditional build
tags in the CSS file so that when I build one type of help it uses
header in one color and when I build another help it uses a
different header color. Does anyone know how to do this? If it is
not possible in my current version, is it possible in the latest
version of Robohelp?

[WORKAROUND ALERT IN X502]
For .chm output, you could:
1. In the Topics pane, select all the topics (click on one
topic and press Ctrl+A).
2. Right click in the highlighted area and select Properties.
3. In the Appearance tab, select the different style sheet.
4. Click Save.
5. Generate the .chm file.
6. (optional) Repeat steps 1-4 to revert to previous style
sheet setting.
Good luck,
Leon

Conditional build tag for folders

I was told this might be a new feature in coming updates but
have not seen an update in about 4 years (glad i didn't buy the
maintenance) - does anyone know a way to edit core files to enable
a folder to link a conditional build tag without code being
rewritten when you generate a new file set?
Thanks,
Steve

Hi Steve
Believe it or not, Adobe is hard at work on a new version of
RoboHelp to make an appearance some time next year. Maybe there
will be a feature that allows different ways of applying
conditional tagging. If you want to be sure this suggestion reaches
Adobe, you can click the link below and submit a Wish Form.
Click
here to visit the Wish Form
Note that if topics are excluded, they don't appear in the
output. So essentially, if you apply conditions to all topics
inside a folder and all are excluded via the build expression, that
folder is effectively moot.
Sincerely... Rick

Conditional Build Tags - How Many is Too Many?

Has anyone ever run into problems generating a project because of too many conditional build tags? I'm new to this and considering using quite a few in a particular project - unless I find that overuse will compromise the project on the backend. I'd really like to find that out before I put the work in. Thanks!

Hi there
From the simple standpoint of ease of use, I'd say you want to limit the number to as few as you can.
Can you tell us more about why you are using them? I ask because later versions of RoboHelp offer things that help us out in this area. You may well discover you don't need build tags at all. But we will reserve that judgment until after we know more.
What version of RoboHelp are you using? What RoboFlavor?
You may wish to give the link below a once over.
Click here to view
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day!
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Conditional Build Tags Bugs

Hello,
I have problems with Conditional Build Tags since I upgraded from RH7 to RH9 .
I am using the following software:
Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3.
Version control software (RoboSource Control 3.1) as we share projects between 3 authors
And I mainly work in wysywyg view.
When I open a project on my PC, the conditional build tags I've defined in a topic apply themselves unwanted and randomly.
The deletion of conditional build tags from the topic Properties > Advanced tab > Content-level tags > Remove button does not work properly. The selected tag is removed only for the paragraph pointed by the mouse cursor. When I navigate down in my document, this tag is still present on other paragraphs.
Sometimes, I must switch to the html view to remove the tags manually.
I noticed that a thread has seent on May 5, 2011, for which Peter Grainge gave a link to a TechNote with a fix. I tried to access this TechNote, unsuccessfully.
I also read that Adobe RoboHelp Service Release 9.0.1 is intended to fix the following: CBT gets applied randomly in topic content on switching between the HTML view and the Design view in certain scenarios.
However, my scenario is completely different as CBT gets applied randomly when OPENING the project in WYSYWYG.
Moreover, my administrator told me he has already downloaded this release.
With single sources, our team produces online helps for various versions and products. This situation is very uncomfortable for me, and my colleagues, as the produced documentation may contain bad information for a version or a product or may miss information. My work is not reliable.
Has anyone encountered this situation and found a solution?
Thanks for your help.

Hi Peter,
Thanks for your help.
Effectively, the patch was not installed.
I ran the update and did not need any passwords to do it. The About RoboHelp HTML now shows 9.0.1.232. However, the version of the PolarisProjectFile.dll still shows 9.0.0.228. Is this normal?
The IT administrator is sure to have downloaded this release. He thinks something got wrong during the downloading process and that it failed.
This release solved some of my problems:
I opened again the projects in which I identified that tags were messed up.
- For some, tags were still messed up. I had to fix them again manually. I checked them in and re-opened them. They were clean.
- For others, they re-opened with tags properly assigned (miraculously).
I do not understand these differences in behavior.
I do not feel confident when I open a project. We manage so many topics that it is impossible to identify those in which tags are messed up. How can I be sure that tags are correctly assigned? It is so an uncomfortable situation !
Moreover, I identified another problems yesterday.
I wanted to open a project that another member of the team upgraded to RH9 last week. RH9 proposed me to upgrade it.
A member of the team wanted to open a project that I upgraded on my PC. RH9 proposed her to upgrade it.
We removed these projects from our local directories and used the Open project from Version Control again. And it was OK.
This situation should not occur. What do you think?
The other members of the team have the patch 9.01.232 (and the same version of dll as me).
The IT thinks that these problems are linked with my user account.
Historically, Windows XP was installed in French on my PC whereas my colleagues were in English.
As I had so many problems after upgrading to RH9, my Windows XP is now in English.
However, I keep having problems (those mentioned in this discussion).
The solution proposed now is to change my machine for a new one.
Could this be really the final solution?
Do you have any opinion on this matter?
Thanks for your help.

Conditional Build Tags...weird behavior?

If I apply a conditional build tag to a topic from the TOC
tab, the topic gets included in the output even if I have specified
that tag to be excluded.
However, if I apply the same conditional build tag to a topic
from the Project tab, then the topic gets excluded (as expected)
from the output because I have specified that tag to be excluded.
Is this inconsistency in behavior by design? I looked at the
RoboHelp Help, and it appears there is nothing wrong with adding
conditional build tags to topics from the TOC tab.
Can someone shed light on this? I am using Adobe RoboHelp
HTML 6, Build 099.
Thanks,
K
P.S.: It appears RoboHelp is completely ignoring the
conditional build tags that I am adding to topics from the TOC tab.
If I see these tagged topics from the Project tab or the Topics
tab, there is no color shading for these topics. The color shading
for the topics shows only if I tag the topics from the Project Tab
or the Topics tab.

Here's a copy-paste from the RH Help...It didn't explain
things the way you did. :-(
Applying conditional build tags to Table of Contents
Use conditional build tags to design and create multiple
versions of your project from a single set of source files. After
creating the conditional build tag, you can apply it to both books
and pages in the TOC for maximum control over the final results.
From the TOC view, you can apply conditional build tags to Topics
also. When you generate a project, you can define conditional build
expressions to include or exclude the book or page in the TOC, from
the output.
Show Me
Use this procedure to apply conditional build tags to books
and pages in the TOC. When you exclude such a tag from your output,
the book or page in the TOC, is not included in the output.
To apply a conditional build tag to a book or page in the
TOC:
Option 1:
Create the conditional build tag.
Click the TOC tab to view the Topic list.
Select a book or page to which you want to apply a
conditional build tag.
Right-click and select Apply Conditional Build Tag, and
choose the Tag you want to apply. The tag is applied to the
selected book or page.
When you generate the project, you can define conditional
build expressions to include or exclude the tagged books or pages
in the TOC, from the output. (A TOC to which a tag has not been
applied, will be included in the output.)
Option 2:
Create the conditional build tag.
Click the TOC tab to view the Topic list.
Select the book or page to which you want to apply a
conditional build tag.
From the Format menu, select Apply Conditional Build Tag, and
then choose a tag. The conditional build tag is applied to the
selected book or page in the TOC.
When you generate the project, you can define conditional
build expressions to include or exclude tagged books or pages in
the TOC, from the output. (A TOC to which a tag has not been
applied, will be included in the output.)
To apply multiple tags:
From the Format menu, select Apply Conditional Build Tag, and
choose New/Multiple. The Conditional Build Tag dialog box appears.
Click Check All to apply all the tags, or select specific
tags to apply to the book or page in the TOC.
Click OK.
If your project is under version control, these steps may
include more options. Click here for more information.
Tips:
You can also apply conditional build tags to topics, topic
content, folders, and Index.
To verify the tags applied to topics, topic areas, TOC, and
Index, or rename a tag, or change the color of a tag, click the
Project tab, expand the Conditional Build Tags folder, and
double-click the tag. You can make the desired changes in the
Conditional Build Tag Properties dialog box.
Ensure that you remove textual references to the excluded
book or page, such as text links, which refer to the tagged book or
page in the TOC. (Hotspots are not active for excluded topics.)
If you generate Printed Documentation, TOC with Conditional
Build tags are not excluded from printing.

Conditional build tags applied to topic but it still displays in my TOC?

I have applied topic level conditional build tags to topics.
The corresponding books are still being displayed in my TOC. I
checked the 4 topics and the condition is applied at the topic
level. What am I missing here?

Hi Renee
If I recall correctly, you were also using Conditional
tagging on almost everything in the TOC too.
It's worth noting that:
1. Sometimes the tagging will conflict and you won't get the
results you were expecting
2. Any topic inside a book should disappear if you are
tagging at topic level. But the book will remain if at least one
topic linked to a page inside the book wasn't excluded and remains.
Cheers... Rick

Conditional build tags for TOC in Robohelp X5

HI, Can we apply conditional build tags for TOC in robohelp
X5. I know this feature exists in robohelp X6 and x7. But as i am
working on x5, i want to know whether we can apply conditional
build tags for TOC. if yes, whats the process?

Hello again Abraham
Okay, so you have a book named Privileges. It is linked to a
topic named the same, right? And inside this book is a book named
Billing. I'm guessing your TOC structure would look like this:
* Privileges
**** Billing
******** Topic one
******** Topic two
You seem confused that the Privileges book doesn't disappear
when you exclude the Privileges topic. If that were to happen,
would you also want the Billing book and all topics inside to
disappear? Because if the Privileges book were to be removed,
anything and everything inside the book would also be removed.
Indeed to remove a book you need to coax all topics linked
inside (or inside sub books) to disappear too.
Cheers... Rick

Conditional Build tags affecting formatting and merging hyperlinks

I'm working in RH6 on a number of projects. In all of them I use a specific caption box/format combination for tips and notes. I also use a conditional build tag so I can generate a 'lite' versions of full help, suitable for printing. I note that on occasions, when I apply the build tag, I lose the formatting on the text - or the entire formatting of the text is applied where I don't want it applied.
Wrose, still, I find that applying a build tag to a list of hyperlinks can merge the link addresses so they all point to the same area, which is pretty disastrous.
Is this a bug Adobe know about? Is it fixed in 7 or 8?
Any advice appreciated.
Robin

Hi again
Well, I wasn't suggesting it wasn't a bug.
I suppose it's quite likely that something is getting munged. Actually, I think that's rather obvious as it's happening to you.
I think perhaps the editor is becoming confused. I believe the way these things are handled is by using some specially formatted span tags to apply the CBTs.
By the way, these new forums now support screen captures. So we no longer have to resort to a reasonable facsimile using only text.
Sorry I don't really have a workaround to offer here. At this point I'm as puzzled as you are.
Cheers... Rick
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Conditional Build Tags Break Links

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