Conditional Build Tags Generated All Over Topics in RoboHelp 9 (HTML)

I'm creating a help system and user manual using RoboHelp 9. The whole thing depends very heavily upon the conditional build tags. (Some parts are online and others are only for the print version of the manual.)
Here's my problem: When I go back to topics I've already created, the tags are automatically generated in the wrong parts of the topic. The error lies in how RoboHelp is generating the HTML behind the scenes. (This was verified by one of our in-house developers who was thoroughly amused with RoboHelp's attempt at writing HTML.) I'm at my wits end. We have tried generating a new help system, only importing images from the old help system. It worked fine for awhile, but then the same problem cropped up. Is this some sort of bug? Is there a setting that I'm overlooking?
I'm officially at my wits end. Help.

Never seen what you're describing - when you tag text in a topic with a CBT, it stays stuck to it - there's no auto generation of CBTs. When you create your help, you specify what to show & what to hide in your SSL layout recipe.

Similar Messages

Conditional Build Tags Bug

I have several problems with RoboHelp9. I am using Windows7 and 64bit. This is the one causing the most trouble.
Conditional build tags apply themselves unwanted and unassigned.
The deletion of conditional build tags at the topic properties tag (right side window) does not work.
I have to repeatedly go back and forth to the dialog and keep selecting and deleting.
Some of the conditional build tags go clear, most don't.
I go into the topic directly in the wysiwyg view and manually try to select and delete them, and they delete only with difficulty.
After running through a long topic and using every method available to clear conditional build tags, I saved the project, then went in to manually apply cbtags, of which I am only using two.
After applying them, and switching to the html window to adjust image sizes manually (because thru the wysiwyg interface the process takes too long), I find that the conditional build tag I applied to several tables and texts at the top of my topic have now applied themselves unasked to a number of the texts and even tables which I had cleared of all cbtags.
I have just about had it with this program.
This is only one of the many problems and bugs I have found and been trying to work around.
I suppose that the solution to my problem is to not use conditional build tags at all, but I am working with about five years' worth of legacy technical documents that have all been upgraded to RH9 and as I am looking at them to make the standard revisions, I am noticing this phenomenon of wrongly applied cbtags in other projects.
I would rate this as a bug of very high and critical importance.
Has anyone seen this under the consitions stated? (RH9, upgraded RH7 projects, Windows7, 64bit).

Sorry, I should have said see the Announcements.
http://forums.adobe.com/community/robohelp/robohelp_general_discussion
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Easily remove in-line Conditional Build Tags?

I'm wondering if there's an easy way to remove all Conditional Build Tags (CBT) inside a topic. Has anyone come up with a quick way to do this?
The problem I'm running into is I want to remove some CBTs on some list items. But it's not easy to remove the CBTs because the right-click menu item to deselect the CBT is grayed out unless I select a certain sub-set of the list just right. Sometimes this even happens on a single sentence. I have to select a part of the sentence and remove that part first and then the other part. It seems due to in-line formatting that's affecting this. I'm hoping there's an easier way. Any scripts out there that do this?
I can probably figure out how to do it in Notepad++ with regular expression pattern matching, but that's a hassle if there's an easier solution.
I'm using RH 9.02.271.

If you right click in a paragraph you should see either Remove Attribute or Remove Attributes.
If Remove Attribute and the attribute is a CBT, then Rh will remove it cleanly.
If Remove Attributes, when you click the option you will get a dialog and can select the span tags you want removed.
Not quite what you want but it does work cleanly.
Back up first though just in case you remove too much.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

How to apply conditional build tags to the topic title that is displayed in Search tab of CHM?

I have the project in which 2 different words are used to reffer to one objects (this word/term depends on the customer). All other information related to functionality, steps, etc. are common. So:
In the help content (body of the files), I created 2 conditional build tags (CBT) for these terms.
In TOC, if topic title contains the term, I created 2 different topics reffered to the single topic file, but the title of the topic shows correct term (depends on CBT).
File names of this topics contain only term1.
The problem occurs when I generate CHM for CBT2 and search for the term1 (marked with CBT1) using the Search tab. All occurrencies where term1 presence in the file name, appear in the found results.
How can I resolve the issue?
These topics must be found by search (that's why "Exclude from search" option is not a decision).

Ahhh, you are correct. I believe it was Version 10 introduced that.
So here's what I'd suggest. Even though you are unable to use a variable in a Topic Title, it can still be used in other places such as the TOC, the Index and in the Topic content. So I'd still recommend that you declare and use a variable for those items. Just to simplify things.
As for any topics that have the term in the title, you could create two topics. One with the term one way and the other with the term the opposite way. Then use a Conditional Build Tag to exclude and remove the one that shouldn't be found.
This may cause you a bit of a maintenance issue by having the same topic content in more than one place. (one for each topic)
So to overcome that, you would be able to add the main body information to a topic and use an Inline Frame in the two topics that would then simply be shells with appropriate Topic Titles. Either that or declare a snippet and use the snippet in both topics. Put the main part in the snippet.
Cheers... Rick

Topic and content level conditional build tags

What is the difference between a topic level and a content
level conditional build tag? Why would you select one over the
other? How do you select one over the other.

First let me point out that the same conditional build tag
can be applied at either the topic level or the content level. It
sounds like you may be thinking that you have to create a tag as
for either the content or topic level.
Apply a tag at the topic level when you want the entire topic
excluded from a certain output. Do this by right-clicking on a
topic in your Project Manager, going to Apply Conditional Build
Tag, and selecting the tag.
Apply a tag at the content level (text, images) when you want
the topic to be included but want specific content to be excluded
from a certain output. Apply a tag at this level by selecting the
text and/or images that you want to apply the tag to,
right-clicking, going to Apply Conditional Build Tag, and picking
the tag.
Note that you wouldn't use a tag at the topic level on a
topic where you have used that same tag at the content level, and
vice versa.
Generally, the idea of build tags is to set an output to
exclude certain tags, but you can also set outputs to include tags
instead, which then excludes all other tags.
--Ben

Conditional Build Tags - Problems when generating content

Hi,
Just wanted to print 4 pages of a long help project so I added conditional build tags called 'ad-hoc' and created a Printed Doc SSL where ad-hoc was the conditional build value.
When I generate the document I am getting everything still though. Am I being particularly thick today?
I tried tagging everything 'online' and then adding the ad-hoc tag to the pages building the condition as 'online' AND 'ad-hoc' but then got nothing.
Help appreciated as ever.
Nick.
@Tompsk on Twitter.

I don't think the One Off Print tag is needed. If you apply Generic to all topics, then remove it from a few before generating online help with NOT GENERIC applied, you will get only the topics from which you removed the tag. No need to apply another one.
If you wanted to print, then forget tags, just have a print layout where you only select those topics you want in.
Print works the opposite way to online. Print you have to include, online you have to exclude.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
Follow me @petergrainge

In RH9, random conditional build tags appear within topic text

I have assigned conditional build tags to text within a topic. After closing the topic and re-entering at a later time, other (additional) text now has the conditional build tag assigned as well. However, I did not assign the tags to those other sections of text.
I do not have any trouble assigning a conditional build tag at the topic level. The issue only occurs when a tag has been assigned to text within a topic.

There is another thread running on this. See http://forums.adobe.com/thread/58834?tstart=0
I am locking this thread so that all replies go to the one above.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

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...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/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

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!
Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training
SorcerStone Blog
RoboHelp eBooks

Conditional Build Tags

I have been having an issue with conditional build tags. I
have a project that has 8 different build tags created. Recently I
have been generating the output (webhelp files) and topics that
have been tagged as (lets say) A are showing, in part, in other SSL
files. As an example, if I have 30 files tagged with A, then when I
generate SSL #1, 5 A-tagged topics may appear, generate SSL#2, 2
A-tagged topics may appear and so on.
This problem has only just come up, I've been working on this
project for a year and all tagging was working well. I read in
forum groups that the tagging doesn't like to have space in the
names so I removed mine and re-generated everything, only to have
the same problems.
Has anyone experienced this, and is there a fix for
it?

Hi Rick,
No. The tagging did work, then at some point, I discovered
that topics were being generated into Help sets, but the topics
were not tagged to go into those Help sets.
So today I decided to delete the 6 offending topics. I opened
my version of RH (5.0) and deleted the files, when I got to the
last file and hit delete the software crashed. I opened up the
project again, to find that the files are still there but now have
a red X on the left side of the topic name. I can not open these
files and the error message reads that the file does not exist. I
called adobe to ask how I can get rid of the files. They tell me to
check the project out of version control and remove the files and
check it back in.
Have you heard of this happening and do you know what the
solution might be?
Sheila (sadang)

Conditional Build Tags cause RH9 AIRHelp crash

I have seen multiple posts about system crashes when using RoboHelp HTML and conditional build tags. Is anyone having the same problem using build tags with RH9 and AIR Help output? I have tried different combinations of build tags, a single build tag, as well as different project topics. All cause RoboHelp 9 to crash when generating AIR Help. Any suggestions? Is this a reported bug?

Hi there, this sounds somewhat like the issue I have with generating WebHelp, which I've posted here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/3813225#3813225
I can't seem to find other posts that relate to this, and you mentioned other posts at the start of yours. Can you reply with links? I would appreciate your time.
Thanks,
Michelle

Conditional Build Tags Generated All Over Topics in RoboHelp 9 (HTML)

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for