Missing titles in PDF

[jrhaddad]

Hello,

I am having a problem with PDF publishing. It started when I stopped using "Topic has a separate header" option and included the H1 titles in the text, in H&M 6.

Titles of sub-chapters without text don't show in the PDF. I had to adjust the document templates in HMDesigner.exe because the title were doubled.

I have attached some pictures that try to describe the problem.


Thank you.

Regards,

Jean-Robert

[Tim Green]

Hi Jean-Robert,

Basically, the titles are missing in your PDF because you have deleted them. In your Topics section of your PDF template you have deleted the contents of all the topic header bands except the one for top-level topics. What this does is say, "Do not display a header for this topic". But you have left the bands visible, because their height is greater than zero, so they still create empty space in the place where the header would normally go.

What you need to do is insert text objects with <%HEADINGx%> (caption from the TOC in your project) or <%HEADINGLOGx%> (longer title from the topic header box, if it is longer) variables in the bands for each level for which you want headings to appear in your PDF. The variable number MUST match the topic level/band number. For example, only use <%HEADING1%> in band 1 (as you are already doing), <%HEADING3%> in band 3, and so on.

[jrhaddad]

Hello Tim,

Well, I deleted them on purpose because if I don't, they are doubled. I assume this is because they are now in the text itself, as you can see from my previous screenshots.

See 2 attached screenshots of the result if I add back the titles in the template.


Thanks!


Jean-Robert

[Tim Green]

Well, I deleted them on purpose because if I don't, they are doubled

If that is happening it means that you probably accidentally have the header box turned off in your topics, and that you have compensated for this error by including the headings in the body of your topic. This will give you double headings in PDF because the PDF topic heading text is being taken from the TOC caption. (It only takes it from the header box if you use the <%HEADINGLONGx%> variant of the header variables.)

What you need to do is either re-activate the header box in your topics (check box on the left below the topic editor area), or delete the duplicate topic headings from the body of your topic. Turning the header bands off in the PDF template is not a good option.

[jrhaddad]

Hi Tim,

As I mentioned in my initial post, yes I turned off the separated topic header. This is because I prefer the HTML manuals without them. Since this is an option so easily available, I dd not suspect it would cause problems later with PDF manuals.

It is rather common to have the topic headers in the text such as in this manual : https://developers.google.com/places/do ... on/details

This is what I would like to have in our manuals. Here is one of our manuals : http://doc.k2geospatial.com/jmap/doc/6.0/admin/fr/

I don't know id this is related, but I created my own header styles (with different names), different from the default styles.

If I don't want separate topic headers in HTML and I want the headers in the topic, what are my options? Could I tell H&M not to include the headers in the PDF version and re-enable them in the PDF template?

We have many manuals in many languages that all use that pattern. Thanks for your help.


Jean-Robert

[Tim Green]

Hi Jean-Robert,

If I don't want separate topic headers in HTML and I want the headers in the topic, what are my options? Could I tell H&M not to include the headers in the PDF version and re-enable them in the PDF template?

Yes, you can use conditional output tags for this. Select the header you have entered manually in the body of your topic and then select the Conditional Text tool in Write > Insert Object (IF icon) and select IFNOT and PDF. Then it will be included in all output formats except PDF. Then re-eanble the heading bands in the Topics section of your PDF template and the headings will reappear in your PDF, without the internal headings from the topics.

[jrhaddad]

I will try that.

Thank you.


Jean-Robert