Problem with breadcrumbs

[Dag Velovic]

Hi everyone,

I have an issue with breadcrumbs functionality.
In reference to http://www.helpandmanual.com/help/hm_ad ... topics.htm, I changed my Default template to look like this:

...
<!-- Placeholder for topic body. -->
<table style="width:100%;border:none;border-spacing:0px"><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding:5px">
<IF_TOPIC_BREADCRUMBS><p style="font-size: 8pt; margin-bottom: 15px">
<%TOPIC_BREADCRUMBS%> > <%TOPIC_TITLE%></p></IF_TOPIC_BREADCRUMBS>
<%TOPIC_TEXT%>
</td></tr></table>
...

For reasons unknown to me, the result is a fixed breadcrumb trail, as shown below:


To be noted that I am not using the <%TOPIC_TITLE_PATH%> variable, which should get inactive links.
Fixed breadcrumb links show on CHM and / or HTML export.

Am I missing something?
Any ideas?


EDIT:
For testing purposes I created a new empty HM project, copy / pasted the same code to Default template.
After publishing it as webhelp the breadcrumbs are working OK.
It seems that I have some other problems with my project file and / or template file.
Will try to investigate forther.
Thanks anyway.

[Tim Green]

Hi Dag,

What do you mean by "fixed" here? The screenshot shows that the breadcrumbs are being generated exactly as you have defined them. The <%TOPIC_BREADCRUMBS%> variable adds active links to all topics above the current topic in the TOC tree. The > entity adds the > character, and the <%TOPIC_TITLE%> variable adds the title of the current topic as plain text. What would you like to have different in this result?

[Dag Velovic]

Hello Tim,

Thanks for answering.
Let me fix my terminology...

The breadcrumbs are generating OK, but the links are not created as hyperlinks, they are not "clickable".
Basically, I end up with a line of normal text.

As said, on a new project this works OK, so I have to to some additional testing. The only difference between new project Default template and this one, is that I additionally added 3 different arrow graphics for navigation. Will do some additional testing and revert.

[Dag Velovic]

After some testing / comparing of html files between clean "new" project and the old one, I find out:

AA) the new clean project shows breadcrumbs totally OK. Source of the test page ( "a href" etc. ):
...
<!-- Placeholder for topic body. -->
<table style="width:100%;border:none;border-spacing:0px"><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding:5px">
<p style="font-size: 8pt; margin-bottom: 15px">
<a href="chapter_2.htm">Chapter 2</a> > <a href="sub_chapter_2_1.htm">Sub chapter 2.1</a> > New topic</p><p>Enter topic text here.</p>

</td></tr></table>
...


BB) most of my project source looks like this ( no "a href" ):
...
<!-- Placeholder for topic body. -->
<table style="width:100%;border:none;border-spacing:0px"><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding:5px">
<p style="font-size: 8pt; margin-bottom: 15px">
Working with SM > QHSE > Safety Management Reporting </p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
...


CC) also, in my one of my project html files I fount out that the last link is working ( "Main window" in this case )
...
<!-- Placeholder for topic body. -->
<table style="width:100%;border:none;border-spacing:0px"><tr style="vertical-align:top"><td style="text-align:left;padding:5px">
<p style="font-size: 8pt; margin-bottom: 15px">
Working with SM > QHSE > Safety Management Reporting > <a href="main_window_safety_management_reporting.htm">Main window</a> </p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
...

I opened both projects in 2 instances of HM application, and compared all check-boxes, selections etc. Everything is identical ( except content ).
I will try to do some more tests.

[Tim Green]

Hi Dag,

You still haven't explained what the problem is, so it's difficult to provide a meaningful answer...

From what you write, I am guessing that the problem might be that some of the breadcrumb links are not active links. This will happen if you have chapters without text in your table of contents, and that is completely normal. A chapter without text is a chapter in the contents that does not link to a topic -- it is just a node in the contents. It is not possible to link to them because there is nothing to link to. A TOC entry is really just a link to a topic, and if it doesn't have a topic there is nothing to link to.

Avoid chapters without text because they confuse users and provide a bad browsing experience. Also, they are actually forbidden in some formats, like eBooks.

[Dag Velovic]

Dear Tim,

As always, you have nailed it !!
Thanks a lot.
I can confirm that breadcrumbs links are present as active links ( chm + html ).

As per your advice, I changed all chapters which were "without text" to chapters "with text".
Thanks again.