Skins, Publishing, Batch Files & Skin Include Options

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John R.
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Skins, Publishing, Batch Files & Skin Include Options

Unread post by John R. »

Hi,

I have just started to use skins and have a couple of questions.

BACKGROUND:
1. I'm using H+M Pro v7.3.2 Build 4260 on Windows 7 /32 and /64.
2. I've been using H+M since v3, so ....
3. I typically use batch & ini files to generate the desired help files, which are primarily .chm and .pdf files.
4. In the past I have edited / customized the HTML and Manual templates to insert customizations, which are now mostly available in skins, hence the switch to using skins.
5. I occassionally move the help project to a different directory and / or computer. Using batch and ini files makes it easy to use a text editor, such as NP++, to do a bulk find and replace to update all of the paths.
6. In a new help project I am using the CHM Skin, "Dark Blue Header, Feature Images.hmskin" skin.

THE QUESTIONS:

1. Is there a way to include the skin option to display a print button when using batch / ini files? (Note: I do realize that passing a "Task" on the command line will do this, BUT this means that every time that I move the project I will have to manually edit each of the tasks.)

2. Is there a way to use "relative paths" when specifying the destination of the help files in a task? (Note: I typically want the chm or pdf file to be in the parent directory of the help project.)

3. When using the "Dark Blue Header, Feature Images.hmskin" skin and setting toggles to be "blue and underlined" the result is a dull red colored toggle when published, but not in the editor. The color reminds me of the color often used for links that have previously been clicked.

4. Is there a way to get a list of ALL of the predefined variables in a skin. For example, is there a variable that is used to define the toggle color?

Regards,
John
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Tim Green
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Re: Skins, Publishing, Batch Files & Skin Include Options

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi John,
1. Is there a way to include the skin option to display a print button when using batch / ini files? (Note: I do realize that passing a "Task" on the command line will do this, BUT this means that every time that I move the project I will have to manually edit each of the tasks.)
Yes, you just need to get the name of the custom build option from the skin and add it to your /I= switch in the command line (remember to always include the current output format as the first include. A skin is really just a regular HM project without topics and with reduced configuration options. and it can be edited in exactly the same way. Open the .hmskin file in Help+Manual, go to Configuration > Miscellaneous > Custom Builds and you will see all the build tags listed in the leftmost columns, with the descriptions displayed in the skin include options on the right. What you need is the tag, in upper case exactly as it is shown.
2. Is there a way to use "relative paths" when specifying the destination of the help files in a task? (Note: I typically want the chm or pdf file to be in the parent directory of the help project.)
When using command line output the source folder of the project you are compiling is set as the relative path reference. So you can use relative paths relative to that.
3. When using the "Dark Blue Header, Feature Images.hmskin" skin and setting toggles to be "blue and underlined" the result is a dull red colored toggle when published, but not in the editor. The color reminds me of the color often used for links that have previously been clicked.
That's exactly what it is -- that's the color of links that have been visited at least once. You can change this by adding the following CSS lines to the <style> ... </style> block of code in Configuration > HTML Page Templates > Default in the skin:

Code: Select all

a.inline-toggle {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.inline-toggle:visited {color: blue;}
a.inline-toggle:hover {color: blue; }
a.dropdown-toggle {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.dropdown-toggle:visited {color: blue;}
a.dropdown-toggle:hover {color: blue; }
That is for pretty standard settings, but you can adjust it as you like. Generally, however, it is better to turn off the standard underlines for toggle links. Use a style and the icons option instead. For completeness, here is the full list of link types you can style like this:

Code: Select all

a.topiclink {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.topiclink:visited {color: blue;}
a.topiclink:hover {color: blue; }
a.weblink {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.weblink:visited {color: blue;}
a.weblink:hover {color: blue; }
a.popuplink {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.popuplink:visited {color: blue;}
a.popuplink:hover {color: blue; }
a.filelink {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.filelink:visited {color: blue;}
a.filelink:hover {color: blue; }
a.scriptlink{color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.scriptlink:visited {color: blue;}
a.scriptlink:hover {color: blue;}
a.inline-toggle {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.inline-toggle:visited {color: blue;}
a.inline-toggle:hover {color: blue; }
a.dropdown-toggle {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.dropdown-toggle:visited {color: blue;}
a.dropdown-toggle:hover {color: blue; }
4. Is there a way to get a list of ALL of the predefined variables in a skin. For example, is there a variable that is used to define the toggle color?
Just edit the skin in Help+Manual and look in Configuration > Common Properties > Text Variables.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
John R.
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:49 pm
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: Skins, Publishing, Batch Files & Skin Include Options

Unread post by John R. »

Tim,

I didn't expect the "printbutton" to be a build include option - issue resolved.

I'll take a more careful look at the css coding and have no doubt this will be resolved.

The "relative directories" question is still a MINOR issue. To test it in the Publish Format dialog / page change the "Output File" to "..\myproject.chm". The resulting chm file will be located in the same directory as the myproject.hmxz file rather than it's parent directory.

As regards conditional variables where can one obtain a list of conditionals such as "IFNOT_EBOOK", etc.?

Thanks again for you help.

Regards,
John
John R.
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:49 pm
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: Skins, Publishing, Batch Files & Skin Include Options

Unread post by John R. »

Tim,

I didn't expect the "printbutton" to be a build include option - issue resolved.

I'll take a more careful look at the css coding and have no doubt this will be resolved.

The "relative directories" question is still a MINOR issue. To test it in the Publish Format dialog / page change the "Output File" to "..\myproject.chm". The resulting chm file will be located in the same directory as the myproject.hmxz file rather than it's parent directory.

As regards conditional variables where can one obtain a list of conditionals such as "IFNOT_EBOOK", etc.?

Thanks again for your help.

Regards,
John
User avatar
Tim Green
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Posts: 23153
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
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Re: Skins, Publishing, Batch Files & Skin Include Options

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi John,

You can't enter relative paths in the output field in Publish page. You gave the impression you were referring to command line publishing.
where can one obtain a list of conditionals such as "IFNOT_EBOOK", etc.?
http://www.helpandmanual.com/help/index ... ndline.htm
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
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