Toggle jump - in reverse?

Please post all questions and comments regarding Help & Manual 7 here.

Moderators: Alexander Halser, Tim Green

User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23156
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Toggle jump - in reverse?

Unread post by Tim Green »

Dave Gehman wrote:Maybe because it's NOT dynamic, by the time the text reaches the Web, the snippet contents are already in place in both the tutorial and the Concept uses of the snippet?
Exactly. Your output is completely assembled in the publishing process. When you use snippets, they are only dynamic while you are working in Help+Manual. When you publish, the snippets in every topic become part of the output and there is no difference between their text and the rest of the text in the topic. Effectively, both linked snippets and copy/paste snippets become identical in the output.
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.
User avatar
Martin Wynne
Posts: 2656
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 3:21 pm
Location: West of the Severn, UK

Re: Toggle jump - in reverse?

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Dave Gehman wrote:But I'm still unclear how that works with WebHelp. Maybe because it's NOT dynamic, by the time the text reaches the Web, the snippet contents are already in place in both the tutorial and the Concept uses of the snippet?
Hi Dave,

I think you need to explain again what you are trying to do. At what stage in the creation and editing of a Webhelp project, and its appearance on the end user's screen, do you want the text to change dynamically?

What I described 2 options for, exactly provides the functionality you requested in your first post.

If you want me to write a bit of script for you, I'm happy to do that. But you need to provide some sample text showing the links, etc.

Are you wanting HTML-based output (Webhelp, CHM, EWriter) only, or also PDF?

cheers,

Martin.
Last edited by Martin Wynne on Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dave Gehman
Posts: 575
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:05 pm

Re: Toggle jump - in reverse?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Tim Green wrote: In my experience, the more detail you provide the less it tends to get read and the more people just ask support for a quick explanation instead, which is also self-defeating. 8)
Indeed, yes. We're trying to walk a tightrope - enough conceptual stuff in the docs to help, but not so lengthy it isn't read. Fortunately, our audience is engineers who are used to having in-depth stuff thrown at them.

Meanwhile - the model:
snippet CONTENT here in Tutorial | snippet CONTENT here in Concepts section | snippet SOURCE here in Snippet Project

Does this work in WebHelp? I'm thinking it would if the contents of the first two snippets are embedded in the HTML + files that make up WebHelp. That way, they don't dynamically dig into the SOURCE, they already have the content. Right?
Dave Gehman
Posts: 575
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:05 pm

Re: Toggle jump - in reverse?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Martin Wynne wrote:I think you need to explain again what you are trying to do.
Flow of docs:
Part 1 - tutorial
Part 2 - more or less in depth look at concepts

In Part 1, I'd like a quick-hit, non-detailed paragraph when it makes sense to give the tutorial jockey an option to see a little more depth
In Part 2, we want the quick-hit paragraph, but only as in intro... and more will be discussed later in the concept topic
At what stage in the creation and editing of a Webhelp project, and its appearance on the end user's screen, do you want the text to change dynamically?
I'm not sure I do want a dynamic change. I DO want the dynamic drop-down / roll-up function of the Toggle, and that seems to be working.
What I described 2 options for, exactly provides the functionality you requested in your first post.

If you want me to write a bit of script for you, I'm happy to do that. But you need to provide some sample text showing the links, etc.
Very generous of you. We just don't have time to edit on the code level. There will be a slight hiatus after May 15th where I get enough breathing room to learn how to root around in H+M's innards. Thanks anyway.
Dave Gehman
Posts: 575
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:05 pm

Re: Toggle jump - in reverse?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Tim Green wrote:Your output is completely assembled in the publishing process. When you use snippets, they are only dynamic while you are working in Help+Manual. When you publish, the snippets in every topic become part of the output and there is no difference between their text and the rest of the text in the topic. Effectively, both linked snippets and copy/paste snippets become identical in the output.
Excellent. We're making this work.

Many thanks for your and Martin's hand-holding.
Post Reply