Relative Paths in Master Documents

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

Moderators: Alexander Halser, Tim Green

Post Reply
DeWayne Rosene
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:34 pm

Relative Paths in Master Documents

Unread post by DeWayne Rosene »

I copied a master document, used for WebHelp, to a new directory with the intention of progressively copying and updating the content of individual "included projects" into the new working directory. I was hoping the references to the original "included projects" would continue to work until they are eventually all replaced. It seems that the references use "relative paths" which of course break when the master is relocated. The PP Toolbox appears to let me edit individual project paths in the master, but they do not resolve properly after being saved. Is there somewhere I can edit the included project paths so the originals will function until I replace them?
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23153
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Relative Paths in Master Documents

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi DeWayne,

Unfortunately, child project references are currently hard-coded in master projects and don't use the project search path settings. When you move a master project you need to delete the child project references and re-insert them in the new locations. We plan to improve this in a future update.

You can avoid this by having your child projects in sub-folders of the master project folder. Then you can move the entire tree without having to change any references by moving the master project folder with all its sub-folders.
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.
DeWayne Rosene
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2012 6:34 pm

Re: Relative Paths in Master Documents

Unread post by DeWayne Rosene »

It's been a little while, I'm curious if anything has changed on this subject. You are probably going to answer V8! I should have asked if the list of project search paths, which are clearly maintained somewhere in the Webhelp source, is in a file that I can hack?
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23153
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Relative Paths in Master Documents

Unread post by Tim Green »

DeWayne Rosene wrote: Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:13 pm It's been a little while, I'm curious if anything has changed on this subject. You are probably going to answer V8! I should have asked if the list of project search paths, which are clearly maintained somewhere in the Webhelp source, is in a file that I can hack?
Yes, changing the reference is now quick and easy in HM 8. This has nothing to do with the project search paths though, those are only for locating graphics and snippet files.

However, you can edit both things directly in the project files, which you can access either inside the .hmxz file (it's a regular zip archive) or directly when you save as uncompressed .hmxp. The referenced child project references are inside the <namespaces> tag in the .hmxp file, and they must also be edited inside their <navref> tags in the table of contents file in the /Maps folder. The search paths are in the .hmxp file only, in the <config-value name="searchpath"> tag inside the <config-group name="project"> group.

It should go without saying that you should a) make a backup and b) close the project in Help+Manual before trying to edit these things. 8)
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.
Post Reply