I'm wishing for a way to customize the Title Pages and Foreword for a series of similar-but-not-exactly-the-same printed documents. Being able to insert text from a topic in my project would solve the problem perfectly.
I would love to be able to create a topic called "Foreword_1," for example, and then go to the Foreword section in Print Manual Designer and create a text box and select the variable, something like <%TOPICID%>. Then there would be a place where I would just type the ID I want ("Foreword_1")
In my dream world, the inserted topic should support all the content options currently available for any other topic, including formatting, conditional output, etc.
Thanks for considering!
Topic ID variable for static text pages (PDF/print)
Moderators: Alexander Halser, Tim Green
- Tamara Pickrell
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2003 12:18 am
- Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Topic ID variable for static text pages (PDF/print)
Tamara Pickrell
- Tim Green
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23183
- Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
- Location: Bruehl, Germany
- Contact:
Re: Topic ID variable for static text pages (PDF/print)
Tamara,
This is already possible. It is the Insert Text Snippet option in the the Insert menu in Manual Designer. The only restriction is that the topic must fit on a single page, because snippets cannot flow to a second page in the PDF template. If you want to have more than one page you must repeat the procedure with multiple pages and multiple snippets, one for each page.
Hot Tip: If you create topics for this with exactly the same ID in all the projects you want to publish with this template, you can have different content for the snippets for each project.
This is already possible. It is the Insert Text Snippet option in the the Insert menu in Manual Designer. The only restriction is that the topic must fit on a single page, because snippets cannot flow to a second page in the PDF template. If you want to have more than one page you must repeat the procedure with multiple pages and multiple snippets, one for each page.
- Create a topic file in Project Files > Topic Files (i.e. without a TOC entry) containing the formatted text you want to use. Set its include options so that it is only included in PDF. Make a note of its topic ID (look in the Topic Options tab below the editor for this).
- In Manual Designer Select the section before the Table of Contents section (usually "Title 3") and then select Insert Page in the Pages menu to insert a new page.
- Select Insert Text Snippet in the Insert menu to insert a box for the snippet.
- Select "Load Topic" as the snippet type and insert the topic ID of your topic file from step 1 as the source of the snippet.
- Set the anchors to Left, Right, Top, Bottom and "Anchor to margins" and click on OK to insert.
- With the mouse adjust the borders of the snippet box to the margins of the page.
Hot Tip: If you create topics for this with exactly the same ID in all the projects you want to publish with this template, you can have different content for the snippets for each project.
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.
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)
Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
- Tamara Pickrell
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2003 12:18 am
- Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Re: Topic ID variable for static text pages (PDF/print)
Whaaaaat???!! This is exactly what I was dreaming of!! OMG, H&M reads my mind once again.
I am irrationally excited about this discovery -- not even for what it means for my current project, but just because of the sheer awesomeness of this program.
I am irrationally excited about this discovery -- not even for what it means for my current project, but just because of the sheer awesomeness of this program.
Tamara Pickrell
- Tim Green
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23183
- Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
- Location: Bruehl, Germany
- Contact:
Re: Topic ID variable for static text pages (PDF/print)
You're very welcome!
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.
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)
Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.