Sharing topics over project (Feature request)

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VincentBevort
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Sharing topics over project (Feature request)

Unread post by VincentBevort »

Hi,

I have been reading the forum on sharing topics over projects from e.g. a repository or a default project.
I read that this is currently not possible and we should use snippets instead.
Snippets, however, don't seem to be able to include images.

As I have about 11 guides that all use the same copyright page with our logo in it and some guides that all use the same part of an installation guide I really would like to have something that works like a library where I can retrieve complete topics. The only thing that would change in that kind of topics is the header level.
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Tobias Escher
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Re: Sharing topics over project (Feature request)

Unread post by Tobias Escher »

Snippets support images!
I have whole topics that are inserted in multiple projects.
When you add a new topic, you can choose to not create a new topic file, but to use an existing topic file from another project. Works very well!
VincentBevort
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Re: Sharing topics over project (Feature request)

Unread post by VincentBevort »

Then I may have misunderstood something, but in previous posts there was mentioning that inserting whole topics only works for CHM files.
I want this to work for all kinds of output as I offer this to our customers.
I tested this and I do NOT get the topic when I create a Ewriter ebook.

Concerning the images in snippets. I shall re-test but I did not get them in when adding the snippet to a topic. The project does not display the image in the topic.
Maybe this is due to that the snippet and the belonging image is in another folder the the project I want to use them in.

BTW. I Use the latest published build of H&M 7.2.0
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Tim Green
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Re: Sharing topics over project (Feature request)

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Vincent,
I tested this and I do NOT get the topic when I create a Ewriter ebook.
How did you test this? To insert an entire topic as a snippet you need to create an empty topic to insert it in, and then insert the snippet (and nothing else) in that topic. The Topic ID will then be the ID of the empty topic you insert the snippet in NOT of the snippet file. Also, you can't give the empty topic the same ID as the snippet you are inserting; that would cause errors.

If the snippet is from the current project or a linked style repository, then images should turn up automatically. If it is from an external snippet file or another project then you need to add the folder containing the referenced images to the search path of the project where you are inserting the snippet (Configuration > Common Properties > Project Search Path). It's important not to have different images with the same names in different folders on the search path, because if you do only the first matching image will be used (reading the folders from top to bottom).

See this topi in the documentation to learn how to use snippets:

http://www.helpandmanual.com/help/index ... ippets.htm
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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VincentBevort
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Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2016 1:53 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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Re: Sharing topics over project (Feature request)

Unread post by VincentBevort »

the Quote you are referring to is the 1st try to link a complete topic using the "Link to external Help" and selecting a topic in the remote project.
This did not work when generating ewriter help. when reading the forum I understood this and tried the snippet road.

I included the snippet in the way you described but I did get the text but not the images.
In that old H&M 6 topic there was no mentioning of including the path as you describe here.
If it is from an external snippet file or another project then you need to add the folder containing the referenced images to the search path of the project where you are inserting the snippet (Configuration > Common Properties > Project Search Path).
I will try again but I still would like the feature to be able to include complete topics for all kinds of output as picking a topic from the shelf is i.m.h.o easier that for each topic to pick the text as a snippet and fixing the path in each project.
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