Delineator/separator in TOC - chapter without text?

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Martin Wynne
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Re: Delineator/separator in TOC - chapter without text?

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Dave Gehman wrote:It would greatly enhance our (unfortunately) complicated help output for our (unfortunately) extremely complex program.
Ok, Dave.

I started on it in your other topic a few weeks ago, and then got side-tracked. I'm easily side-tracked these days. I will get back to it now. :)

Anything else? You might want to add an image to a TOC item, such as
warning_icon.gif
cheers,

Martin.
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Dave Gehman
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Re: Delineator/separator in TOC - chapter without text?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Martin Wynne wrote:
Anything else?
HTML (WebHelp) color in the TOC, yes.
You might want to add an image to a TOC item, such as
warning_icon.gif
I have begun to think we should have that icon just before the product name...
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Martin Wynne
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Re: Delineator/separator in TOC - chapter without text?

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Dave Gehman wrote:I have begun to think we should have that icon just before the product name...
:)
Hi Dave,

I have now got a working exe utility to modify a TOC listing.

You can add mouse-over tooltips to an item, create coloured sections and separators, insert headings, add an icon image to an item. Separators can be any colour, thickness, solid or dashed. Headings can be any formatted text you like. Icons can be any image file and size.

The working of the TOC isn't affected, the coloured sections expand and contract as sub-topics are opened and closed. It works entirely on the compiled output, the original HM project isn't touched and doesn't require any changes.

The utility includes an editor for the mod texts, with an auto-generated list of topic IDs.

Unfortunately it doesn't work with the PP v3 responsive skins, but it's fine with the PP v2 skins, or the native HM skins, or no skin.

Here is a very silly example with inane tooltips, just to show what's possible (no actual content):

with no skin: http://85a.co.uk/toc_mods/no_skin/index.html

with a PP v2 skin: http://85a.co.uk/toc_mods/v2_skin/index.html
hm_tocmod_v2.png
I'm finding it quite useful. Let me know if you would be interested, and I will post a download link and instructions in this topic: https://helpman.it-authoring.com/viewto ... 17&t=15669

I suspect mixing div and li elements is frowned on in the better programming circles, but I've tested it in several browsers and it works fine. :)

cheers,

Martin.
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Dave Gehman
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Re: Delineator/separator in TOC - chapter without text?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Martin Wynne wrote:....I'm finding it quite useful. Let me know if you would be interested, and I will post a download link and instructions in this topic: https://helpman.it-authoring.com/viewto ... 17&t=15669
Most interested, Martin. Biggest question is around maintenance, because maintenance is our middle name ('constant change' being the other middle name...)

Nicely done!

Mixing elements: not always bad. No mixing elements, none of those indispensable aircraft and plastic alloys.

Again, thanks,
Dave
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Martin Wynne
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Re: Delineator/separator in TOC - chapter without text?

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Dave Gehman wrote:Most interested, Martin. Biggest question is around maintenance, because maintenance is our middle name ('constant change' being the other middle name...)
Hi Dave,

Maintenance shouldn't be too bad. If you change the order of TOC topics, or make them child topics, or insert new topics between them, or move them to a different section -- the tooltip and icon image will move with them. Only if you change the first TOC item in a section would you need to edit the mods file accordingly. Or if you change a topic ID.

I'm just now creating some screenshots and writing some notes. I'm hoping to post them later today.

cheers,

Martin.
Dave Gehman
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Re: Delineator/separator in TOC - chapter without text?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Excellent, and many thanks.

Dave
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Martin Wynne
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Re: Delineator/separator in TOC - chapter without text?

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Hi Dave,

I have now written some notes and uploaded the exe, see: https://helpman.it-authoring.com/viewto ... 17&t=15669

cheers,

Martin.
Dave Gehman
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Re: Delineator/separator in TOC - chapter without text?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Thanks. Downloaded it just now. Sad to say, a super-rush project... which would benefit from your EXE... forces me to put off exploring it until next week. I'm looking forward to working with it, as your enhancements are (as you know) things I need.

Dave
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