Linked TOCs displaying out of sequence

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andy_smith
Propeller Head
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jun 16, 2021 5:41 am

Linked TOCs displaying out of sequence

Post by andy_smith »

I work soley with PDF output.

I have a legacy manual that contains a pre-generated PDF that has been dragged into the TOC (as seen in the TOC Editor) at the bottom of all the other files in the manual/TOC. The effect is that the pre-generated PDF is embedded within the main document at the end of all the other content.

I understand that there are better ways of doing this in Flare such as by embedding subTOCs so I dragged the TOC that created the pre-generated PDF into the TOC for the main document. The embedded TOC has a link symbol that I understand means it’s a linked TOC.

When I build the document the table of contents displays the three sections of the linked TOC above all the items in the rest of the manual, when they should be below. These three headings are directly below the table of contents main page heading and above the two lines of hard coded text.

This is the XML editor view of the front page - the blue text is the hard coded text as seen in the XML editor

GIS How-Tos
How to monitor the print
These articles cover how to use information messages to monitor the print.
In this section

<output toc proxy>

This is what I get when I run the build - the items on page 33, 42 and 47 are within the linked TOC. The items from page 2 to 27 are within the main TOC.

GIS How-Tos
Start Print Controller Listener 33
Start Render Engine Listener 42
Start Print Server Listener 47
How to monitor the print
These articles cover how to use information messages to monitor the print.
In this section

How to monitor the print using the GIS API 2
How data gets from API command to the printheads 4
Understanding the Swathe Engine and PMB buffers 6
(other entries removed here)
Summary: API sequence with Information Messages 22
Revision History 25
Appendix: logging options 26
Appendix: Information Messages Quick Reference 27

I’m newish to Flare with about 18 months experience. Just about every document I work on was created by authors before me and I don’t really understand TOCs other than dragging in files. I have no experience of working with toc proxies
I'm on UK time (UTC+0). I work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I may not see replies outside of those days.
devjoe
Sr. Propeller Head
Posts: 337
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:43 pm

Re: Linked TOCs displaying out of sequence

Post by devjoe »

This sounds strange. You're talking about the TOC that appears on a page in your PDF output, right?

We primarily make help, but I've set up for my team a package of files that can be dropped into a project to make a PDF, because we need those too. It includes a TOC like this:
printtoc.png
where the Your content here page can be linked to the author's main TOC to dump everything into the PDF, or a sub-TOC to dump a section, or whatever.

The Contents page is just an H1 with the word Contents and the output TOC proxy, but we never get stuff appearing out of order within it, even if it goes on for pages in a long document. The Title Page and PrintCopyright don't have headings that go into the TOC, but the Contents and Index pages do, and they always appear in their right positions, with all the stuff from the linked TOC in order between them.
If you can't figure this out, and you can reproduce it in a small project you can send to MadCap, you might want to open a support case.
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andy_smith
Propeller Head
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Jun 16, 2021 5:41 am

Re: Linked TOCs displaying out of sequence

Post by andy_smith »

devjoe wrote:This sounds strange. You're talking about the TOC that appears on a page in your PDF output, right?
Yes, it's a bit difficult to differentiate between the TOC file in the Flare and the TOC output in the PDF. The TOC that is in the PDF is the one that comes out with those first three sections out of sequence at the top below the heading.
devjoe wrote:We primarily make help, but I've set up for my team a package of files that can be dropped into a project to make a PDF, because we need those too. It includes a TOC like this:
printtoc.png
where the Your content here page can be linked to the author's main TOC to dump everything into the PDF, or a sub-TOC to dump a section, or whatever.
I'm not sure I understand this.

If I could figure out how to insert screenshots into a forum post I'd put some in. Good thought though about tech support, I'd forgotten I could raise a support ticket. I'll give that a try.
I'm on UK time (UTC+0). I work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I may not see replies outside of those days.
Nita Beck
Senior Propellus Maximus
Posts: 3667
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:57 am
Location: Pittsford, NY

Re: Linked TOCs displaying out of sequence

Post by Nita Beck »

andy_smith wrote:I have a legacy manual that contains a pre-generated PDF that has been dragged into the TOC (as seen in the TOC Editor) at the bottom of all the other files in the manual/TOC. The effect is that the pre-generated PDF is embedded within the main document at the end of all the other content.

I understand that there are better ways of doing this in Flare such as by embedding subTOCs so I dragged the TOC that created the pre-generated PDF into the TOC for the main document. The embedded TOC has a link symbol that I understand means it’s a linked TOC.
Actually, the first option you tried -- dragging the pre-generated PDF onto your TOC -- is the option that MadCap recommends. It's referred to as "PDF stitching." https://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare20 ... -PDFs1.htm

I would not drag the TOC for the PDF onto your main TOC. That will have the effect of regenerating the PDF's topics into the bigger target. And depending on how each TOC is set up, you may get (and sounds like you have gotten) wonky results. I suggest you just use the PDF stitching method.

BTW, in response to something you said elsewhere in this discussion about how to distinguish between a "TOC" in a generated PDF and a Flare TOC file, I am very careful with my terminology: A TOC is a file of a specific type in a Flare project. It's a source file. By contrast, the table of contents that appears in a generated PDF (or Word doc, if that's the target type) is not a TOC. It's a generated table of contents. I realize this is semantics, but by using these terms very carefully, the distinction is cemented in my mind.
Nita
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RETIRED, but still fond of all the Flare friends I've made. See you around now and then!
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