Several master pages

MC Hammer · Post by **MC Hammer** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:41 am

Hi everyone
Another silly question about hierarchy re: master pages & HTML output...
If I have 6 master pages in my project and have associated all my topics with the relevant master page, why can I only specify ONE master page in the target properties (I am not generating Printed output)?
Will the topics associated with master page 2 to master page 6 be correctly rendered with the appropriate master page applied to them?
I have not implemented the different master pages yet and thought maybe someone here had the answer to my query.
Thanks

KevinDAmery · Post by **KevinDAmery** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:54 am

Short answer is no: master pages 2 through 6 would not be implemented if you assign master page 1 in the target.

The Master Page designation in the target is intended to allow you to apply one master page to every topic in one step. If you want to use different master pages on a topic by topic basis, you shouldn't assign any master page in the target--this will allow the topic settings to operate instead. Basically it's one or the other: either you assign one master page in the target, or you assign multiple master pages to the appropriate topics.

MC Hammer · Post by **MC Hammer** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 6:27 am

Thanks Kevin
That saved me a lot of times and helps me understand better how Flare works!

Ineffable · Post by **Ineffable** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:41 am

I have a related issue: I have multiple master pages. I also have multiple targets, each of them assigned to a different master page. But no matter which target I select, it always selects the same master page.

I even applied conditions to the master pages and targets, yet no matter which target it always chooses the same master page. This master page is the first one I made in the project and is tied, similar to the issue in this thread, to the first target, although it isn't connected to any topic.

What am I missing?

Post by **LTinker68** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:04 pm

Did you ever specify a masterpage for the <html> tag in the stylesheet? If you did, then I believe that'll override what you have specified in the target. You should specify a masterpage in the target and not the <html> tag if you want the masterpage applied to ALL topics. If you want to have a mix of masterpages in one output, then there shouldn't be any masterpages specified in the target and you should use one or more <html> tags with each one specifying a different masterpage. (Or you could specify a masterpage in the target and override it as necessary through the <html> tag, but that could cause the kind of problem you're experiencing now.)

Ineffable · Post by **Ineffable** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:47 pm

LTinker68 wrote:Did you ever specify a masterpage for the <html> tag in the stylesheet? If you did, then I believe that'll override what you have specified in the target. You should specify a masterpage in the target and not the <html> tag if you want the masterpage applied to ALL topics. If you want to have a mix of masterpages in one output, then there shouldn't be any masterpages specified in the target and you should use one or more <html> tags with each one specifying a different masterpage. (Or you could specify a masterpage in the target and override it as necessary through the <html> tag, but that could cause the kind of problem you're experiencing now.)

That was it! Sitting right there, all sneaky, in the middle of my stylesheet. (For reference, I was trying to apply the Dealer.flmsp master page to my project, to no avail!)

Code: Select all

mc-master-page: url('../MasterPages/Service.flmsp');

Thanks a bunch! I've been working on this all day, and now it finally ends.

jlemon · Post by **jlemon** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 3:43 pm

I am using Flare 5.0. I am incorporating some of our companyâ€™s standard operating procedures (SOPs) in with our normal WebHelp Plus content. I want all of our traditional online Help topics to have one page footer, and all of our online SOPs to have a different page footer.

Here is what Iâ€™ve done:
1. Iâ€™ve created two master pages â€“ one called OnlineHelp and another called SOPs. They are identical, except for their footers.
2. For the SOPs, Iâ€™ve created a class for the <html> tag called .sop.
3. For the primary <html> tag, Iâ€™ve assigned an mc-master-page setting of OnlineHelp.
4. For <html.sop> class, Iâ€™ve assigned an mc-master-page setting of SOPs.
5. For the SOP topics, Iâ€™ve applied the .sop class to each topicâ€™s <html> tag.
6. For the WebHelp target, I have a Master Page setting of (default).

The problem is, my results are varying:
â€¢ With the configuration I have above, NONE of the footers are showing in my WebHelp output.
â€¢ If I select a Master Page setting of OnlineHelp for the WebHelp Plus target, I get ONLY the OnlineHelp page footer. The OnlineHelp footer also appears with my SOP topics.

How can I get the SOP footers to appear with the SOP topics and the OnlineHelp footers to appear with everything else? Iâ€™m sure the solution is simple, but Iâ€™m not seeing it.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.
-John

Post by **LTinker68** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 5:17 pm

jlemon wrote:6. For the WebHelp target, I have a Master Page setting of (default)...
With the configuration I have above, NONE of the footers are showing in my WebHelp output.

You lost me with those comments. Are you creating one WebHelp output that has a mix of footers (using masterpages), or are you creating two WebHelp outputs?

And just to verify, for step 6, did you set the default on the Master Page field of the Advanced tab in the target, or were you looking at the Master Page Layout field on the Basic tab, which actually relates to the page layout, not the master page? Make sure it's the Master Page field of the Advanced tab that's set to Default.

Also, make sure you delete the output folder before you build -- changes like this may not be picked up by the browser because it may load the cached version of the help. Deleting the output folder before building tricks it (and by "it" I mean IE, specifically) into thinking that it's going to a new website so it loads everything.

jlemon · Post by **jlemon** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 7:31 am

Lisa,
Thank you for your prompt reply.

Here are the answers to your questions:
1. I am trying to create one WebHelp output with a mix of footers (using two different master pages).
2. On the target's Advanced tab, I set the Master Page option to "(default)".
3. Each time I generate the target, I select Clean Project first. Does this have the same effect as deleting the Output folder?

jlemon · Post by **jlemon** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 7:54 am

Lisa,

I seem to have resolved my own problem. It's amazing what a good night of sleep can do for problem solving.

On the target's Advanced tab, I did the following:

1. I selected a Master Page setting of OnlineHelp.
2. I changed the Stylesheet Medium option from "(default)" to "non-print".

Upon generating and republishing the target, all of my footers looked just the way I wanted them to. The Help topics took the OnlineHelp master pages, and the SOPs took their master page overrides.

Post by **LTinker68** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:23 am

jlemon wrote:1. I selected a Master Page setting of OnlineHelp.

Sorry, should have caught that. Yes, if you have multiple masterpages in your project, you want to specify which is your "default" masterpage in the target. You then override that default masterpage by using the html class, like you already did.

jlemon wrote:2. I changed the Stylesheet Medium option from "(default)" to "non-print".

That should only have had an effect if you had entered your "footer" styles in the non-print medium of the stylesheet. Personally, I don't know why they include that medium as a default; it seems to cause a lot of problems when people use it. Stick with the default and print mediums.

KevinDAmery · Post by **KevinDAmery** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:08 am

Ok, I think I see the problem. In step 3, don't assign the main HTML tag to use a master page: instead, make a second class of the HTML tag called "Online" and in that class you assign the master page. Then you can simply go through your topics and tell them to be either "SOP" or "Online" to use the proper master page.

I'm doing this here with 4 different master pages, and it works quite well. Additionally, this means you still have your main HTML tag not specifying a master page, which can be useful (for example, in the few cases where I use topics as popups, I assign them the "Default" class and they don't use any master page layout, so they just appear as simple popups without headers, footers, etc.)

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