Cross-references to Imported Files?

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claypool
Propeller Head
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2019 5:35 am

Cross-references to Imported Files?

Post by claypool »

Good Morning -

I am new to the Global Project Linking functionality, and have come across an issue that just doesn't seem right. Is it possible to cross-reference an imported file from the project? Specifically, this is the scenario. Hopefully this is clear.

We have an Appendix A, Parameters, that is shared across what was originally three FrameMaker guides. Chapter 6 of each guide references different parameters from this appendix; some overlap, some don't. I have created a separate project for each guide. Project 1 contains the Master Appendix A, as all parameters are referenced for this particular guide. I have created Project 2, and imported the Appendix A using condition tags to import only this appendix from Project 1. All of the cross-references were marked as broken links. I looked, and saw that the bookmarks between the two FrameMaker Chapter 6 files were different, even when the same parameter from Appendix A was referenced. I haven't even started on Project 3 yet....

I took the time to re-link every cross reference in Chapter 6 of Project 2 to match the links in the imported Appendix A. All looked good. I tested, and it seemed fine. Fast forward a day. I've closed down for the night, re-open Project 2, and all of the cross-references in chapter 6 are....gone. Not broken links, just not there. No text, no link, nothing. Between the paragraph tags is only the brackets that the parameters were in, and empty space.

I cannot for the life of me figure out why this happened. Does anyone know? I don't want to put in the work to add all of the cross-references back only to have the same thing happen (there are over 150 cross references!).

Please help! I so appreciate any insights!

Holly
ChoccieMuffin
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Posts: 2630
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:01 am
Location: Surrey, UK

Re: Cross-references to Imported Files?

Post by ChoccieMuffin »

What outputs are you producing? I'm assuming PDFs, please correct me if I'm wrong.

In Project 2, does the TOC contain an entry for the TOC for Appendix A?

Please give us a look at the code from a topic in Project 1 that contains a x-ref to a topic in the appendix, and also a topic in Project 2 that contains a x-ref to the same topic.

If things are a bit confusing, here's how I would approach it.

Use nested TOCs.
In Project 1, create a TOC that only contains the topics for Appendix A - Parameters. (Apply your import condition to that TOC file as well, so it gets imported into Project 2.)
For clarity, put all the topics for App A in their own folder.
In your Project 1, add the TOC for App A to your main TOC. (You may need to mess about a bit with chapter breaks - I can never remember whether you have to put a chapter break on the nested TOC in the main TOC, or on the first topic of the nested TOC.)

In Project 2, when you import from Project 1 you should end up with your imported App A TOC, and in Content Explorer you should have a folder containing all the topics.
Add your imported TOC to your Project 2 TOC.
Topics in Project 2 that include x-refs to topics from Appendix A should point to the topics in the App A folder that you imported.

I might have completely misunderstood your problem, in which case I apologise.
Started as a newbie with Flare 6.1, now using Flare 2023.
Report bugs at http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx.
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claypool
Propeller Head
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2019 5:35 am

Re: Cross-references to Imported Files?

Post by claypool »

So sorry for the delayed reply. Thank you for your help with this! I really appreciate it. I had done all that you suggested already. The issue I had was that all of the x-refs that pointed to the imported Appendix were wrong. FrameMaker had created bookmarks based on the book files before conversion. The only way I found to fix this issue was to rename all of the bookmarks in the appendix in Flare, then adjust each chapter's x-refs to point to the new bookmarks. It was horribly tedious, but at least now it is done, and will work well for the writer.

Appreciate your help, again!
ChoccieMuffin
Senior Propellus Maximus
Posts: 2630
Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:01 am
Location: Surrey, UK

Re: Cross-references to Imported Files?

Post by ChoccieMuffin »

Rather than pointing to bookmarks, can you get things to point to topics? That way you don't have to worry about bookmarks becoming out of date. (Word uses bookmarks too and it can be a nightmare.)
Started as a newbie with Flare 6.1, now using Flare 2023.
Report bugs at http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx.
Request features at https://www.madcapsoftware.com/feedback ... quest.aspx
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