Mini TOC proxy

[lacastle]

How do I get the line above my mini toc (below In This Chapter) to go away? (The mini TOC proxy is in each chapter. The breadcrumbs proxy is in the master page, with a line there on purpose.) Here are my styles:

div.mcminitoclink
{
display: list-item;
list-style-image: url('../Images/book_open.png');
margin-left: 30px;
}

tocProxy
{
margin-top: 0px;
border-top-style: none;
border-top: none 0px black;
padding-top: 0px;
border: none 0px;
}

div.mcminitocproxy
{
border: none 0px #000000;
}

Thanks!

[wclass]

I was able to change this by using the Flare style sheet editor and updating the style for "miniTocProxy". When I checked my style sheet I had an entry as follows:

Code: Select all

miniTocProxy
{
	border-top: none 0px black;
}

The entries that you mention I found in my output files (madcap.css), but I never edited those specifically.

[NorthEast]

Yep, it's a bug. By default the MiniTocProxy style in your stylesheet will have no formatting at all, but the corresponding style generated in MadCap.css will include these properties:

Code: Select all

div.MCMiniTocBox
{
	border-top: solid 1px black;
	padding-top: 10px;
	margin-top: 10px;
	padding-left: 20px;
}

So, if you don't want these "automatic" settings, you need to override them by setting the properties in your main stylesheet. So, as wclass mentioned, setting your border-top to none will override the solid setting in MadCap.css and remove the line.

The BreadcrumbsProxy also has the same problem, you need to remove the black line set for its bottom-border property (to override the div.MCBreadcrumbsBox style in MadCap.css).

[lacastle]

Thanks! I was editing tocproxy instead of minitocproxy, so now my problem is fixed after i adjusted the correct style!

I think I'll submit this as a bug, though, because lines shouldn't display by default.

[evanarsdall]

I have never used mini-TOCs in a Flare project and need to use them in my current project. My primary target is WebHelp, though I have also tested an HTML Help target.

So far, I can't get any mini-tocs to appear in either output. I have tried the following troubleshooting methods:

• Checked the master page to ensure that the mini-toc proxy is included.
• Ensured that the master page is linked to each target before building the output.
• Checked the primary TOC for correctly linked books. (Some are still unlinked, but I'm testing only the ones that are linked.)
• Checked the primary TOC for duplicate topics. I haven't found any.

Have I left out anything? The only help topic I can find briefly mentions this feature as part of a master page, but that's it.

[lacastle]

Here are some forum topics that helped me.

http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... +toc+proxy
http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... +toc+proxy
http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... +toc+proxy
http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... +toc+proxy

I put my mini toc proxy in the individual chapters (not the master), but it should work the same.
Just click where you want to put it and select Insert > Proxy > Insert Mini TOC Proxy. The stylesheet pop-up doesn't really matter.
It should work even if you're not making any changes to the styles (which is the harder part).

[KevinDAmery]

Also, there are a number of features (like breadcrumbs) that don't work properly if there are spaces in the path to the topics being linked to. This includes the names of the topic files and the folders. I don't remember if the mini-toc was also affected by this, but it's certainly possible.

As a general rule, it is best not to use spaces in file or folder names. Either run the words together (possibly using CamelCase to help visually differentiate the word breaks) or use underscores instead of spaces.

[evanarsdall]

Got it! Thanks to both of you for sharing the links and information.

I had read a couple of the posts, but I hadn't seen the one that zeroed in on my problem. I just wasn't getting the fact that the topic showing the mini-TOC can't be in the book that contains the TOC topics. I can see from other posts that I wasn't the only one befuddled by that little detail. It's good not to feel alone!

[evanarsdall]

One more question on this subject:

When you add the styles such as div.MCMiniTocLink and div.MCMiniTocBox to your style sheet, do you add them to the div category or do you make them children of miniTocProxy? Or does it even matter except as an organizational thing?

[KevinDAmery]

I haven't edited those myself, but based on the naming they're classes of the Div style.

[lacastle]

yes, i put them in the <div> category.

[NorthEast]

When you add the styles such as div.MCMiniTocLink and div.MCMiniTocBox to your style sheet, do you add them to the div category or do you make them children of miniTocProxy? Or does it even matter except as an organizational thing?

You don't need to add div.MCMiniTocBox to your stylesheet.

The properties that you set for the MiniTocProxy style in you main stylesheet are copied to the div.MCMiniTocBox style in MadCap.css.

What I said earlier is that the div.MCMiniTocBox style in MadCap.css also has some 'default' properties that don't come from MiniTocProxy, but by including them in the MiniTocProxy style you can override the settings in MadCap.css.

Adding div.MCMiniTocBox to your main stylesheet will still affect the output, but it might get confusing as what you see in your target will be a mish-mash of what you've set in both MiniTocProxy and div.MCMiniTocBox.

[evanarsdall]

You don't need to add div.MCMiniTocBox to your stylesheet... Adding div.MCMiniTocBox to your main stylesheet will still affect the output, but it might get confusing as what you see in your target will be a mish-mash of what you've set in both MiniTocProxy and div.MCMiniTocBox.

Hi, Dave:

I was asking about these two divs mainly because I want to modify div.MCMiniTocLink to add bullets, as discussed in another post. So that's the only custom version that I plan to add to my stylesheet.

[KevinDAmery]

You should be able to do that by adding a list style to minitocproxy in the main stylesheet. Set the list-style-type to whichever bullet type you need (for example, solid circles are the "disc" type). That should do it.

[evanarsdall]

You should be able to do that by adding a list style to minitocproxy in the main stylesheet. Set the list-style-type to whichever bullet type you need (for example, solid circles are the "disc" type). That should do it.

Kevin, I was following the recommendations from another post that says the following:

The minitocproxy style only sets the style of the box (div) containing the minitoc.
You need to add an additional style to format the items in the minitoc.

When you build the help, Flare uses two div tags for the minitoc:
- div.MCMiniTocBox is the div containing the minitoc links, and it will use the styles you've set for minitocproxy.
- div.MCMiniTocLink is the div used for each item in the minitoc.

The CSS for these are defined in MadCap.css.
To set your own formatting for the minitoc items, add div.MCMiniTocLink to your own stylesheet (it will override the styles set in MadCap.css).

You can read the full thread at http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... it=minitoc

[NorthEast]

Yep, setting up a bullet style for div.MCMiniTocLink is the way to do that.

(Setting properties for the MiniTocProxy style will just affect the box containing the links (div.MCMiniTocBox), to set properties for the links themselves you need to use div.MCMiniTocLink.)

[evanarsdall]

Thank you, Dave.

[evanarsdall]

I have been meaning to revisit this thread, but I haven't had time until now. My mini-TOCs are working well, but I can't seem to render a bulleted topic list.

I'm using a master style sheet across the entire project. I created a MCMiniTocLink class as a child of div. Following instructions from this and one other thread, I set the Block display to list-item and set list-style-type to disc. It's not working for me.

Any suggestions?

[lacastle]

it looks like it should work, so i would check to make sure you spelled MCMiniTocLink correctly and that the stylesheet is linked to the topics correctly. Are you using a master page for the minitoc? make sure that has the stylesheet too.

[evanarsdall]

it looks like it should work, so i would check to make sure you spelled MCMiniTocLink correctly and that the stylesheet is linked to the topics correctly. Are you using a master page for the minitoc? make sure that has the stylesheet too.

Hi, Laura:

The div section of the style sheet shows MCMiniTocLink, so the class name is spelled correctly.

The project has only one style sheet called nci-bioportal_basic.css. I am using this as a master style sheet, so it's referenced in both the project properties and the WebHelp target (the only target at this point). Properties for individual topics show "default" as the stylesheet, since the master style sheet overrides the ability to apply a different style sheet to individual topics.

The master page has three proxies: breadcrumbs, topic body, and mini-toc. I assume from "make sure that has the stylesheet too" you mean to check the style sheet links. If I try to examine stylesheet links while the master page is open, I see this message:

Local topic style sheets are disabled since a master style sheet is being used at the project level and/or target level.

The message is correct, since the project is set up with a master style sheet, so the style sheet setup seems to be working as it should be. I checked the project for possible renegade style sheets that might be interfering, but there are no others. At this point, the project is relatively small, so tracking what's in it is easy.

[NorthEast]

I've never actually tried using list style properties with div tags, only with list tags (ol, ul). Can you actually add bullets to div tags using the list properties in this way?

In my help I use a topic icon (which I also use in the TOC) next to the mini-toc link, e.g.

Code: Select all

div.MCMiniTocLink
{
	background-repeat: no-repeat;
	background-image: url('../Images/topic.gif');
	margin-left: 2px;
	padding-left: 20px;
	background-position: left top;
	padding-bottom: 4px;
}

(The icon is in Resources/Images/topic.gif)

[evanarsdall]

I've never actually tried using list style properties with div tags, only with list tags (ol, ul). Can you actually add bullets to div tags using the list properties in this way?

Dave, I'm not sure if a technique like this is routinely used. There's another thread on this discussion board where someone used it and says that it worked.

I examined the properties in the style sheet outside of Flare, and I added list-style and list-style-position properties, hoping that they would make a difference. Still no bullets.

It's not that important at this point. I'll just dress up the TOCs by changing some other properties and move on.

Thanks for your reply, and for sharing the icon idea.

[evanarsdall]

Well, as evident from previous threads, I had no luck with applying a list style to my mini TOC links. Now I'm simply trying to change the color of the links, and I can't seem to get that to work, either.

I first changed the font size in the the MadCap | miniTOCProxy style. That worked. Then, as a test, I attempted to change the font color to something resembling the green color that MadCap uses in its mini TOCs. That didn't work.

Next, I changed the font color of the div.MCMiniTOCLink class discussed in this thread. That had no effect, so I tried adding another MCMiniTOCLink class as a child of the a class. I changed the pseudo classes to show specific colors. None of that worked. All of my links still show as blue and underlined.

Sorry to draw out this post, but I can easily change properties for the breadcrumb proxy, but the same techniques don't seem to work for the mini TOC. I don't quite understand why MadCap doesn't have a built-in class under the a link so that the mini TOC proxy has equivalent classes to the breadcrumbs proxy (MadCap | breadcrumbsProxy and a > MCBreadcrumbsLink). I welcome any additional ideas.

[lacastle]

The only other thing I would suggest is to reset all of the styles that relate to the miniTOCproxy and start over. I really like how my miniTOCproxy turned out once I got all the styles to work, so don't give up!

[evanarsdall]

The only other thing I would suggest is to reset all of the styles that relate to the miniTOCproxy and start over. I really like how my miniTOCproxy turned out once I got all the styles to work, so don't give up!

Laura, I'm afraid that I have already done that.