Creating a master alias file with unique IDs

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mleenc
Jr. Propeller Head
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:16 am

Creating a master alias file with unique IDs

Post by mleenc »

Hi All,

I have 13 FrameMaker books that I have imported into Flare 2018. Before import, I inserted TopicAlias markers in my books to act as context-sensitive help markers. When the books are imported, an individual alias file is created for each book. I need one alias file and one corresponding Alias.xml file with all the markers. I called Flare tech support about this issue, and they didn't have a workaround other than to paste the topic aliases from the individual alias files into a master alias file. I can do that, a bit of a hassle, but I can do it. But the ResolvedID numbers for alias markers from each book start at 1000, so I do not have unique IDS for all my markers in the one master alias file. I called tech support again, and I was told the only way to rectify this is to manually renumber the IDs. Is there no way to automatically create a master alias file from all these individual files so that the ID numbers will be unique throughout the list of markers?

Thanks.
clpha6
Propeller Head
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu May 11, 2017 10:43 am

Re: Creating a master alias file with unique IDs

Post by clpha6 »

Do the ID numbers need to match what you had before, or can everything have new numbers? I use a spreadsheet to generate my IDs when I add new topics or books. The first column would be the .htm names of your files. The rest is automatically filled in (you choose the first ID number to start the sequence). Then you copy one column to the alias file, and another to the identifiers.h file.

There is a thread here somewhere that talks about how to set up the spreadsheet. If that would work for you, I can look for it.
mleenc
Jr. Propeller Head
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:16 am

Re: Creating a master alias file with unique IDs

Post by mleenc »

Thanks for the suggestion. I was hoping to have something automated from within MadCap Flare.
clpha6
Propeller Head
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu May 11, 2017 10:43 am

Re: Creating a master alias file with unique IDs

Post by clpha6 »

Here is the thread, in case you end up having to use this method.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27611
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