Can a ToC file (toc.htm) from another tool be reused?

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skalgutkar
Jr. Propeller Head
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:07 am

Can a ToC file (toc.htm) from another tool be reused?

Post by skalgutkar »

Hello,

I am in the process of moving from another documentation tool to MadCap Flare and have imported my content files (HTML) into my new project. My issue is, creating the ToC. My documentation is huge and creating a manual ToC is tedious. The ToC that Flare creates on importing HTML files is just a collection of all the files.

Now, in my old project, the ToC is a .htm file. Can this file be reused in Flare to recreate the ToC?

Thanks in advance!

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

Re: Can a ToC file (toc.htm) from another tool be reused?

Post by ChoccieMuffin »

It is unlikely that the TOC from your old tool will be completely compatible with a Flare TOC, but you might be able to use it as a starting point. In order to see what is required in a Flare TOC, create a new Flare project from one of the many templates, then open the .fltoc file in a text editor. That will show you what basic HTML codes you need (for example they all start with:
"<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CatapultToc
Version="1">"
and end with:
"</CatapultToc>"

A very basic TOC entry looks like this:
" <TocEntry
Title="ABCDE"
Link="/Content/ABCDE.html" />"

but there can be a lot of other bits and pieces in TOC entries that are used by Flare - here are two examples:
New section:
" <TocEntry
Title="XXXXX"
Link="/Content/XXXXX.html"
StartSection="true"
StartChapter="true"
PageType="first"
SectionNumberReset="reset"
SectionNumber="1"
SectionNumberFormat="decimal"
ChapterNumberReset="same"
PageNumber="1"
PageNumberReset="continue"
VolumeNumberReset="same">"
new chapter:
" <TocEntry
Title="YYYYY"
Link="/Content/YYYYY.html"
StartChapter="true"
PageNumber="1"
PageNumberReset="continue"
StartSection="false"
ReplaceMergeNode="false">"

I suspect you're going to have to do a fair amount of work on your TOC, even if you can get the existing one to open in Flare. Good luck.
Started as a newbie with Flare 6.1, now using Flare 2023.
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skalgutkar
Jr. Propeller Head
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:07 am

Re: Can a ToC file (toc.htm) from another tool be reused?

Post by skalgutkar »

Hi ChoccieMuffin,

I am so sorry for such a delayed response.

I tried reusing the TOC file. However, it was a lot of effort and the time I had was a lot less. So, I ended up creating new TOC in Flare.

Thanks a lot!

Regards,
Shrutika
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