Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

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straygoat
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Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

Post by straygoat »

Hello all,

I'm trying to add search filters to a help system I have just created (from a chm). It is a large system and I wondered if there is any way of applying a concept to a content folder so that all of the topics in that folder will inherit it? That would save me a LOT of time...from reading the help, it seems that I will have to add a concept to each topic. Please tell me that isn't the only way as there are 1000s of topics.
Craig Wright
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http://www.straygoat-technicalauthor.co.uk
Nita Beck
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Re: Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

Post by Nita Beck »

The best idea I can think of is to use the Find and Replace feature to insert the bit of concept term's code directly into the files in the folder. For this approach, I've assumed you've put your concept terms in the first heading of your topics.

BEFORE YOU TRY THIS APPROACH, it's prudent to make a backup of your project, in case something goes amiss.

First locate a topic into which you've already entered the concept term and open it in the internal text editor. You should see something like this:

Code: Select all

     <h1>
          <MadCap:concept term="Your Concept Term Here" />   
Copy the bit of code from the "<Madcap" to the "/>".

Now open the Find and Replace window. In the Find what field, type <h1> (or whatever the heading is you've used). In the Replace with field, type <h1> and then paste the code you copied earlier. Under Options, set the Find in option to "documents in the same folder." Make sure that the Find in source code check box is selected. Now you're ready. Click Start, and Flare will find the first hit and you're set to go.

BTW, because you already had applied the concept term to the topic you copied from, you'll now have a duplicate in that topic and will need to delete it. And if you had previously applied the concept term to anything else in the folder, those will have duplicates, too.

I hope this gives you an idea to try.
Nita
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RETIRED, but still fond of all the Flare friends I've made. See you around now and then!
straygoat
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Re: Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

Post by straygoat »

Thanks Nita. I will give that a go.
Craig Wright
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Midlands, UK
http://www.straygoat-technicalauthor.co.uk
Paul Griffiths
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Re: Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

Post by Paul Griffiths »

This should also work:

Open the Concept Window (View > Concept Window).

Right click on the root of the Concepts tree (usually displayed in the lower half of the window) and select Add Concept.

A default "New Term" entry is addded to the tree; rename this as required for your search filter.

Right click on the new search filter term and select Assign Topic.

A Link to Topic dialog box opens. By default, the dialog box shows the folder view of the Contents folder.

Click the Show Files button in the dialog box's toolbar to show the files within each folder.

You can now use Ctrl+Click and Shift+Click in the usual way to select multiple topics.

Click Open to apply the term to all the selected topics at once.
straygoat
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Re: Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

Post by straygoat »

Nice one, Paul. That looks a more foolproof way of doing it...just what I need.
Craig Wright
Freelance Technical Author and SEO Copywriter
Midlands, UK
http://www.straygoat-technicalauthor.co.uk
Nita Beck
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Re: Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

Post by Nita Beck »

Very smart, Paul! Before I replied to the original post, I had tried to use this technique directly in the Content Explorer and was unable to get it to work for concept terms. Never occurred to me that I should try it from the Link to Topic dialog while adding a concept link. Definitely this is the better approach. Of course, what if one didn't need to create a new concept term but was wanting only to apply an existing one to multiple topics? I'll have to go check that out...
Nita
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RETIRED, but still fond of all the Flare friends I've made. See you around now and then!
skalgutkar
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Re: Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

Post by skalgutkar »

Thank you, Paul! Your solution helped me save a lot of effort.
ChoccieMuffin
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Re: Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

Post by ChoccieMuffin »

Please excuse a very silly question, but what is a "concept" and when might it be useful to have them?
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NorthEast
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Re: Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

Post by NorthEast »

ChoccieMuffin wrote:Please excuse a very silly question, but what is a "concept" and when might it be useful to have them?
You'd use concepts with a search filter (i.e. filter results to show topics with a particular concept), or a Concept Link which builds a list of links to topics that have a particular concept marker.
ChoccieMuffin
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Re: Apply concept to a group rather than individual topics?

Post by ChoccieMuffin »

Dave Lee wrote: You'd use concepts with a search filter (i.e. filter results to show topics with a particular concept), or a Concept Link which builds a list of links to topics that have a particular concept marker.
Thanks, Dave!
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