Cross references: way to change style in case ref is removed

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siskamoens
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Cross references: way to change style in case ref is removed

Post by siskamoens »

I have a help project that exists both in Context Sensitive Help form as in Word (printed to pdf) form, and it includes a "What's new" topic that is packed with cross-reference links to the associated topics in the Help.
However some topics are only included in the CSH and not in the Print version, so the cross-reference links that correspond to these topics are not resolved in the print version. No problem with that, but what annoys me is that the link style is not removed as well. The non-working cross-reference links are still blue and underlined in the Word output, even though they don't lead anywhere.

Does anyone have an idea how to make the "link" style to disappear along with the link itself when outputting to Word?
SteveS
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Re: Cross references: way to change style in case ref is removed

Post by SteveS »

Can you apply a screen only conditional tag to the link?
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siskamoens
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Re: Cross references: way to change style in case ref is removed

Post by siskamoens »

I don't think that will help, because I would like to keep the text, and only remove the link style (blue-underlined). I believe a condition tag would simply hide the whole word + link.
And I'm not eager to start duplicating every cross-reference I have (one for print, one for web)...I have hundreds of them.
LTinker68
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Re: Cross references: way to change style in case ref is removed

Post by LTinker68 »

siskamoens wrote:The non-working cross-reference links are still blue and underlined in the Word output, even though they don't lead anywhere.
Did you try specifying a style for the <a> tag in the print medium to not be blue or underlined? Or the appropriate pseudo styles under the cross-ref tag. (I don't have Flare open at the moment and I don't remember if the xrefs pull their styles from the main topic links or from a xref-specific tag.)
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Lisa
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Re: Cross references: way to change style in case ref is removed

Post by SteveS »

See http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... =13&t=6496 for a quick discussion on formatting links and xrefs :)
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siskamoens
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Re: Cross references: way to change style in case ref is removed

Post by siskamoens »

Thanks Lisa and Steve, but I'm not looking to style all my a hrefs or xrefs in the same way in print output.

Let me make it clear again:

- xrefs must be blue and underlined in online output, always
- xrefs with an active link should always be blue and underlined in print output
- xrefs in print output that had their link removed because the referenced topic is not included in the print output should be "normally" styled, meaning without the blue-underlined style

Siska
LTinker68
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Re: Cross references: way to change style in case ref is removed

Post by LTinker68 »

siskamoens wrote:- xrefs in print output that had their link removed because the referenced topic is not included in the print output should be "normally" styled, meaning without the blue-underlined style
Hmmm.... In the print medium (or maybe the default medium), try setting the base xref style -- not one of the pseudo-classes -- to a normal font appearance without bold, blue underline, etc. Theoretically, if there's no <a> tag in the output then it should revert to that plain xref style, but if there is an <a> tag, then it should use the a:link style. I'm not sure that'll work, though -- it may be beyond Flare -- because it depends at what point in the process the <a> tag is stripped out. If the style is applied first then the tag stripped, then it would use the a:link style, but if the tag is stripped first then it may use the plain xref style. Give it a try anyway, and let use know if it works. If it doesn't, then I suggest you submit a feature request to MadCap.
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Lisa
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