The text of a hyperlink

[Jessa]

I'm trying to re-create one of the best features in Frame and Word, namely that when you hyperlink to a heading, the text of the hyperlink is the heading you've just linked to. Also, the text of that hyperlink is dynamic so that when you change the heading text, the text of the hyperlink changes to.

I've got a ton of these links in my project; links to report names, specifically and the report names are always changing. I would love to have the text of the hyperlink take the heading name (which is the name of the report) automatically. I'm trying to idiot-proof the output.

Is there any way to do this in Flare?
*fingers crossed*

[KevinDAmery]

Use a cross-reference instead of a standard hyperlink. Cross references update when you change the text in the target.

[Jessa]

DOH! *headslap*

I feel very dumb right now. So why not keep going? When does the text of the cross-reference text update? It looks to me like it updates in the published file but not the source file. ??

To redeem myself, I'll add what might be an obvious tip:
If you want to make the Cross-X look like a hyperlink, create a new style. I named mine "CrossX_Hyperlink" to remind myself that this is the cross-reference that looks like a hyperlink. From the Simplified View, double click the new style and leave nothing but "{paratext}" (but no quotes) in the Cross-Reference Format field.

[KevinDAmery]

DOH! *headslap*

I feel very dumb right now. So why not keep going? When does the text of the cross-reference text update? It looks to me like it updates in the published file but not the source file. ??

Exactly. It updates during the build process.

[LTinker68]

You can update xrefs within a topic by going to Tools > Update Cross-References. It'll only update the xrefs in that topic, though, so not quite as useful, but it is an option.

[NorthEast]

It'd be useful if they did update automatically.
In fact it'd also be useful if they weren't editable text either, since they're not - I've seen people change them thinking they're like hyperlinks.

I'll stick in some feature requests...

[i-tietz]

if you want to update them automatically: make them into snippets.
But you godda be careful: You will have to make sure the link in the snippet has an absolute path, not the default relative path.
E.g.:

Code: Select all

/Folder1beneathContent/Folder2beneathContent/topicYouWantToLinkTo.htm

instead of

Code: Select all

../../Folder1beneathContent/Folder2beneathContent/topicYouWantToLinkTo.htm

[NorthEast]

I don't follow that really.

The xref in the snippet still has fixed text, and that will only update if you open the snippet file and use Tools > Update Cross-References.

Besides, I can't feasibly see how it'd be practical to do this - I'd have potentially hundreds or even thousands of snippets in my project, and it'd be massively time-consuming to insert them.

[Jessa]

I agree with Dave in that I don't really follow it.

I can also add that snippets are, IMHO, ridiculously difficult to work with. I'm a little too tired to go into all of it right now, but suffice it to say I've resorted to typing a "{ }" in the topic, then inserting the snippet in between them and then deleting both "{" and "}" just so that I don't have to deal with snippets jumping to the top of the topic, and that's just one example.

I love the concept of snippets, but the reality leaves a lot to be desired. I keep re-doing my strategy based on the general weirdness of inserting them.

[i-tietz]

That sort of update facility you get working with databases ... I think AuthorIT and RoboHelp work with databases ... Flare is file-based ...

[Jessa]

That sort of update facility you get working with databases ... I think AuthorIT and RoboHelp work with databases ... Flare is file-based ...

ahhhhh, thanks for the insight.