Add Videos Section to Relationship Table?

[tomjohnson1492]

Relationship tables have three sections by default: concepts, tasks, and reference. I want to add a fourth category: videos. Is this possible? I see how to add additional columns in the relationship table editor, but I'm forced to select the type of column -- concept, task, or reference. How do I get Flare to recognize a fourth type of column -- videos?

[Nita Beck]

I checked this out in Flare 6 and had no problem creating a new column and calling it "videos."

First I added the new column, whose heading was blank by default. I then right-clicked the first cell beneath the new column and selected Column Properties. On the Column Properties dialog, in the Column Type field, I typed "videos." The result is a column called "videos."

Is that not how the UI seems to be working for you?

[tomjohnson1492]

Oh, I didn't realize that I could type a name for the column instead of selecting an option from the drop-down list. However, this doesn't actually solve my problem. When you add topics into your custom column, that custom column doesn't appear in the Relationships Table proxy when you embed it on a topic. The Relationships Table seems to only allow concepts, tasks, or reference topics. And although you can rename those sections, you can't add a fourth section. Have you been able to do that?

[Nita Beck]

I'm not quite clear on what you're observing, so I'm getting confused.

When I add a relationship table proxy to a topic, I don't see anything that shows or refers to the columns in the relationship table. The proxy is just the placeholder for where the links based on the relationship table will go.

In the relationship table itself, I was able to add a topic to my "video" column. In the same row, I added a topic to my "concepts" column (and just for the heck of it, I renamed the "concepts" column, but that's not important right now). So these two topics now should point to each other. In the two topics themselves, I added a Relationship Table proxy, and then I generated some output. The "video" topic now included a link pointing to the "concepts" topic, and vice versa.

Perhaps I just don't quite understand the obstacle you're facing. Could you post a screenshot so that the lightbulb will go on over my head?

[tomjohnson1492]

Maybe it's the way I've styled my relationship table proxy in the output, but each of my topics appears under the respective concept-task-reference headings, which I've changed to Concepts and Screens, Basic Tasks, and Advanced Tasks.

relationshiptable.jpg

(Note: Topic titles are redacted for confidentiality purposes.)

I wanted to have a fourth section show: Videos. I copied the styles for the concept-task-reference sections and created one called videos, but it doesn't have any effect.

Now do you see what I'm saying?

[Nita Beck]

Yes, this helps me a lot. I suspect the answer lies in the stylesheet, but that's just my hunch. (Duh... you said as much...)

I have to wrap up my day now, but I'll spend a little tomorrow seeing what I can figure out. I don't mind 'cause I'll learn something new in the process...

[tomjohnson1492]

Thanks for your help here.

[Nita Beck]

Tom, I did get this to work.

As I said above, I was able to add a fourth column to my Relationship Table and called it "videos". I then added a few relationships so that I had some topics in the "videos" column and some on other columns.

In the stylesheet, I did the following: (1) Located the MadCap|relationshipsHeading style. (2) Added a new class "videos" and set that class's mc-label property to "Videos."

In each of the topics that I had itemized in the Relationship Table, I added a relationships proxy.

I generated my output (for the sake of speed, I just did a .chm) and then examined the relationship links in the topics. Those that pointed to the "videos" topics were beneath a heading called "Videos."

Videos_relationships_heading.png

An aside: I noticed in your screenshot that you have a "Related Topics" drop-down. I don't have anything equivalent. I wonder if you are confusing "concept links" with the idea of "concept" as a type of topic.

I hope my experiment helps. If you want to PM me, that's fine. I'm happy to connect offline, and then, once we solve this for you, you can post back for everyone's benefit.

[tomjohnson1492]

Interesting. I thought I tried that, but maybe I'll try it again. Are you able to generate as many sections as you want (not just three)?

Re Related Topics, I actually just put the relationships table proxy in a drop-down hotspot that I called Related Topics.

[Nita Beck]

I did not try to generate all three-- I mean all four when I include "videos"-- types of relationship links. Rather, I walked through all the necessary steps to create a custom relationship type with a custom class to support it and I verified that I could get generated links of that type under the correctly labeled heading.

Way above in this thread, you said that you styled the relationshipsProxy. I did not. I styled the relationshipsHeading.

[tomjohnson1492]

I'll try that tomorrow to see if I can do what you're saying. Thanks for the help.

[Nita Beck]

I just did the whole test again; same good results.

This time I created a custom relationship type called "icecream." So the table now has five types: concept, task, reference, videos, and icecream.

In the stylesheet, I added a new class of MadCap|relationshipsHeading called "icecream" with its mc-label property being "Ice Cream." So the stylesheet now has five relationshipHeading classes: concept, task, reference, videos, and icecream.

(NOTE: It's key that the name of the custom relationship type, e.g., icecream, and the name of the new class, e.g., icecream, must match for this to work...)

In the relationship table, in a row where I have topics listed under "concept" and "videos", I added a topic in the new "icecream" column.

I regenerated the .chm. In the topic designated as a "concept" topic, its relationship links now show "Videos" with one link under, and "Ice Cream" with another link under.

This seems very straightforward, so I think you just must be misstepping at some spot.

[tomjohnson1492]

It turns out that I was making a simple error. In my relationship table, I called the new column "video." In my stylesheet, I called it "videos." When I made the terms the same, the new section appeared just fine. Thanks for your help with this Nita.

[Nita Beck]

That's what I meant above by "It's key that the name of the custom relationship type, e.g., icecream, and the name of the new class, e.g., icecream, must match for this to work."

Glad you got it solved!

BTW, whenever I have some vexing problem, it seems that -- in almost all cases -- I can trace the problem back to my style sheet. (Unfortunately, there's still the fraction of problems that turns out to be Flare bugs over which I have no control and must work around. Sigh...)