Mini-toc doesn't show in the build

[Tom]

Hi,
Could someone please help me with the mini-toc in Flair V6.1?
I want to include it in mij online help (DotNet and html), not in printed output.
- I made an empty project containing 3 topics. Each one with a lower heading level (H1, h2, h3).
- I made a TOC, containing one book with, in declining order, topic 1, 2 and 3. Topic 1 contains the mini-toc proxy.
- I linked the book in the TOC to the first topic.
- I made a master page contanining no more then a topic body proxy and a mini-toc proxy. In the Preview, the mini-toc is visible in all topics.
- The TOC and the master page are selected in the target.
But in the build, the mini-toc is nowhere to bee seen. The procedure in the Help from Flair doesn't help me any further. And it is not (yet) about the lay-out.
What's wrong (with me... )?
Tom

[LTinker68]

- I made a TOC, containing one book with, in declining order, topic 1, 2 and 3. Topic 1 contains the mini-toc proxy.

The topic containing the mini-TOC proxy has to be a level above any topics you want to appear in the proxy. So your Topic 1, in this case, needs to be associated with the book, but not be in it (or under it, however you want to word it). So your TOC structure needs to look something like this:

Code: Select all

Book 1 (linked to Topic 1 which contains mini-TOC proxy)
    - Topic 2
    - Topic 3
Topic 4 (same level as Book 1)

Topic 1 with its proxy is on a higher level than Topics 2 and 3, so the proxy will display Topics 2 and 3 but not Topic 4 because it's at the same level as Topic 1.

[Tom]

Thanks Lisa,
You're right, deleting Topic 1 from the TOC and only link it to the book makes it work.
But it means the starting topic for my users (the most important one in a set about a subject), can only be 'found' as a book, not where users will usually look, as a topic. They must dubbelklick a book in stead of a topic to read it. More, the title of the first topic is never contained in the mini-toc. That's a pity. I'll have to figure out a workaround...
Tom

[NorthEast]

They must dubbelklick a book in stead of a topic to read it.

You don't have to double-click the book icon, it only takes a single-click; for both DotNetHelp and WebHelp.

If you're worried it doesn't look like a topic, then maybe change the book icon.

[LTinker68]

I'll have to figure out a workaround...

The workaround would be to not try to combine them. For instance, all my books have an "intro" topic that has a paragraph (sometimes) that describes the purpose of the book, and contains the mini-TOC proxy. So the users will see that "intro" topic when they click on the book, but thereafter, if the book is expanded, they just click on the topic under the book that they want. If the user inadvertently clicks on the book again, the topics will roll up under the book (disappear), but the "intro" topic containing the mini-TOC will be visible so they can click the topic link there.

To put it another way, the book's topic (e.g., intro.htm) is a fluff topic (just contains the mini-TOC) and doesn't contain any real content. It's simply a topic that appears when the user clicks on the book.