MadCap Software Forums

Hi,

I've sifted through a few topics around this question but I still need some help. (I'm using Flare 7.2)

If I'm understanding the other topics, and the behavior I'm seeing, correctly: the Use TOC depth setting only works on those headings that have been set with an mc-heading-level >0. Therefore, to achieve the hierarchy defined in the TOC editor you must include all headings used in the printed table of contents.

Am I correct?

If so, well first of all bummer, but if so, what would you consider to be best practice for using headings in individual topics? Always start with H1 regardless of where you think it might end up? What happens with subheadings within topics when the hierarchy shifts?

Example:
TopicA is placed on the 2nd level in the TOC editor. In it there is an H1, and an H2.
TopicB is placed on the 3rd level under TopicA. It starts with an H1. Is that H1 going to change to H3 or H4?

I like the idea of TOC depth because I have topics that are 3rd level in some docs but 4th level in others. However, I'd really only like my printed toc to be 2 levels deep otherwise it gets to be absurdly long. Is there any way to achieve this?

Thanks,
Kath

Hi...this is exactly the question I was going to ask...but I see you had no replies!
I'm wrestling with print output/heading hierarchy issues and would be interested to know whether you answered your own question. If so, could you post it on this thread? Many thanks!

I use a similar system for my projects - I use h1 headings in all my topics, and want the print contents to resemble the TOC structure.

I've copied my instructions from other posts below:


In my projects, I found that this worked for me:
- Set the mc-heading-level property in h2-h6 to 0.
- Create new h1 style classes h1.TOC2, h1.TOC3, etc and set the mc-heading-level property in these styles.

So you would have:
Add h1.TOCn styles for as many levels as you need in your print contents.

When the TOC-depth feature changes the styles in the output, it will change the h1 style to the appropriate h1.TOCn style. It won't change h1 to the h2-h6 styles, so these won't be modified or appear in the print contents.

Note that your topics must only use the h1 style, don't apply the h1.TOCn styles manually.

--

Also, don't set a master stylesheet in your project/target.
I've noticed some unusual behaviour when you have a master stylesheet set (in the target/project).

For me, it works when:
* All topics include a stylesheet link; i.e. in the topic properties, there is a stylesheet set and it is NOT (Default).
* There is no master stylesheet set on either the target or project; i.e. in the target/project properties, the master stylesheet is set to (Default).

If I set a master stylesheet, it stops working - so clearly there is some sort of glitch in Flare.

I also do the same as Dave Lee and have the Headings follow the TOC structure.
I don't have any mc-heading-levels set either. I tried this and just go so confused! All I wanted it to do was resemble the TOC structure.. I ended up getting it to work without it.
Unlike Dave, I don't have the mc-heading-levels applied anywhere (perhaps I misunderstood what you were after but I don't know that you need them?).

I have set it up so the TOC Depth is used for heading levels: http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare ... Levels.htm. All my topics are Heading 1, but when compiled, Flare takes the TOC level and makes the heading the appropriate heading level in the output (overriding the actual heading level inside the topic). I would advise always starting with H1 for every topic. That way you can't go wrong by having a topic with a heading 2 and then moving that topic and suddenly the heading 2 is out-of-whack. Flare is smart enough to translate the hierarchy of headings inside a topic too; a h1 may become a heading 2 through the TOC and any lower-level headings inside the topic will also be translated. e.g., heading 1 would become a heading 2, a heading 2 would become heading 3 etc.

Hope that helps!

CATERAF wrote:I also do the same as Dave Lee and have the Headings follow the TOC structure.
I don't have any mc-heading-levels set either. I tried this and just go so confused! All I wanted it to do was resemble the TOC structure.. I ended up getting it to work without it.

If you don't set the mc-heading-level, and use the default settings; then presumably your print contents do not match your TOC file though?

My solution is for when you only want only the h1 topic headings to appear in the print contents, and do not want to include any sub-headings from inside the topics. So you only have one entry in the contents for each topic.

If you use the default mc-heading-level settings (for h2, h3 etc.), then the print contents will also include any sub-headings (h2, h3, etc.).

Many thanks for these recent replies to my post - this has been my New Year task and I'm happy to say that I've now got to grips with things and have just about got what I want (notwithstanding a showstopper bug that prevented the PDF build from completing - resolved with help from MC support). Your advice is much appreciated.

The issue I am running into when I set it up so the TOC Depth is used for heading levels is that bookmarks panel in the PDF only generates bookmarks for Heading 1s then. How would I set this up so that when it determines the heading levels based on the TOC depth, it creates bookmarks in the bookmarks panel for both H1s and H2s?

Thanks, y'all!

Never mind... I figured it out. I had my mc-heading-level for h2 set to 0 and now it's working like a charm. Thanks!