Is it possible to have multiple sets of icons?

[MarinaMichaels]

I am creating a template for my company that is to use our company colors. I want a set of icons that are in the company colors (basically, we are going to take the Flare icons and color them differently), but I already have two projects that use Flare's default icons, and I don't want to mess up those projects.

How can I add an entire new set of icons to the set of default icons? Do I just need to put them all in the same default icon location, but with different names? (Which I'd rather not do, because then I have to individually set the icons for everything.)

Or can I have a separate folder with our company-colored icons that I can point to for the company template, using the same names as the default icon names? If that is possible, can I then update the entire template by pointing it to a different location for the icons?

Thanks!

[NorthEast]

If you mean the icons used by the skin, then just create a new skin, and create a new target that uses that skin. The skin icons are stored inside the skin file itself when you browse/select the image files (you don't replace any icon files in your project).

[Msquared]

My reply is as Dave says.

I've done that for one of my Web skins. I located the default Flare icons, edited them as required and copied them to my project under Content/Resources/Images. Then just create a skin and specify those icons (if you don't specify anything, you will get the defaults). Now use that skin for your target.

It is worth nothing that some of the icons in the skin are actually embedded in the skin file. Most other images in Flare are referenced by a link to the filename, so if you change the graphic, the link ensures that the latest version of the graphic from the referenced file is used when you build.

But in Web skins, the actual graphics themselves are embedded. I spent several happy hours trying to work out why changes to my graphics weren't reflected in the skins, unlike changes to any other graphics in Flare files. Then I realised that I had to edit the skin to remove that graphic, then replace it again to persuade Flare to actually update the skin with the new graphic.

Search me why this is. One day, I may get round to raising this as a bug. Even if it's a "feature", this should be mentioned in the documentation.

[NorthEast]

Yep, when you 'browse for image' in the skin, the file you select is embedded in the actual skin file (*.flskn).
So if you update the image and need to replace it, you need to browse and select it again.

When you build the target, the embedded skin images are 'extracted' from the skin and included as files in the output.
All embedded images in the skin are generated, including any unused images; so if you're replacing an old image, a good tip is to use the exact same filename, otherwise you'll have two files in the skin.

[Msquared]

Yep, while trying to update one image, I noticed that I had ended up with two images too. I think I may have hacked the one I wasn't using out of the skin file in the end, using a text editor.

Any idea why this is so convoluted? Is there a good reason for embedding them directly in the skin source, rather than embedding them when the target is built?

[MarinaMichaels]

Thanks for the information. And of course the answers gave rise to new questions.

if I copy the icons to one project and then create a skin using those icons, then that skin keeps those icons embedded, so I can use that skin in another project. But since the icons get embedded, is it necessary to copy the icons to the project? Rather than having to re-point to every icon in the skin, what I would rather do is have a separate folder that I can point the entire skin at, so that it can find the icons by the same names there. Is this not possible?[/list]

The default icons are kept here on my computer: C:\Program Files (x86)\MadCap Software\MadCap Flare V8\Flare.app\Resources\WebHelp\Default.flwht\Images\. For those projects that are already using those default icons, what happens if I just change the icons in that folder? Nothing?

If I rename the skin within a project (a skin that came from a template), then modify the skin to use new icons, is that the same as creating a new skin? Or will that affect the older versions of that skin?

[Msquared]

Not sure I've understood all your questions exactly, so I'm sorry if this is either repeating what you already know, or isn't telling you enough. If so, do say, and I'll try to do better . . .

For skins, for some reason, the icons actually get embedded in the skin file in all their binary glory. So changing the original source icon won't affect what is actually used by the skin at all. I know that from bitter experience! This is completely unlike the way that Flare handles images elsewhere, where if you change the source image, you actually change it everywhere it is used in your project (except in skins, that is).

I like to keep all my source icons in one place in the project that uses them, even for the skins, simply because if I do need to edit them, then I know where they are. But if you have some other place for your common icons, then, so far as I know, that will be fine. Just make sure that it is somewhere that will be archived with your project and where others know to find them.

As far as Flare's default icons go, I don't know what will happen if you edit those in situ. You can try, but save the originals first! If changes to those icons do get propagated to all skins that use them (unlikely, but possible, which is why I said make a copy first), then be aware that it will affect every project ON YOUR MACHINE, and just on your machine, as that change won't propagate to anyone else's Flare installation that uses them. So I wouldn't touch the default ones at all, ever. I'd copy them and make any changes locally to my project (or projects).

As far as renaming your skins goes, you only ever have one version of each skin in your project at a time. Each webhelp target needs exactly one skin and won't build as expected if that skin cannot be found. So if you rename a skin then try to build a target that needed the skin under the old name, then that build won't work because the old skin has gone.

However, any previous versions of webhelp that have already been built using the old skin won't be affected. Once a target of any kind is built and installed or distributed, that's final. Nothing in it links back to your source files (any image files needed are copied, in the state that they were at the time the project was built, the skins are copied, the topics themselves are converted to HTML and copied etc), and nothing that you do later on in your project will affect what you have already delivered, although it may well affect what happens when you build the next version of that target.

So, to come back to your original problem, I think you probably need to leave your existing skin exactly as it is, and leave the targets that already use it exactly as they are (unless of course you need to make changes for other reasons, that is!). I would copy your existing skin (let's say it's called "Product A Skin") and give the copy some meaningful name like "Product B Skin". Then I'd make my icon changes in Product B Skin, and associate that with "Product B Webhelp Target". If the only change to Product B is the branding in the skin, then everything else about Product B (for example, the variables, conditionals, TOC etc) can be exactly the same as the Product A webhelp target.

[MarinaMichaels]

I'd like to place all skins in whatever location it is that Flare uses when you open the Project > New > Skin dialog box. Do you know where that folder is? Thanks!

[Msquared]

<Your Flare Project Folder>\Project\Skins.

By default, icons and images will be in <Your Flare Project Folder>\Content\Resources\Images. I've got no idea why Flare thinks that images (and stylesheets and page layouts) are part of your "Content", but skins are just part of your "Project". Anyway, everything that matters to Flare is under either Project or Content. In principle, you can use other locations for most of those although I woudn't advise it unless you have good reason to. Some things may have to be where Flare expects to find them, (I think glossaries are one, for example) unless you specified somewhere else when you first created them.

[NorthEast]

I'd like to place all skins in whatever location it is that Flare uses when you open the Project > New > Skin dialog box. Do you know where that folder is? Thanks!

You need to set up a templates folder, and save the skin to this folder.
Then you (and others, if it's on a network) will be able to add the skin to a project.

See:
http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare8/Default.htm#Templates/Managing_Templates.htm