Topic Toolbar Proxy in HTML5 Top Nav not showing Prev & Next

[JeremyTaylor]

Re: Topic Toolbar Proxy - using it in an HTML5 Top Navigation skin.

I simply cannot find a way to get Previous Topic and Next Topic buttons to show in the Topic Toolbar. I've tried in the OtherTopics.flmsp Master Page right clicking on the proxy and selecting Edit Topic Toolbar Proxy, and clicking Select Buttons. I've tried opening the TopicToolBar skin component > Setup and moved buttons to the Selected box. In the Target > Skin, I have the Top Nav skin selected, and I've tried the Topic Toolbar set to (default) and selecting TopicToolbar.flskn.

Any ideas?

JT

[techwriter31]

According to the Flare help, Next Topic and Previous Topic are not supported in the TopNav output. Here's the help topic; you'll have to click on "WHICH OUTPUTS SUPPORT WHICH BUTTONS?" to see the list.
http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare ... _Proxy.htm

[JeremyTaylor]

According to the Flare help, Next Topic and Previous Topic are not supported in the TopNav output. Here's the help topic; you'll have to click on "WHICH OUTPUTS SUPPORT WHICH BUTTONS?" to see the list.
http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare ... _Proxy.htm

Thanks Kellie! I did search the help, but didn't come across that...

Well, that's a real nuisance, as on mobile TopNav really needs a way to move along from the current page. I'd go so far as to call that a bug...

[JeremyTaylor]

According to the Flare help, Next Topic and Previous Topic are not supported in the TopNav output. Here's the help topic; you'll have to click on "WHICH OUTPUTS SUPPORT WHICH BUTTONS?" to see the list.
http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare ... _Proxy.htm

Well, that's a real nuisance, as on mobile TopNav really needs a way to move along from the current page. I'd go so far as to call that a bug...

Bug report raised on this...

[jjw]

I put my own forward and back buttons in with some javascript. They call window.history.forward() and window.history.back(). I gave them the built in "button" style and used appendChild to add them to the topic toolbar.

There's probably some excellent reason why MadCap disabled these buttons and I'll regret this forever ...

[Nita Beck]

I put my own forward and back buttons in with some javascript. They call window.history.forward() and window.history.back(). I gave them the built in "button" style and used appendChild to add them to the topic toolbar.

There's probably some excellent reason why MadCap disabled these buttons and I'll regret this forever ...

Bear in mind that Back and Forward do not have the same behavior as Previous and Next. Back and Forward allow one to step backward or forward through pages already visited in the order in which they were visited. Previous and Next are based on the TOC and allow one to "step up or down" that TOC. I find it helpful to think of the Previous and Next buttons as being the online equivalent of turning pages in a book.

[jjw]

Bear in mind that Back and Forward do not have the same behavior as Previous and Next. Back and Forward allow one to step backward or forward through pages already visited in the order in which they were visited. Previous and Next are based on the TOC and allow one to "step up or down" that TOC. I find it helpful to think of the Previous and Next buttons as being the online equivalent of turning pages in a book.

Ah true ... although you could read the forward and back addresses relative to the selected item in the local side menu and traverse that. Doesn't seem as useful if you have the side menu displayed though.

J

[sdcinvan]

After two years of building PDF only documents from my Flare source, I am now getting into building an HTML version using the TopNav skin.

What the heck, why on Earth would the next and back buttons be removed? It is *not* more convenient to select from the top navigation menu to move to the following or previous topic.

Anyone figure out how to add a forward and back topic button?

[NorthEast]

After two years of building PDF only documents from my Flare source, I am now getting into building an HTML version using the TopNav skin.

What the heck, why on Earth would the next and back buttons be removed? It is *not* more convenient to select from the top navigation menu to move to the following or previous topic.

Anyone figure out how to add a forward and back topic button?

Assuming you mean back/forward (browser history), and not previous/next (TOC browse sequence); then first perhaps think about whether you actually need a back/forward, as your browser already has these buttons.
I can't see the point of having back, forward, refresh, etc. unless you're not displaying the help in a browser (i.e. a custom control).

But if you want a back/forward in HTML5, see the following post:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19070

[sdcinvan]

After two years of building PDF only documents from my Flare source, I am now getting into building an HTML version using the TopNav skin.

What the heck, why on Earth would the next and back buttons be removed? It is *not* more convenient to select from the top navigation menu to move to the following or previous topic.

Anyone figure out how to add a forward and back topic button?

Assuming you mean back/forward (browser history), and not previous/next (TOC browse sequence); then first perhaps think about whether you actually need a back/forward, as your browser already has these buttons.
I can't see the point of having back, forward, refresh, etc. unless you're not displaying the help in a browser (i.e. a custom control).

But if you want a back/forward in HTML5, see the following post:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19070

Looking at what I wrote, I need to slap myself for not being more coherent.

No Dave, I want to allow my readers to be able to go back/forward through the chapters of the online document. The HTML5 TopNav skin appears to have taken away this feature.

[MAF]

I agree 101% with you sdcinvan, "Next topic" and ""Previous topic" would be really useful in HTML5 Top Nav output and I just cannot understand why it's not supported in Flare.

If anybody finds a way to include a "next topic" link at the end of a topic (apart from the obvious manual hyperlink in each topic of course), I am extremely interested.

[sdcinvan]

I agree 101% with you sdcinvan, "Next topic" and ""Previous topic" would be really useful in HTML5 Top Nav output and I just cannot understand why it's not supported in Flare.

If anybody finds a way to include a "next topic" link at the end of a topic (apart from the obvious manual hyperlink in each topic of course), I am extremely interested.

After a long delay, I am finally returning to my web output project. Unless someone beats me to this quest, I will post a solution sometime in February. My only concern is that I don't see how this can be added automatically... meaning you might have to manually edit and insert extra code to the published document, each time you change its content.

[OT Note: Please webmasters, this "You cannot make another post so soon after your last." message is getting rather annoying and really dissuading me from contributing to this forum. It would be nice if this sort of security message was only enabled for new users.]

[NorthEast]

It wouldn't be that difficult to generate the links automatically if you know a bit of Javascript.

For example, a script could read in the TOC from either a copy of the fltoc (XML) file, or from a TOC proxy inserted in a topic.
Then it could check the current topic filename in that, and calculate the previous/next topics.

[sdcinvan]

It wouldn't be that difficult to generate the links automatically if you know a bit of Javascript.

For example, a script could read in the TOC from either a copy of the fltoc (XML) file, or from a TOC proxy inserted in a topic.
Then it could check the current topic filename in that, and calculate the previous/next topics.

I haven't given any thought about how to accomplish this so thank you for this idea.

At this point, my greatest concern is how to embed the additional code automatically into the published HTML doc. Any ideas?

[NorthEast]

It wouldn't be that difficult to generate the links automatically if you know a bit of Javascript.

For example, a script could read in the TOC from either a copy of the fltoc (XML) file, or from a TOC proxy inserted in a topic.
Then it could check the current topic filename in that, and calculate the previous/next topics.

I haven't given any thought about how to accomplish this so thank you for this idea. :)

At this point, my greatest concern is how to embed the additional code automatically into the published HTML doc. Any ideas?

It's easy to embed/add the HTML code for the links, the harder part is reading the TOC to work out what the prev/next topics should be.

[Kt_123]

It wouldn't be that difficult to generate the links automatically if you know a bit of Javascript.

For example, a script could read in the TOC from either a copy of the fltoc (XML) file, or from a TOC proxy inserted in a topic.
Then it could check the current topic filename in that, and calculate the previous/next topics.

I haven't given any thought about how to accomplish this so thank you for this idea.

At this point, my greatest concern is how to embed the additional code automatically into the published HTML doc. Any ideas?

It's easy to embed/add the HTML code for the links, the harder part is reading the TOC to work out what the prev/next topics should be.

Any update on this?

I want to add the previous/next topic links with topic names at the bottom of the page in Flare 11 HTML5 Top Navigation skin.

[navinger]

I was looking at some of the topnav showcase projects here: http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/ ... wcase.aspx and the Hewlett Packard help (http://mobilecenter.hpe.com/Content/Intro.htm) has Previous and Next topic toolbar buttons. I wonder how they did that?

[NorthEast]

I was looking at some of the topnav showcase projects here: http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/ ... wcase.aspx and the Hewlett Packard help (http://mobilecenter.hpe.com/Content/Intro.htm) has Previous and Next topic toolbar buttons. I wonder how they did that?

They've had to write their own script - look at _TopNav_Script.js, and find the parts with "next-topic-button" and "previous-topic-button".
It appears to work this out by looking at the HTML of the side menu. It finds the "selected" class in the menu (the current topic), then finds the parent link (to go back), or the first child link (to go forwards).

[navinger]

I got the email a couple of hours ago announcing Flare 2016 r2, and the following enhancement caught my eye:

"Enhancements for HTML5 TopNav and Skinless Output (Previous and Next Buttons)"

I had already added the previous and next buttons to the topic toolbar quite some time ago. I had left them in the topic toolbar even though Flare wouldn't display them. So I downloaded the new Flare version, built my project, and like magic, the previous and next buttons are displayed and work fine!!

Hooray!!