How to set pagelayout used in Preview window?

[Rene Severens]

Hi,

(Using MadCap Flare 9 and comparing against version 10 and 11)
Target = PDF

Using the preview window quite a lot, I have noticed that the pagelayout used the Preview Window is different than the pagelayout defined for the target. I am using a pagelayout with 4 subpagelayouts defined and have already seen that in Flare 9 it is not possible to select the subpagelayout but this is possible in Flare 10 / 11.

When using, for example, tables and making adjustments based on the Preview Window, this always results in an incorrect columnwidth. Only a build of the target can be used to see the actual result. This makes me wonder which pagelayout is used in the Preview Window and if it is possible to select a different pagelayout or edit the pagelayout used in the Preview Window so maybe this window shows the column widths correctly without needing to build the target for each small adjustment made.

I need to do this in MadCap Flare 9 because due to the pre-tag bug it is not possible to build the correct output in Flare 10 / 11. However if it is possible to set the pagelayout for the Preview Window in higher versions of Flare, I still would like to know how.

Greetings,
Rene Severens.

[DocuWil]

As far as I know you have to set the target to 'Make Primary' and then the preview will show accordingly.
In Flare 11 it is possible to select the layout conform the content.

[Rene Severens]

Hi,

Already tried that but it did not work.
(in Flare 9): When set the color of the left border of the body used to for example green, and switched to a preview window, there is no pagelayout selected and everything seen uses the used stylesheet.
- When selected the pagelayout used in the selecionlist, it seems that the used pagelayout is examined for a "default" pagelyaout, which does not exist, because each pagelayout has been given another name. By not finding this "default" pagelayout (and in this using a page named "Normal" which also does not exist), Flare stops at the last added subpage in the pagelayout and uses that one.
- When selected the pagelayout in the selection list called default, it seems that the pagelayout file from the system dir where Flare has been installed is used. The preview window does not show the correct layout in all cases. I did not go as far as to edit the pagelayout in the installdir of Flare, because I am afraid that will make a mess out of the Flare GUI.
=> The page layout expected is the one with the green body line. This one never shows up again once selected a pagelayout in the selection list.
(in Flare 10 / 11): Even in these versions, when selected the subpage layout, there is still a "jump" to the left of all text, and the "jump" made matches the difference in number of pixels between the selected pagelayout and the used page "Normal" in the "default" pagelayout.

My conclusion therefore is that the preview window, if selected an option in the selection list, checks for a "Normal" page in the used pagelayout and when not finding that page it always uses the installdir file defined pagelayout "default" and page "Normal" and then applies the created stylesheet. If this is correct, then adding a subpage "Normal" to the subpages in the used pagelayout and adjust (copy) this to the pagelayout intended for topics, this might show the correct layout.

Another possible flow might be that in case the opened topic is a heading2 or heading3 level topic. Since I se the option to have the TOC determine the heading levels, there is no need to define a pagelayout for these topic pages, so in these topic properties the pagelyout is set to "none". According to the inheritance these topics will use the pagelayout of the chapter level (heading 1 topics) which have a pagelayout set by settings the chapterbreak. This works perfect in the output. If selected a heading level 2 or heading level 3 topic and clicked preview and the topics properties are used to determine the pagelayout, then "none" will also lead to the "default - Normal" page and thus the preview window shows a wrong result.

However, in the current project (time) it is not possible for me to test this.

Greetings,
Rene Severens

[Lydia]

Hi Rene,
when you are writing about the "subpage layout" in your last post, does this refer to the Page Layout > Page Type setting at the top of the XML editor? As far as I understand that option does not combine in any way with the Preview option. Also, choosing a page layout (and type) here does not actually apply that to the topic, it just changes the current view.
In other words, the setting in your target (and the related TOC) defines what you see in the preview, not the Page Layout > Page Type setting.
I was wondering, if there was some confusion about this feature, because I did not recognize the term "subpage layout".
Regards,
Lydia.

[Rene Severens]

Hi,

To clarify some screenshots:

THE used pagelayout.png

When the page layout selection list is opened no pagelayout is checked:

The not shown as selected pagelayout that is currently used.PNG

When selected a pagelayout:

The same topic with pagelayouts selected.png

And the preview window:

Preview window showing MCFlares default pagelayout.PNG

Which is NOT the same pagelayout as ends up in the final output:

OutputCapture.PNG

The screenshots show clearly a diference in the body left margin. Now when a table is put inside a topic, and selecting another layout (even the layout that is created and should be the correct layout), or opened the preview window, the body width is different. This causes the table columns to be shown in different widths than intended and making it very hard to edit the column width so they end up correctly in the output. The only view that shows the tables correctly is the final output, so after each edit it becomes required to build.

Hence my question: it is possible to specify the pagelayout the preview window must use, so it reflects the actual output?

Greetings,

Rene Severens

[Lydia]

Hi Rene,
the preview uses what you have defined in your target and TOC. So, if you preview choosing your output target, preview and output should have the same page layout.
As for the setting of the XML editor - the page layout button at the top - I don't have v9 documentation. So I don't know which page type it chooses. In v10 and v11 you can choose yourself the page type you want to see in the XML editor.
However, setting the page layout and type here is not meant to change the preview.

So, if you use the same target and get different results with the preview and the actual output, this doesn't sound right or like something you can fix with settings.

Kind Regards, Lydia.

[Rene Severens]

Hi,

Thanks four your reply.

I think you are right that the preview uses what is defined in target and TOC. Inside the topics in the TOC I have only defined a pagelayout for topics at the root level, so heading level 1, for the Chapters. All topics inside a chapter have nothing defined, meaning if opened the topic's properties then "none" is selected.

I can picture that when previewed a topic that is not a chapter, "none" will lead to no page layout at all, and was thinking the MadCap Flare's default pagelayout would be used instead. I hoped I could somehow set the preview window to use the pagelayout intended for topics, but that seems not possible.

Greetings,
Rene Severens