Flare 12: No Usable Workflow for Equations

devjoe · Post by **devjoe** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:34 am

Flare 12 dumps the java-based equation editor we have had for a while and replaces it with ... almost nothing?

What you get is a box that lets you paste in MathML source code from an external editor. This failed in two out of three test cases.
When I pasted in an equation from the Flare 11 equation editor, all the < and > from the tags were replaced with < and >, destroying the tags in the process, and leaving it with something Flare can't even parse as an equation.
When I pasted in an equation from Word, with the option enabled to copy equations as MathML - the strategy I have used when I receive content containing equations in a Word document - the pasted text includes an mml: namespace Flare does not recognize, and it renders the entire source code as text inside an equation. (Removing this with search and replace gave something that did work, but that's not a viable strategy.)
When I pasted in an equation from an old copy of MathType I have available, it worked.

There's no viable strategy for editing existing equations. There needs to be a command to open the MathML in an external editor. As is, the best you can do is copy and paste back into the external editor. This worked with MathType for an equation I pasted in from MathType. It failed for an equation initially created with Flare 11.

In exchange for this, we get the ability write equations in LaTeX. But as all the MathML workflows are cumbersome at best, broken in many cases, it looks like the only viable strategy in Flare 12 is to train all my writers in LaTeX.

Mads · Post by **Mads** » Thu Mar 17, 2016 6:02 am

And rendering in the XML editor is not working.
Either the equation is displayed several lines below the insertion point or not visible at all.
I have installed IE 11 and Java 8 64-bit as required but it doesn't help.
Even tried downloading the latest MathJax package, "installed" it locally and tried "loading" it by adding <script type="text/javascript" src="path-to-MathJax/MathJax.js"></script> to the <head> section, but nothing works.
We have manuals with thousands of Equations which makes Flare 12 a no-go for us

.

ChoccieMuffin · Post by **ChoccieMuffin** » Thu Mar 17, 2016 7:54 am

Mads wrote:And rendering in the XML editor is not working.
Either the equation is displayed several lines below the insertion point or not visible at all.
I have installed IE 11 and Java 8 64-bit as required but it doesn't help.
Even tried downloading the latest MathJax package, "installed" it locally and tried "loading" it by adding <script type="text/javascript" src="path-to-MathJax/MathJax.js"></script> to the <head> section, but nothing works.
We have manuals with thousands of Equations which makes Flare 12 a no-go for us .

I suggest you contact Madcap directly about this, and perhaps we'll end up with a patch being released fairly quickly (she said hopefully!) so that the problem can be resolved. Definitely sounds like a massive OOPS from Madcap though.

JenShumate · Post by **JenShumate** » Mon Apr 25, 2016 10:34 am

I just discovered the "improvements" for the equation editor in Flare 12. I have to say that I'm very disappointed. I don't understand why you would strip a perfectly good equation editor. This new version is complete garbage. I'm re-installing Flare 11 as we speak. Thanks MadCap.

Johanna · Post by **Johanna** » Mon Jun 20, 2016 6:55 am

Amazed to discover this at a moment where I am almost forced to move to Flare 12: Flare 11 is troublesome for the equation editor as well
as many of my colleagues reported problems. But instead of fixing it, the functionality (of the equation editor) is simply dropped...
As a software vendor myself, wondering how many of my customers would accept such a thing...

ruthhoward · Post by **ruthhoward** » Fri Sep 23, 2016 8:23 am

in the interests of balance my development teams are very happy with the equation editor in Flare 12 - it uses Latex which is a common language and makes the equation in the source much less cumbersome. It is stored over a single line instead of dozens and allows copy/paste from many of standard scientific equation editors.

chrispitude · Post by **chrispitude** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:17 am

devjoe wrote:Flare 12 dumps the java-based equation editor we have had for a while and replaces it with ... almost nothing?

What you get is a box that lets you paste in MathML source code from an external editor. This failed in two out of three test cases.
When I pasted in an equation from the Flare 11 equation editor, all the < and > from the tags were replaced with < and >, destroying the tags in the process, and leaving it with something Flare can't even parse as an equation.

Reviving an old thread...

I had this same problem with MathML equations rendering as text, with all the angle brackets escaped. The cause was the use of single quotes in the namespace reference:

Code: Select all

<math xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML'>

If I changed these to use double quotes:

Code: Select all

<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">

then the equation rendered properly.

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Flare 12: No Usable Workflow for Equations

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