Creating a TOC for print

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ElaineB
Propeller Head
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri May 27, 2016 9:29 am

Creating a TOC for print

Post by ElaineB »

Hi all,

I hope someone can help. I am soooo frustrated with Flare setup right now and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

We have about 15 printed targets, in addition to online. After several discussions with tech support, I was able to get the regular pages and the title pages set up to look they way they need to be. However, I cannot seem to do the same with the TOC.

When I have the TOC created automatically, there is not a way to format it. And we need some headers, footers, roman numerals in the footer, etc. on the TOC pages. When I try to follow the 'create a TOC manually' steps, the project refuses to build because it says there is a circular error. I try going in another way and selecting a TOC style from our imported RoboHelp project stylesheet, and then no TOC gets included.

IS there a way to create a page layout for a TOC with header/footer already in there, and then tell it to put the TOC there, and be able to format the look of the TOC main headings in the TOC? (Such as a different color H1). Please advise. I'm at the end of my rope.

Thanks,
Elaine
devjoe
Sr. Propeller Head
Posts: 342
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:43 pm

Re: Creating a TOC for print

Post by devjoe »

Does that circular error say it is a circular reference? That suggests you have a TOC structure where perhaps TOC A includes TOC B and TOC B includes TOC A.
If that's not it, you should definitely work with MadCap tech support again to try to resolve that error, because setting up a topic with a TOC proxy is the path to being able to control the formatting of the TOC.
Generally, the TOC proxy topic isn't very complex. Mine is just:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<html xmlns:MadCap="http://www.madcapsoftware.com/Schemas/MadCap.xsd" MadCap:lastBlockDepth="2" MadCap:lastHeight="110" MadCap:lastWidth="528" MadCap:conditions="Print.PrintOnly,Primary.PrintOnly">
    <head><title>Contents</title>
        <link href="flare_front_matter.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    </head>
    <style>
        <!--
h1
{
margin-bottom: 24pt;
} -->
    </style>
    <body>
        <h1 class="unnumbered">Contents</h1>
        <MadCap:tocProxy />
    </body>
</html>
ElaineB
Propeller Head
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri May 27, 2016 9:29 am

Re: Creating a TOC for print

Post by ElaineB »

k thanks.

I was able to resolve the circular error, but we still cannot get the TOC to be formatted the way we want. I've reached out to MadCap support on that one. We have a page layout associated with the TOC topic, we have the TOC formatted and the numbers/headings are coming out normal, but no headers/footers like we wanted.

Getting Flare set up for the first time is a royal PAIN! I've only worked at modifying Flare projects; I've never set one up before.

Elaine
trishe57
Propeller Head
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2016 8:27 am

Re: Creating a TOC for print

Post by trishe57 »

I too have found the Flare help on print TOC setup "unhelpful". Spectacularly so. I have an h4 that I cannot get to indent in the generated TOC. Yes, I edited the p.TOCx (where x is the level number). Nope. I also created madcap|tocProxy classes to handle the TOC. Still NOPE. What am I missing? The instructions say to set a left margin in the "box" settings. It works for every heading EXCEPT h4. *whimper*
trishe57
Propeller Head
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2016 8:27 am

Re: Creating a TOC for print

Post by trishe57 »

And I answered my own question. I found one more article in the online help. Talked about setting mc-heading-level. I didn't see that one, until I toggled alphabetical order for the properties. h4 was set to 4 by default. I changed it to heading level 3. THEN in indented. Why? No idea. But that worked. :analyzer:
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