RESOLVED: Format list-of proxy works in TopNav, NOT PDF?

[Phlawm53]

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For Flare 11 -- I'd be very interested to know if the behavior described below still exists in later versions of Flare (especially 2017).

IF in my default CSS medium, I specify formatting for individual items generated by a list-of proxy, THEN the formatting:

■ IS visible in a TopNav Target (but NOT in a TopNav preview)

■ Is NOT visible in a PDF Target (or in a PDF preview)

With regard to the second bullet item, even though the default CSS medium's setting should cascade downward to the @ media print section of the CSS, I did also copy the same CSS to the print section just to sanity-check myself...

Guided in part by this related Forum post -- change color of listOfProxy -- the CSS I'm using to debug this problem is as follows:

Code: Select all

MadCap|listOfProxy.qListPending
{
	mc-list-of-tag: h2;
	mc-list-of-class: pendingQuestions;
	border: solid 1px red;
}

MadCap|listOfProxy.qListAnswered
{
	mc-list-of-tag: h2;
	mc-list-of-class: answeredQuestions;
	border: solid 1px green;
}

td.GenListOfTextListOf
{
  border: solid 1px blue;
}

a.GenListOfTextListOf
{
	border: solid 1px magenta;
}

This produces the following formatting in a Flare 11 TopNav output (Ignore the green line running across the entire image -- that's not related):

Flare11TopNavListOfProxyItemsFormatting.png

The problem is that I CANNOT get the same formatting to appear in a PDF Target (or a PDF preview).

Is there some non-intuitive "trick" I need to use to format list-of proxy entries in a PDF?

Or is this a Flare 11 bug that has been fixed in later versions of the product?

Or...?

Cheers & thanks,
Riley
SFO

P.S. Formatting list-of proxy items is absurdly complicated. I needed to use DEV tools to find out what CSS classes end up being applied to the TopNav output, then search this Forum. This process needs to be documented. Or better yet, be made MUCH easier to do...

[Nita Beck]

Riley, I'm sorry, but I'm kinda confused about what you're doing...

Let me use a list of figure titles as an example of what I do. In one of my projects, I've got a paragraph style called "FiguresTitles_ListOf" in which I've styled how the generated entries will look. Then, I have a topic that holds the list-of proxy. I've edited the proxy so that the "Stylesheet class for each generated entry" uses the "FigureTitles_ListOf" style. I don't do anything with tds or with a (link) styles.

Sorry, I'm just kinda scratching my head...

EDIT: And this is in a project that I started in Flare 10, maybe even Flare 9. Still works well in Flare 2017.

[Phlawm53]

Riley, I'm sorry, but I'm kinda confused about what you're doing...

Nita:

The problem is whether / how one can format the individual items produced by the list-os proxy in PDF output.

As shown in the screenshot in the my original post, I can format the individual items in an online output, in this case HTML5 TopNav. The screenshot illustrates that I can (for purposes of development of the CSS) add borders to the proxy (which works in both online and PDF) but add borders to list-of items only in an online Target.

BUT IF I then generate the same content as a PDF, THEN the borders don't appear on the individual items. Nor can I, say, change the color of the text, position them, et cetera.

SO my question / problem is, is there some "trick" to styling the items generated by a list-of proxy in PDF? Or is Flare "broken" insofar as it doesn't permit styling of list-of proxy outputs in PDF? (I can usually work through these sorts of problems. So my thought at this point is that this may be yet another instance where the Flare's PDF engine doesn't handle CSS rules that work perfectly well in online Targets...)

Cheers & thanks,
Riley

[Phlawm53]

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I've figured out a couple of things. But I still can't apply formatting to PDF output.

First, to style links in an online Target, or at least HTML5 / TopNav Targets, one needs to add :link to the GenListOfTextListOf pseudo class ala:

Code: Select all

a.GenListOfTextListOf:link
{
	color: limegreen;
	border: solid 1px magenta;
}

I've demonstrated to my own satisfaction that I can style every aspect of the table, list, and list items produced by a list-of proxy -- in online Targets.

But NONE of that styling then appears in a PDF output of the same content. So my experiments lead me to conclude that Flare's PDF engine, at least for version 11, evidently does NOT recognize the styling of list-of proxy design elements(?)

-> I'd be happy to be proven wrong. Or learn that later versions of the product have remedied this apparent defect.

Cheers & hope this helps
Riley
SFO

[Nita Beck]

The problem is whether / how one can format the individual items produced by the list-os proxy in PDF output.

Here's why I'm so perplexed, Riley. I can format the individual items in my PDF output quite easily, using the techniques I described above. I have not at all had to go through all the machinations you've been going through.

This Flare Help topic has relevant info: http://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare201 ... ements.htm

And this, particular step 6: http://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare201 ... ments.htm?

I think this functionally has been stable for a long time.

p.s. I reached out to you on LinkedIn. I'm happy to help you sort this out...

[Phlawm53]

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I've finally gotten Flare (11) to do as much as it can.

Part of the problem I was having is that evidently some difference exists between the CSS rules that will work in online versus PDF Targets.

For those who haven't found Flare's online help particularly lucid on this issue, here are the steps I used.

1. Use whatever tool you prefer (Flare's GUI CSS Editor, programmer's text editor) to create a class for whatever XHTML element you want to list. In this example, I wanted to list a series questions where each question was preceded by the H2 class H2.answeredQuestions.

2. Use your preferred tool to create a MadCap|listOfProxy class. Here's what the CSS looks like for the listOfProxy I created to list the h2.answeredQuestions class created in Step 1, above.

Code: Select all

MadCap|listOfProxy.qListAnswered	/* PROXY class to produce a list of answered questions. */
{
	mc-list-of-tag: h2;
	mc-list-of-class: answeredQuestions;
}

You can also add CSS attributes to effect proxy-level formatting such as borders, background color, et cetera.

3. Create a paragraph ("P") class that you will use to specify the formatting of each item generated by the list-of proxy you created in Step 2, above. In this example, I created p.listofProxyItems.
*** NOTE that the Flare dialog box used to configure a list-of proxy as illustrated in Step 5, below, will only allow you to select P / paragraph classes. ***

4. To insert the list-of proxy in the desired location, in the Flare XML Editor (a.k.a. topic editor), in the Ribbon, click Insert -> Proxy (extreme right side of ribbon) -> Insert List-Of Proxy.

5. After inserting the list-of proxy, right-click it, choose Edit List-Of Proxy, then configure the proxy as shown here.

ListOfProxyImages02.png

6. Click OK to finish the configuration process.

HOWEVER, note when specifying the CSS for the P element you created in Step 3, above, that Flare PDF Targets (at least through version 11) do NOT recognize all CSS attributes. For example, Flare 11 PDF Targets do not recognize the background-color attribute for individual items. There are probably other attributes that will not be recognized.

The preceding information presumably exists somewhere deep within the bowels of the sprawl of digressions and corner-case explanations that is the Madcap Flare online help. But I became so frustrated trying to filter out all the noise in the pertinent OLH topics that I thought I'd list the steps above for other Flare users who needed to get this done in something approximating real-time.

Finally note that for online Targets you can also format the XHTML structural elements used to present the list-of items. However, some CSS rules that are recognized by online Targets evidently are NOT recognized in PDF targets.

Cheers & hope this helps,
Riley
SFO