How to import one Flare project into another

[ccardimon]

I could use some information and "best practices" advice on this.

Right now they exist as two separate Flare projects. I need to import one into the other.

As usual, any tips, hints, and suggestions would be appreciated.

[forfear]

The existing line does not support this directly.

However, if you're producing merged webhelp, all you have to do in your 'main' or primary help system is to
Create linked build at runtime TOC entries, and Flare does the rest to integrate it all in your webhelp output.
Robohelps previous way of doing this was a lot more troublesome.


just be sure that all your linked or child help systems have a 'webhelp' target as well.

[ccardimon]

True, but I have to do this with Word output first, then WebHelp

It appears Flare does not support outputting merged projects to Word format. And this is something I have to do.

Please don't tell me I have to keep RoboHelp around for this.

[forfear]

True, but I have to do this with Word output first, then WebHelp

It appears Flare does not support outputting merged projects to Word format. And this is something I have to do.

Please don't tell me I have to keep RoboHelp around for this.

Unfortunately you won't like the answer. Nope you can't do it a merged project for word output...not yet at least.
I understand what you mean.
Its a hotly requested feature. Blaze supports the feature you mention seamlessly so that's a good sign. Unfortunately its not to be released yet....but should be pretty soon...i imagine.

What i did do for my own projects at the moment, was to generate the child projects and do some massaging of the output. Its not great but it gets the results that you request.

And nope...you won't need to keep robohelp to do this...cos it doesn't do this at all to the best of my knowledge.

[lacastle]

Can't you just copy the files from one project into the other (in Windows Explorer)? Just take any files you want (topics, TOCs, etc) and make sure you put them in the right place (like a TOC file should go in Project>TOCs).

[LTinker68]

Right now they exist as two separate Flare projects. I need to import one into the other.

Hmmm. First, make copies of both projects. Then...

You can take care a lot of this just by copying the topics (including snippets and masterpages) from ProjectB into the Content folder in ProjectA. Since the index entries are inside the topics themselves, then they'll come over automatically.

You can also copy the Glossary file from the Project folder of ProjectB into the Project folder of ProjectA, and then in the target specify that both glossaries be included in the output. Hopefully that'll automatically merge the glossaries and list the terms alphabetically instead of listing the terms in the first glossary and then listing the terms in the second glossary. I've never tried two glossaries in one project, so if the glossary output isn't the way you want, then you might have to open both glossary files in Notepad or something similar and copy one set of terms to the other. Hopefully you won't need to do that.

For stylesheets, if there aren't any duplicate table stylesheets between the two topics, then just copy the table stylesheets from ProjectB into ProjectA. If there are duplicate table stylesheets or main topic stylesheets, then I say don't copy them over at all -- just use the styles you already have set in ProjectA. If your main topic stylesheet in ProjectB has a different name than the one in ProjectA, then you can copy the one from ProjectB into ProjectA. The ProjectB topics that you copied over will automatically look for that same stylesheet. However, if the styles in the two stylesheets are similar, then you might want to do a find-and-replace on the ProjectB stylesheet reference in the topics and change it to the ProjectA stylesheet so that you're only using one stylesheet.

If you're doing context-sensitive help using aliases and map IDs, then you might have to manually merge those files.

The only other thing to do is add the topics from ProjectB into the TOC for ProjectA.

I might have overlooked something, but I think that's everything.

[forfear]

What nice contributions and so quick.


Here's another tip!

If you're using Source Control like Team Foundation or Visual Source Safe.

Use the Branch feature to branch your project 'Commons' into each new project to achieve the desired effect whe you open new projects.

[ccardimon]

There is no source control as I'm the only one doing this.

Yes, thanks for the quick responses. Very nice.

[ccardimon]

Unfortunately you won't like the answer. Nope you can't do it a merged project for word output...not yet at least.
I understand what you mean.
Its a hotly requested feature. Blaze supports the feature you mention seamlessly so that's a good sign. Unfortunately its not to be released yet....but should be pretty soon...i imagine.

What i did do for my own projects at the moment, was to generate the child projects and do some massaging of the output. Its not great but it gets the results that you request.

And nope...you won't need to keep robohelp to do this...cos it doesn't do this at all to the best of my knowledge.

I'm looking forward to Blaze, myself.

I'm curious, how did you generate your child projects and massage your output?

Nah, I'm not using RH. I just threw that in because it's May 20th, it's raining (again), it's a chilly 53 degrees, and I have a migraine. Sigh.

[doc_guy]

There is no source control as I'm the only one doing this.

I'm the only writer in my company, and I still use source control. Source control is more than multi-user access to your files. That is one benefit of source control, however, in my opinion, the greater benefit is tied to the name: source control. If I'm checking in my project every day, then pretty much no matter what happens, my data is safe. If my hard drive crashes, my data is safe. If I get infected by a virus, my data is safe. If I delete my project, my data is safe. If my manager tells me that they've removed a component from the system, and I remove the associate files, but then six months later comes back and says customers are demanding that we re-instate that component, I don't have to re-write or re-copy the files from scratch. I just go into my source control and restore the files. If I do a global find/replace in my project, and then discover that I've totally screwed everything up, it's okay. I can revert the changes.

I really recommend source control to ANY person doing documentation. I find it an invaluable tool because I'm a person prone to making mistakes. Source control is my insurance policy to help mitigate the damage I can inflict on my project on any given day.

[ccardimon]

Right now they exist as two separate Flare projects. I need to import one into the other.

Hmmm. First, make copies of both projects. Then...

You can take care a lot of this just by copying the topics (including snippets and masterpages) from ProjectB into the Content folder in ProjectA. Since the index entries are inside the topics themselves, then they'll come over automatically.

You can also copy the Glossary file from the Project folder of ProjectB into the Project folder of ProjectA, and then in the target specify that both glossaries be included in the output. Hopefully that'll automatically merge the glossaries and list the terms alphabetically instead of listing the terms in the first glossary and then listing the terms in the second glossary. I've never tried two glossaries in one project, so if the glossary output isn't the way you want, then you might have to open both glossary files in Notepad or something similar and copy one set of terms to the other. Hopefully you won't need to do that.

For stylesheets, if there aren't any duplicate table stylesheets between the two topics, then just copy the table stylesheets from ProjectB into ProjectA. If there are duplicate table stylesheets or main topic stylesheets, then I say don't copy them over at all -- just use the styles you already have set in ProjectA. If your main topic stylesheet in ProjectB has a different name than the one in ProjectA, then you can copy the one from ProjectB into ProjectA. The ProjectB topics that you copied over will automatically look for that same stylesheet. However, if the styles in the two stylesheets are similar, then you might want to do a find-and-replace on the ProjectB stylesheet reference in the topics and change it to the ProjectA stylesheet so that you're only using one stylesheet.

If you're doing context-sensitive help using aliases and map IDs, then you might have to manually merge those files.

The only other thing to do is add the topics from ProjectB into the TOC for ProjectA.

I might have overlooked something, but I think that's everything.

Thanks, Lisa. Seems like a lot, but worth it in the end.

[doc_guy]

It does seem like a lot, but if you haven't done any custom table styles, and if you try to keep you style sheets the same across projects (like I do) then you don't have to necessarily do the style sheet step.

It sounds like a lot of work, but its not too bad. And the outcome is good!

[ccardimon]

You can take care a lot of this just by copying the topics (including snippets and masterpages) from ProjectB into the Content folder in ProjectA. Since the index entries are inside the topics themselves, then they'll come over automatically.

How does the actual physical copying happen? What do you have to have open?

Is a copy-and-paste involved or just a click-and-drag?

[lacastle]

Open up the folders for the project in Windows Explorer (not in Flare) and just select the ones you want to copy, do ctrl+c (or Edit > Copy), and the ctrl+v (edit > paste) in the "new" folder.

[LTinker68]

If there are a lot of files then you might want to have Flare minimized/closed at the time you copy them over so that it doesn't freak out trying to refresh the Content Explorer as the files are copying. Minimizing should be fine.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you put the auxiliary/reference files (masterpages, stylesheets, snippet files) in the same relative location so that your links aren't broken. Likewise, make sure you put the topics in the same relative position they were in in ProjectB. That is, if FolderA was off the root in ProjectB, then put it off the root in ProjectA. After you've copied all the topics and other files into ProjectA, then you can rearrange them, if you want. That way Flare will fix the relative paths for you.

[ccardimon]

Open up the folders for the project in Windows Explorer (not in Flare) and just select the ones you want to copy, do ctrl+c (or Edit > Copy), and the ctrl+v (edit > paste) in the "new" folder.

Ohhhh, no wonder what I tried didn't work. LAUGH. I sure didn't do things via Windows Explorer. I did it in Flare. Holy Moly. Thanks for the assist. I seem to need it.

[lacastle]

Maybe the cold and the rain are throwing you off

[ccardimon]

Maybe the cold and the rain are throwing you off

I believe you are correct, Lisa. I'm freezing.

Not to mention the fact that knowing RH is actually a hindrance -- in my own case, anyway. That is what I have decided. I liked RH, but I do love Flare, despite the growing pains I'm having at the moment.

Things you never do in RH are okay in Flare, and visa versa. All aboard the crazy train.

What I could really use right now is a beer and a cigarette. I do my best creative writing after indulging myself like that. Perhaps I would also do my best technical writing, too.

[ccardimon]

If there are a lot of files then you might want to have Flare minimized/closed at the time you copy them over so that it doesn't freak out trying to refresh the Content Explorer as the files are copying. Minimizing should be fine.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you put the auxiliary/reference files (masterpages, stylesheets, snippet files) in the same relative location so that your links aren't broken. Likewise, make sure you put the topics in the same relative position they were in in ProjectB. That is, if FolderA was off the root in ProjectB, then put it off the root in ProjectA. After you've copied all the topics and other files into ProjectA, then you can rearrange them, if you want. That way Flare will fix the relative paths for you.

I did this as you suggested in Windows Explorer. Most things worked fine. The images did not work well. Don't know why. From within Windows Explorer, I copied the Images from ProjectB into the Resources/Images folder of ProjectA. That seemed okay, but now the copied project does not display any images.

This is a portion of what I see:

Missing file.png

I checked and the images are in the right folder.

Suggestions?

[lacastle]

And you're sure they're in Content\Resources\Images? I can't seem to duplicate the problem (it works every time for me if i combine projects).

[ccardimon]

And you're sure they're in Content\Resources\Images? I can't seem to duplicate the problem (it works every time for me if i combine projects).

I think I found the problem:

Invalid path.png

Whenever I try to open the image in an application, I get this message, but I don't know why the path is invalid.

I can find the image. If I simply click on it in the Images folder, it opens.

[lacastle]

do your paths usually look like that? i don't think there should be any folders between CONTENT and RESOURCES.

[ccardimon]

do your paths usually look like that? i don't think there should be any folders between CONTENT and RESOURCES.

Yes, they do. Everything I have in Flare is legacy RH stuff. I imported everything from RH. Everything in RH was keyed off the name of the project/book/topic.

If this is wrong, how should I amend things so that the image links will "fix" themselves?

I'm wide open here. Whatever you think I should do, I will.

[lacastle]

would it be horrible to just go through all the "imported" topics and manually update the links?

i can't think of anything else right now other than the images aren't in the right folder. are all your images in the content\..user guide\resources\images folder? where were they in the old/original flare project? maybe they were in the real content\resources\images folder (without the extra folder), so the paths are different going in. if the paths were exactly the same, the links would work.

can you move the resources folder in the "final" project? if you do it in Flare's Content Explorer (NOT in Windows Explorer), the links should update.

[ccardimon]

would it be horrible to just go through all the "imported" topics and manually update the links?

Not horrible. Just work. GRIN.

i can't think of anything else right now other than the images aren't in the right folder. are all your images in the content\..user guide\resources\images folder? where were they in the old/original flare project? maybe they were in the real content\resources\images folder (without the extra folder), so the paths are different going in. if the paths were exactly the same, the links would work.

I think you're right. I have to take a closer look at this.

can you move the resources folder in the "final" project? if you do it in Flare's Content Explorer (NOT in Windows Explorer), the links should update.

I will investigate. All it can do is not work. Then I try something else. Thanks a bunch for the rapid and thoughtful replies.