Lines between TOC books and topics disappear

[bash7012]

Hi guys,

I've tried everything I can think of but I can't get the lines between the books and topics in my TOC to display.

My target is using my Default skin and the Default skin's TOC Options have Lines between items and Lines from root selected but when I build, none of the lines display.

Any advice?

Kind regards,

[nsemple]

I am experiencing the same thing in Flare version 4.0. My skin is set up with "Plus/minus squares" and "Lines from root" both checked for the TOC, but they do not appear in the generated WebHelp output.

Does anyone know why?

(Note that the location in the skin where I checked these items is in the Skin Editor> HTML Help Setup tab > TOC Options button > HTML Help TOC Options dialog box. There does not seem to be a setting for this, that I can find anyway, on the WebHelp Setup tab.)

[LTinker68]

... but they do not appear in the generated WebHelp output.

I'm pretty sure that option is only available for HTML Help output.

[Richard Ferrell]

Lisa is Correct, this option is only for HTML Help and not WebHelp, What type of output are you creating?

[bash7012]

but my ouput is Html and i don't get the lines either...

[nsemple]

I am creating WebHelp. Why is this functionality limited to only compiled HTML Help? Is there a way to edit the code somehow to get the lines between entries in the TOC to appear?

Also, on a side note, you can change the icons that appear in the TOC for Webhelp, but I do not see anywhere where you can do this for compiled HTML Help. Is there a way to customize the icons in the TOC for chm files?

[LTinker68]

but my ouput is Html and i don't get the lines either...

I just tested it in v4 and it worked for me. Does it work in a test project?

[LTinker68]

Why is this functionality limited to only compiled HTML Help?

That functionality is a feature in HTML Help and the HTML Help Viewer -- it wasn't created or designed by MadCap. All you're doing in Flare is turning the feature on or off.

Is there a way to edit the code somehow to get the lines between entries in the TOC to appear?

Not currently, although you can kind of fake it by creating your own icons for the topics and books and adding lines in the graphics. You can submit a feature request to http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx.

Also, on a side note, you can change the icons that appear in the TOC for Webhelp, but I do not see anywhere where you can do this for compiled HTML Help. Is there a way to customize the icons in the TOC for chm files?

Unfortunately, HTML Help is limited in how you can modify in its appearance. There are ways you can hack some of the functionality, but that would have to be done outside of Flare.

[nsemple]

Well, that stinks. I've submitted enhancement requests for both items.

Do you know whether the default TOC icons for the compiled HTML Help are stored in a location somewhere that I could just replace with my own icons?

[KevinDAmery]

I think they're generated by the CHM viewer.

[Pete Lees]

Hi,

Do you know whether the default TOC icons for the compiled HTML Help are stored in a location somewhere that I could just replace with my own icons?

I believe the icons are stored in the HTML Help ActiveX control (%windir%\system32\hhctrl.ocx), which is used to display the TOC in the HTML Help viewer.

Microsoft did anticipate the requirement to replace the default TOC icons with custom ones — see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... S.85).aspx — but it failed to provide a workable method for doing so. See the following article for an explanation of the problems and suggested workarounds:

http://helpware.net/FAR/far_faq.htm#CustomIcons

I suspect that you'd need to hack your HTML Help source files outside Flare to implement these solutions.

Pete

[nsemple]

Thanks for all the info Pete. It resulted in a jog to my memory. Many years ago at another company, we worked in vain, trying these fixes with an icon strip. Unfortunately, we could never get them to work because of all the issues with abosolute/relative paths and so on. Guess those issues all still exist...

[LTinker68]

Considering the HTML Help viewer and compiler haven't been modified in something like 10 years, that's not surprising.

[bash7012]

bash7012 wrote:
but my ouput is Html and i don't get the lines either...
I just tested it in v4 and it worked for me. Does it work in a test project?

I've tried creating a new project as a test with just one book and two topics and it still generates without any lines.

[LTinker68]

Weird. Sorry, I don't know enough about HTML Help's quirks to provide any more suggestions. You might want to contact MadCap Support directly to see if they can help.

[bash7012]

Thanks Lisa. I may do that...

Kind regards,

[Pete Lees]

Hi,

I've tried creating a new project as a test with just one book and two topics and it still generates without any lines.

Is this a binary TOC? The option to draw lines between the items is ignored in that case. In general, binary TOCs are far less customizable than non-binary ones.

If this isn't the explanation, it would be good to take a look at your test contents (.hhc) file — and especially at the Window Styles parameter at the start of the file.

Pete

[bash7012]

Oh dear,

I'm a bit lost... how do I know if my TOC is binary?

The only .hhc file I can find is in my Output folder: Output > [username] > Temporary > MyHtmlHelp > Content

Would I need to send it to you via e-mail? I can't see an upload function in the forum.

Please excuse me if I'm being dim...

[Pete Lees]

Hi,

I'm a bit lost... how do I know if my TOC is binary?

The only .hhc file I can find is in my Output folder: Output > [username] > Temporary > MyHtmlHelp > Content

Would I need to send it to you via e-mail? I can't see an upload function in the forum.

Please excuse me if I'm being dim...

Sorry to be vague. Can you locate your HTML Help project (.hhp) file and contents (.hhc) file, and open them in a text editor like Notepad? Then copy and paste the following into a reply to this message:

• From the .hhp file, the contents of the [OPTIONS] and [WINDOWS] sections.
• From the .hhc file, the contents of the first <OBJECT> element. It will look something like this:
  

  Code: Select all

  <OBJECT type="text/site properties">
  <param name="Window Styles" value="0x800025">
  <param name="comment" value="title:">
  <param name="comment" value="base:">
  </OBJECT>

Pete

[bash7012]

I see a _Temp.hhp file with the following contents:

Code: Select all

[WINDOWS]
Default="","_Temp.hhc","_Temp.hhk","Topic.htm","Topic.htm","Topic.htm","","Topic.htm","",0x1520,250,0x10287e,[112,84,912,684],0xcf0000,0x100,,0,0,0

[OPTIONS]
Compiled File=Manual.chm
Title=
Default topic=
Default window=Default
Error log file=
Display compile progress=yes
Display compile notes=yes
Full-text search=yes
Binary TOC=no
Binary Index=yes
Flat=no
Auto Index=no
Enhanced decompilation=no
Contents File=_Temp.hhc
Index File=_Temp.hhk
Language=0x0409 English (United States)

And a _Temp.hhc file with:

Code: Select all

<object type="text/site properties">
	<param name="SiteType" value="toc">
	<param name="Window Styles" value="0x0">
	<param name="ExWindow Styles" value="0x0">
	</object>

Are these the correct files? I got them from: Output\BashierahA\Temporary\MyHtmlHelp\Content.

[Pete Lees]

Hi, again,

It's odd that your .hhc file contains the following line, which suggests that none of your selected TOC options has been saved.

Code: Select all

<param name="Window Styles" value="0x0">

In effect, none of the available TOC styles is being implemented in the Contents pane. I'd expect this parameter to have a value of 0x2 (as a minimum), as this value implements the "Lines between items" setting.

If this is happening in spite of the fact that you have followed the procedure described in the following help topic, and if no-one else here can help, then you probably need to contact Madcap Support.

Specifying How the TOC Looks in HTML Help Output

Your .hhp file shows that you're not generating a binary TOC, so this isn't the reason why you're seeing what you're seeing.

Pete

[bash7012]

Thanks for all your help Pete.

It's the strangest thing; my real project has all the correct settings selected and saved but the lines still don't display.

I neglected to check the TOC settings when I created my test project and just created and generated it, thinking the TOC settings were defaulted to include lines. I changed the TOC settings according to the topic you linked to and the lines display in the test output now.

My real project, however, has all the correct settings saved but no lines...

The hhc file's content includes:

Code: Select all

<object type="text/site properties">
	<param name="SiteType" value="toc">
	<param name="Window Styles" value="0x800027">
	<param name="ExWindow Styles" value="0x200">
	</object>

and the hhc file's content:

Code: Select all

[WINDOWS]
Default="AIA Contract Documents Software Help","_Temp.hhc","_Temp.hhk","Cover.htm","","AIASoftwareHelp.pdf","Print PDF","Cover.htm","",0x520,250,0x4e,[112,84,912,684],0xcf0000,0x100,,0,0,0

[OPTIONS]
Compiled File=AIAHelp.chm
Title=AIA Contract Documents Software Help
Default topic=Cover.htm
Default window=Default
Error log file=
Display compile progress=yes
Display compile notes=yes
Full-text search=yes
Binary TOC=yes
Binary Index=yes
Flat=no
Auto Index=no
Enhanced decompilation=no
Contents File=_Temp.hhc
Index File=_Temp.hhk

Ah! Okay, thanks to your previous explanation, I now see that my real project's TOC is binary!

How do I change this?

Kind regards and thank you for your patience.

[Pete Lees]

Hi,

Here's the procedure:

Creating a Binary TOC

Pete

[bash7012]

Phew, one click managed to fix my problem.

All I needed to do was deselect the Binary option in the TOC Options and the lines re-appeared in the output.
And my topic icons changed back to the way I had them before.

I was wondering why my icons had changed and why the lines disappeared. I must have selected the binary option in the TOC Options without realising the side effects.

Thanks for your help. My icons are back to normal and my lines have appeared again

Kind regards,