Uncle

[dwag]

As mentioned in earlier post, just upgraded from 3.1 to 5. Big, fat project, working way through growing list of little problems. Here's one:

Breadcrumb master page is broken on all post-v5 topics. Breadcrumbs all appear incorrectly in Preview mode and not at all in output. Still fine and dandy on all pre-v5 topics.

[LTinker68]

Is there just one masterpage? If there's more than one, is it being called by the correct name in the target? Also, check the Project Properties screen. There were some changes in v4 and/or v5. I can't remember what they all are, but there are more fields. There might be an option to specify a default project-wide masterpage. If there is, then set it to none or whatever the option is. Sorry, don't have Flare running at the moment and I don't remember all the options in that screen.

[dwag]

Thanks, Lisa. Below is a shot of the Project Properties screen. Should I be looking elsewhere?

Project Properties.jpg

Yes, there's more than one master page; the correct one is being called in the target. Below is a shot of the master page selection in the Target, same as it's always been:

Target.jpg

Looking forward to additional direction.

[LTinker68]

It worked for me, BUT, it was a test project created from scratch in v5. Here are the steps I followed.

1. Create a masterpage using the MasterPage template and name it Breadcrumbs.
2. In the Breadcrumbs masterpage, remove the mini-TOC proxy and the topic toolbar proxy. Save the masterpage.
3. Create a masterpage using the MasterPage template and name it noBreadcrumbs.
4. In the noBreadcrumbs masterpage, remove the breadcrumb proxy, mini-TOC proxy, and the topic toolbar proxy. Save the masterpage.
5. Open the Stylesheet Editor. In the base html tag, set the mc-master-page attribute to use the Breadcrumbs masterpage.
6. Create a custom html class called noBreadcrumbs and set its mc-master-page attribute to use the noBreadcrumbs masterpage. Save the stylesheet.
7. In the topics that shouldn't have a breadcrumb, apply the noBreadcrumbs html class to the html tag and save the modified topics. (All other topics will use the base html tag, which is associated with the Breadcrumbs masterpage.)
8. In the WebHelp target, make sure the Master Page field in the Advanced tab is set to (default) and not to a particular masterpage. (This is a change from what I said before.) Save the target, if necessary.
9. Build the WebHelp output.

Try following those steps in a new project. If it works in the test project, but doesn't work in your existing project, then there must have been some other changes to how masterpages are treated between v3.1 and v5 and going from v3.1 to v5 didn't correctly modify the project to support the changes. In that case, you'll probably have to delete your masterpages and recreate them in v5 so that they're created with the new templates instead of the old templates. I did notice that there are only two masterpage templates in v5 (Glossary and MasterPage), so if your original masterpages were built on the other templates, then perhaps that's where the conversion failed. I can't remember what the other masterpage templates were called, but I have a feeling most of those were related to print-style templates and those have been replaced by the page layout feature. (Assuming, of course, that I'm remembering correctly that there were other masterpage templates available in earlier versions of Flare. I give no guarantees about the accuracy of my memory.)

[dwag]

Wow, I hope you're richly rewarded for all of the detailed, clearly communicated help you provide. As soon as I'm able, I'll go through the steps you've provided and report back. The last half of your last paragraph, in particular, has me wondering.

[dwag]

Created the master page named Breadcrumbs and removed the appropriate proxies:

BreadcrumbsMP.jpg

Set the mc-master-page attribute:

html_Breadcrumbs_Mcmaster.jpg

In the WebHelp target, set the Master Page field to default.
Built help file. No breadcrumb in output:

[LTinker68]

Ok, first open your stylesheet in the Internal Text Editor and see if you have something set to "hidden".

Second, in the compiled output, look at the source code of a page that should have breadcrumbs but isn't showing them (make sure you look in the correct frame's source code). See if there's anything in the page could that would explain it not showing up. See if you can see something like the following just after the body tag:

Code: Select all

<div class="MCBreadcrumbsBox" style=""><span class="MCBreadcrumbsPrefix">You are here: </span><span class="MCBreadcrumbs">Topic</span></div>

Also, make note of the stylesheets and Javascripts that are referenced at the top of the page. I show the following:

Code: Select all

<link href="SkinSupport/MadCap.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<link href="Resources/Stylesheets/Styles.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<script src="SkinSupport/MadCapAll.js" type="text/javascript">

The MadCap.css is created by Flare at build time and Styles.css is my main topic stylesheet. MadCapAll.js is a Javascript created at build time. The MadCap.css and MadCapAll.js need to be there to support the breadcrumbs. The MadCap.css should appear before your topic stylesheets, although in this case, if it appears after it then it shouldn't affect whether or not the breadcrumbs appear; it would just affect their appearance.

One last thing... Make sure there isn't an inline style in the html tag. The html tag itself should not have any inline styles or classes.

[dwag]

Opened stylesheet in internal text editor, noticed nothing hidden.
Source code of page that should have breadcrumb but doesn't:

Breadcrumb Source_1.jpg

Stylesheets and javascripts refrenced at top of page:

Breadcrumb Source_2.jpg

Unless I misunderstand your reference to an inline style in the html tag, the breadcrumb master page is intended for all pages of the project, while other master pages are applied to individual topics where needed.

[LTinker68]

Why are the stylesheet and javascript references using a file path instead of a relative path? I don't think it should say "file:///" at the beginning of the path. Are you looking in the source code of the compiled output? I also don't recommend having periods in folder names and it looks like you have a folder called etc. with a period in it.

Unless I misunderstand your reference to an inline style in the html tag, the breadcrumb master page is intended for all pages of the project, while other master pages are applied to individual topics where needed.

Correct. Just wanted to make sure you didn't see a style parameter in your html tag that was pointing to a different masterpage for some reason.

[dwag]

Sorry about that. You're right, it was the file path (I took the liberty of editing it for TV, so to speak, thus the periods).
I've updated the second image from the previous post here:

Breadcrumb Source_3.jpg

The first image from the previous post was taken from preview mode, which contains the breadcrumb reference. The breadcrumb reference isn't anywhere to be found in the compiled output.

If I've misinterpreted anything, or if you've got anything else I can try, let me know; if not, I understand. This nuissance is one of a growing number that've been popping up since our upgrade to v5, and the loss of productive time is beginning to mount.

Thanks for the effort and for any other suggestions you may have.

[LTinker68]

The first image from the previous post was taken from preview mode, which contains the breadcrumb reference. The breadcrumb reference isn't anywhere to be found in the compiled output.

Well, now, that's just weird. Did you say that you could get this to work in a test project, just not a project you've upgraded from v3?

One last stab in the dark... In the compiled help output folder, double-check that the MadCap.css and MadCapAll.js files are actually in the output at the path specified in the link. If they're not, then that's a whole new kettle of fish. (I'm assuming you deleted the output folder entirely before building.)

[dwag]

Yes, I deleted the output folder. And I found the MadCap.css and MadCapAll.js files in the output. Are they supposed to be in the SkinSupport folder?

And yes, I created a breadcrumb master in a test project, and it appeared to work fine.

[LTinker68]

Yes, they'd be in the \Content\SkinSupport folder in the output. If you don't see the files there, then contact MadCap Support. That should give them a better clue about what's happening.

In the meantime, try copying those two files from your test project's output folder to the real project's output folder. Without rebuilding, go back to the root of the output folder and load the default.htm file (or whatever you called the file). If it works, then at least you have a workaround in the short term.

I'm not sure what parameters are changed in those files when you enable or disable a Flare feature (breadcrumbs, drop-downs, togglers, etc.), so if there are any other effects that don't work in v5, then you might have to enable those same features in your test project so that you get updated versions of the MadCap.css and MadCapAll.js files to copy into the output. And again, every time you build the output of your real project, you'll have to copy those two files into the output, so you might want to save those two files somewhere for safe keeping.

Not ideal having to do this, but at least it might get you to a delivery point for your project.

[dwag]

Very sorry, but I was with another writer, discussing this problem, and had left open the Edit Reply window, because I wanted to tell you the files in fact are in the SkinSupport folder ... I think:

SkinSupport Folder.jpg

As soon as I clicked Submit, I saw your response. Sorry, again.

Update: after coming in over the weekend to wrangle with this issue and a host of others that're gobbling up my productive time, I've decided to open a support ticket.

Thanks for being there.