Conditional Text in RoboHelp HTML vx4

By Manoj Bokil

The key to creating quality documentation is Analysis & Planning. With the Conditional Text feature available in RoboHelp HTML vX4, writing "generic" topics that apply to all audiences and output formats is no longer necessary. Maintaining a separate project for a different version or output is not necessary either.

For example, you can either generate a Full version of your project, or a Light version that contains certain topics. Your end users benefit because unnecessary information is removed from their view, enabling them to find only what they need without distractions. You benefit because you don't need to maintain two separate projects.

Implementing Conditional Text

Once your goals are clear and you know the scope of the topics that need to be tagged, you are ready to implement conditional text.

Implementing conditional text involves the following steps:

1. Creating a Conditional Build Tag—after creating the conditional build tag, you can apply it at the Topic level or Content level. When you generate your project, you define conditional build expressions to include or exclude the topic and/or content from your output.

2. Applying the tag to Topics [Topic Level Conditional Tag] and/or Topic Content [Content-Level Conditional Tag].

3. Defining the tags to be excluded in the layout

4. Generating the updated layout

A. Creating a New Conditional Build Tag

To create a new conditional build tag

1. Click the Project tab to display the Project Manager.

2. Right-click the Conditional Build Tags folder and select New Conditional Build Tag.

3. Name the conditional build tag and assign a color.

4. When you are ready, apply the tag to topic content or topics. Define conditional build expression when you generate the project.

B. Applying a Conditional Tag at the Topic Level

To apply a conditional tag at the topic level

1. Click the Topics tab to display the list of available topics.

2. Select the topic(s) you want to apply the conditional build tag.

3. On the toolbar, click Properties.

4. Click the Advanced tab.

5. Under Conditional Build Tags (Topic Level Tags), do the following:

If you have already defined a tag, select it from the list so that a check mark appears next to it.

6. Click OK. The conditional build tag is applied to the topic(s).

7. When you generate your project, define conditional build expressions to include or exclude the topic(s) in your output.

Note: As an exercise for your soul, try experimenting how you can apply conditional tags at the content level.

C. Defining the Tags to be Excluded in the Layout

To define which tags to exclude in the layout (or define a combination of tags to include/exclude) click File > Generate Primary Layout.

D. Generating the Updated Layout

To generate the updated layout click File > View Primary Layout to view the compiled HTML file with the conditional tags applied.

Conditional Text FAQs

Question: Which parts of my project can I include or exclude from the actual output?

Answer: Any content within a topic (such as text, links, images, link controls, and so on) or Entire topics. Topic content or topics that do not have a conditional build tag applied are automatically included in the output.

Question: What's the difference between excluding a topic and topic content?

Answer: You can apply a conditional build tag to a topic or to topic content (such as a block of text or an image).

• When you apply a tag to a topic, you can exclude or include the entire topic. Example: When Tag A is applied to a topic and Tag A is excluded from the output, end users cannot access the topic at all.

• When you apply a tag to topic content, only the content is affected, not the entire topic. Example: When Tag B is applied to a paragraph in Topic Z, and Tag B is excluded from the output, users cannot see the paragraph but can still access Topic Z.

Question: Can the end users access excluded text?

Answer: The end users cannot access topics that are excluded from the output. Links to the topic are removed, index keywords and TOC entries are not displayed, and the topic is removed from link controls. Tags applied to topic content do not affect TOC, index, or link controls. However, the links to bookmarks inside areas tagged as excluded are removed.

Question: Can I hide conditional text in the WYSIWYG Editor?

Answer: You can hide the conditional text diagonal hatching, but the topic content is always displayed in the WYSIWYG Editor.

Question: Can I preview the conditional areas without generating the final output?

Answer: Yes, you can preview topics that have conditional text areas applied. Specify a conditional build tag expression in the Preview window.

Question: Can I apply multiple conditional build tags to a topic or topic content?

Answer: Yes, you can use multiple tags for topics or topic content. For example, if some topics have two tags applied (Tag A and Tag B) and some topics only have Tag A or Tag B applied, you can generate quite a few different combinations of topics.

Acknowledgements

I have used the following resources extensively for authoring this article.

• RoboHelp HTML Online Help

• RoboHelp Knowledge Base

(Manoj is an Information Developer with BindView Corporation).

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