FAR Index Editor

Understanding the FAR Index Editor

The main difference between HH 1.x Workshop Index editor and the FAR index editor is that Workshop hides many links and settings away in dialogs. Confused? Here are some excellent notes by FAR user and internet friend Jon-Inge Paulsen <Jon.Inge.Paulsen@powersim.no>. Thanks Jon-Inge


From my understanding, the index in HTML Help works like this:

Each keyword has one name. This is the name that is visible in the final index. However, a keyword can have several destinations. Each destination is identified by a title and a link. If the keyword has only one destination, the title is actually never displayed to the user. When the keyword is selected, the user is brought directly to the page specified by the destination's link.

If the keyword has more than one destination, the title of each destination is shown in the popup box that appears. 

To summarize the structure of a keyword:
Keyword 1
    Destination 1 (title/link)
    Destination 2 (title/link)
    Destination 3 (title/link)
etc...
 
Although the title isn't displayed if the keyword only contains one target, HHW requires you to enter it anyhow. FAR saves you this trouble, by automatically assigning the keyword name as the destination title. However, you can enter the title separately in FAR, by using the "popup list item" choice.

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As an example, in my help system, I have several explanations on how to create a variable. The keyword "create variable" has therefore several popup list items. Each of these items are named with the topic title of the topic it links to. When the user double-clicks the "create variable" keyword, she will see the available topics with a descriptive title that helps her choose the topic that is most likely to contain the information she is looking for.

This will look (something) like this in FAR:

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Given the discussion above, you can achieve the effect you are trying to do from within FAR. As I understand it, you want to freely define the keyword name, destination title and destination link for any keyword. In that case, you should enter the main keyword as one entry, and mark it POPUP LIST. Then, add a new entry as a child entry, and enter the name and link of your choice. Then mark this child entry a POPUP LIST ITEM. The structure should then be something like this:

However, you should be aware that if you don't add more than one destination for each keyword, then the "writing style" and "punctuation" titles (respectively) will never become visible to the user at all. They are not keywords, they will only appear in the popup dialog box if the keyword has several destinations.

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Also, the discussion above assumes that you create a non-binary index (deselect the "binary index" choice in HHW of the FAR project editor). If you, on the other hand, select to build a binary index, then the compilator will replace the destination title you have entered with the title of the page specified in the destination link. Thus, with a binary index, the title you enter ('writing style' and 'punctuation' in the example above) will never become visible to the user. If you are merging files at run-time, you have to create binary indexes.

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The reason why I prefer FAR over HHW for indexing, is that FAR provides a visual way of editing indexes not found in HHW. HHW requires me to jump in and out of dialog boxes and doesn't give me any indication of how many targets a keyword has, or what the targets are at all when viewed in the index tab alone. Also, FAR let's me look at the index from two points: either from the index, or from the topic (view a topic in the preview pane, and click SYNC to see the keywords that are connected to it).

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Best regards
Jon-Inge Paulsen


http://www.HelpwareGroup.com/