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Customizing TOC book list [message #663923]

Wed, 06 April 2011 19:57

Robert.Pearson

Messages: 8
Registered: March 2011

Junior Member

I have an Eclipse Help project I am working on based on output generated by Webworks 2010.4.

I have managed to correctly link to the plugin_customization.ini (I used the "test" suggested in an old post: changing the background colour).

Nothing I have managed, though, will affect the TOC, it still comes out with everything in alphabetical order.

In the plugin_customization.ini I have tried:

org.eclipse.help/HELP_DATA = PLUGINS_ROOT/org.eclipse.platform_3.6.1.v201009090800/helpDa ta.xml

org.eclipse.help/HELP_DATA = helpData.xml

org.eclipse.help/HELP_DATA = "C:\path\helpData.xml"

org.eclipse.help/HELP_DATA = PLUGINS_ROOT/helpData.xml

I have also changed file locations and managed to get the plugin_customization.ini to work, but never the helpData.xml which is always in the same folder as the ini.

My helpData.xml is as follows (with actual file names changed)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<extensions>
	<tocOrder>
		<TOC id="PLUGINS_ROOT/companyname.eclipsehelp.Doc1/toc.xml" />
		<TOC id="PLUGINS_ROOT/companyname.eclipsehelp.Doc2/toc.xml" />
		<TOC id="PLUGINS_ROOT/com.webworks.eclipsehelp.Doc3/toc.xml" />
		<TOC id="PLUGINS_ROOT/com.webworks.eclipsehelp.Doc4/toc.xml" />
	</tocOrder>
</extensions>

I have tried without PLUGINS_ROOT, I have tried the complete path, relative paths... on and on and on.

Notice that some are using a different naming scheme, but I am guessing that makes no difference...?

My aim is to have my products listed by category (in the company's offerings).

What have I overlooked?

I have looked at the documentation, read several threads in the forum and yet I am coming up short.

I appreciate any help.

Regards,

RP

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Re: Customizing TOC book list [message #664105 is a reply to message #663923]

Thu, 07 April 2011 13:46

Robert.Pearson

Messages: 8
Registered: March 2011

Junior Member

Oh man... I tried the deprecated baseTOCS method and my TOC worked as I hoped.

Does this mean I have an older version? My org.eclipse.platform folder has what appears to be a version number appended to the folder name: org.eclipse.platform_3.6.1v201009090800.

I'll accept that I get what I want using the deprecated method, but... I wouldn't mind understanding why using HELP_DATA doesn't work.

RP

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Re: Customizing TOC book list [message #664236 is a reply to message #664105]

Thu, 07 April 2011 23:28

Chris Goldthorpe

Messages: 815
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

TOC_DATA does work if you get the syntax correct, for example

org.eclipse.help/HELP_DATA=PLUGINS_ROOT/org.eclipse.ua.tests /data/help/toc/toc_data/helpDataCustomized.xml

The main problem is that if you don't get the path correct there is no real indication of what went wrong. If the HelpData.xml file has bad syntax an error will be generated in the log.

The deprecated preferences still work. Anything that is deprecated still works but is not recommended because it could be removed in a future release.

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Re: Customizing TOC book list [message #664441 is a reply to message #664105]

Fri, 08 April 2011 21:23

Jennifer Skiendzielewski

Messages: 35
Registered: January 2010
Location: Boulder, CO

Member

I had this problem too-- and did just what you did. I tried every permutation of the path I could find.

In the end, the problem wasn't the path at all. It was the fact that I had saved helpdata.xml as an ANSI file, not UTF-8. When I resaved it using the UTF-8 codepage, dumped the cache, etc., the books in the TOC appeared in the correct order.

I'm guessing that someone who knows Java would think that little tidbit is so elementary that they wouldn't need to mention it. But for this writer, it was definitely not obvious.

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Re: Customizing TOC book list [message #718837 is a reply to message #664441]

Thu, 25 August 2011 13:25

Robert.Pearson

Messages: 8
Registered: March 2011

Junior Member

I'm back with more questions about this, months later...

I am still having these issues.

The error log shows me this:

!MESSAGE Error reading help table of contents file /"org.eclipse.platform/toc.xml" (skipping file)

What is calling that? Is this why my helpData.xml is getting skipped?

Edit
Also, I have verified the system variables to ensure PLUGINS_ROOT is pointing to the correct place.

In plugin_customization.ini I have:

org.eclipse.help/HELP_DATA = PLUGINS_ROOT/org.eclipse.platform_3.6.1.v201009090800/HELP_DATA/helpData.xml

In helpData.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<extensions>
	<tocOrder>
		<TOC id="PLUGINS_ROOT/myProducts.Product1/toc.xml"/>
		<TOC id="PLUGINS_ROOT/myProducts.Product6/toc.xml"/>
		<TOC id="PLUGINS_ROOT/myProducts.Product2/toc.xml"/>
	</tocOrder>
</extensions>

Edit 2
BTW, I am still having success getting what I want using the deprecated baseTOCS option.

RP

[Updated on: Thu, 25 August 2011 13:55]

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Re: Customizing TOC book list [message #718853 is a reply to message #663923]

Thu, 25 August 2011 14:07

dlatch

Messages: 7
Registered: August 2011

Junior Member

One thing you can try is the diagnostic output of the about.html page.

<your server url with port>/help/about.html

lists all of the loaded plugins

<your server url with port>/help/about.html?show=preferences

will show the loaded preferences.

Also, I've found this works better if I put the helpProduct extension point in my plugin.xml specified as the product in the configuration/config.ini file like so:

eclipse.product=yourplugin.helpProduct

Then if starting using eclipse something like:

java -classpath c:\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.help.base_3.5.2.v201009090800.jar org.eclipse.help.standalone.Infocenter -command start -eclipsehome c:\eclipse -port 8082 -product yourplugin.helpProduct

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Re: Customizing TOC book list [message #718899 is a reply to message #718853]

Thu, 25 August 2011 15:22

Robert.Pearson

Messages: 8
Registered: March 2011

Junior Member

Wow...

Here is what fixed it:

This is what I had:
org.eclipse.help/HELP_DATA = PLUGINS_ROOT/org.eclipse.platform_3.6.1.v201009090800/HELP_DATA/helpData.xml

And I changed it to this on a whim:
org.eclipse.help/HELP_DATA = "PLUGINS_ROOT/org.eclipse.platform_3.6.1.v201009090800/HELP_DATA/helpData.xml"

I didn't see anything that suggested I should try adding the quotation marks, but I've been trying off and on for months to get this sorted out.

Now my hair can grow back <jk>

Edit
Oh, and I still have to leave the old method using baseTOCS in place as well. But what I've got works for now.

RP

[Updated on: Thu, 25 August 2011 15:33]

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