Tag: MadCap Flare

Flare to MediaWiki to Flare (part 6, of wiki template articles and snippets)

A mapping effort chronicled in a blog is less than exciting to read. So let’s switch gears and lay some groundwork for the parser. We will use a Wikipedia article as the first test and as a guide for what parts of the markup to tackle firstly. Since wikis are moving targets, we will work… Continue reading Flare to MediaWiki to Flare (part 6, of wiki template articles and snippets)

Flare to MediaWiki to Flare (part 5, Still Mapping)

Initially I wanted to distinguish between parsing and mapping. But as I study MediaWiki markup, I am increasingly convinced the best approach is to map the markups and create a parsing algorithm based on that. I took a break from this series for some other posts. This is a late evening endeavor. So the pace… Continue reading Flare to MediaWiki to Flare (part 5, Still Mapping)

MadCap Flare + Python + Google Calendar = Topic-based Training Session Scheduler?

There is no code at the end of this post. I’m just brainstorming. What triggered this is a blog post at Google: Python Client Library for Google APIs is out of Beta. Here are some other links for the library: Google APIs Client Library for Python & Write your First App: Prerequisites (Google Calendar API v3). The idea is… Continue reading MadCap Flare + Python + Google Calendar = Topic-based Training Session Scheduler?

A Simple Flare HTML5 Output ‘Re-skin’ with PHP

Although I am not a huge fan of PHP, there are some things it does well. One of those is content reuse on web pages. Having previously built a (no longer extant) website which used little more of PHP than the include function, I admit the choice saved a lot of time and code for… Continue reading A Simple Flare HTML5 Output ‘Re-skin’ with PHP

Flare Topic Titles, Topic Headings, and TOC Labels

If you create Flare topics and TOCs outside of the Flare application, it is a good idea to learn the differences between topic titles, topic headings, and TOC entry labels. In the Flare UI, when you drag a topic from a Content folder to a TOC in the TOC Editor, the topic is added to… Continue reading Flare Topic Titles, Topic Headings, and TOC Labels

Flare to MediaWiki to Flare (part 4, Starting to Map MediaWiki Markup to Flare Topic XML)

Parsing the wiki markup for MediaWiki wikis is a challenge. There is not a markup spec to which to build a parser. But parsers exist. There would be no Wikipedia without one. The original plan for this blog series was to use an existing libary to parse wikitext. That may still be the solution. But… Continue reading Flare to MediaWiki to Flare (part 4, Starting to Map MediaWiki Markup to Flare Topic XML)

Frameborder around Topic Frame in WebHelp

You can’t remove or change the frameborder around the topic frame in WebHelp with the skin editor. At least I haven’t figured out how. Moving to the HTML5 target type eliminates the issue. But in case you aren’t ready for that yet, here is how you can change it post-build with a Visual Basic command… Continue reading Frameborder around Topic Frame in WebHelp

Flare to MediaWiki to Flare (part 3, Placeholder Flare Topics)

In the previous post about this effort, I discussed the MediaWiki API and how to create a Flare TOC from the response from an API call. The same approach is possible for the Flare topics. But since the wiki page content is not maintained as XML, the conversion is more complicated from wiki page to… Continue reading Flare to MediaWiki to Flare (part 3, Placeholder Flare Topics)

Notes about Word and MadCap Flare

This isn’t a code-oriented post. Here are a few thoughts about how to use Word as a part of your Flare infrastructure. When it comes to technical authoring, inevitably, someone will ask if they can use Microsoft Word. And as author’s skills with Word grow, so does their attachment. A desire to structure content, create a… Continue reading Notes about Word and MadCap Flare