Need help with 2-celled note tables
Description
I’m hoping someone will be able to help with the following problem.
Background
I’m using FrameMaker 7.2 with ePublisher Pro 2009.4 to generate Microsoft HTML Help 1.x format CHMs.
- A unique 2-column table is set up for each admonition style (Note, Tip, Caution, and Warning).
- Each admonition type has two paragraph tags; one for each column. The left column contains the icon and the right column contains the text.
Goal
Create a special 2-column table where the first cell width is fixed, while allowing the second cell to resize according to the CHM window size.
Problem
Currently, when you resize the CHM window, both columns resize proportionally. This looks messy when you have adjacent tables and the text each in table is not aligned properly. Ideally, the left column should have a fixed size, and only the right column should resize.
I have followed the instructions in the wiki article named "2-Celled Note Table" without success. That solution works fine if your output is Dynamic HTML, but not if the output is Microsoft HTML Help 1.x. The main problem is that all icons are missing when you output to Microsoft HTML Help 1.x. To verify, you can download the "2-Celled Note Table" wiki project, change the output format from Dynamic HTML to Microsoft HTML Help 1.x and recompile. You’ll notice that all the icons are missing. At first I thought it only affected my personal projects. The tables are formatted properly, but the images are missing in the output, even though the source image files are stored in the correct location. I suspect the content.xsl and wrappers.fti override files need to be updated for each output type, but I’m not sure how to update those files.
I had a support case with WebWorks support, but they were unable to offer a solution. Ben Allums kindly offered some suggestions, such as including a custom CSS file and some CSS selectors. I have tried to the best of my ability to get this to work as well, but no success yet. Ben suggested I create a page on the wiki and promote it on the wwp-users group, so I’m following his advice. I have uploaded a small project (2-column tables.zip) in hopes that someone can offer some guideance and help me find a solution that works. In summary, the "2-Celled Note Table" example works fine for Dynamic HTML, but not for Microsoft HTML Help 1.x.
The ideal solution would be for a future version of ePublisher to include a per-table "Fixed width for first column" option in the Style Designer.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Morten Saether
2011-04-29
Please review attachment 2-column tables.2011-04-29.zip.
Basically, there was work to first ensure you were running with 2009.4 transforms. Seems there was a mix of 9.2.2 transforms along with other changes. I've tried to integrate everything you submitted and cleaned it up for 2009.4.
The table width issue needed to be addressed differently from the other 2 cell table case. Here, you have tables and you merely wish to set the second column to an "auto" width. So, that required a deeper override to accomplish. Basically, the code looks for specific table style names and then forces the 2nd column to width "auto".