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Help System Tables
Tables provide a convenient way of presenting information to people; the Help Model helps you to set up a range of different types of table to suit different purposes, such as defining the meanings of icons, or describing stages in a process, or describing numbered steps in a procedure. The HTML and PDF generators support definitions for 2-column or 3-column tables.
The two generators determine how to render tables using different rules. The HTML generator operates on business rules stored in code.
The PDF generator works on element stereotypes, each stereotype being rendered via a fixed RTF template:
- The element's stereotype determines the table layout, column width and fields used; all of these settings are fixed
- The layout applies to the entire table, so all rows of a table must follow the same configuration
Table Considerations
When designing how to present data in tables, it is important to consider these conditions:
- All HelpTables have borders and headers except for HelpTable2AX, 2DX, 3AX and 3CX
- The column headings are set in the Properties window, in the 'Column1' and 'Column2' Tagged Values; you type the column heading text in the appropriate Tagged Value
- If you provide column headings, they are displayed in a highlighted row at the top of the table; if you do not provide column headings, the table has no header row
- The third column in a 3-column table (with the 'Column3' Tagged Value) is always the 'See also' column, which is designed to contain a hyperlink to another Help Topic
- In some types of 2-column table, 'Column2' is designated as the 'See also' column
- The PDF generator does not support hyperlinks in a table and so ignores the 'See also' column, which means that a 3-column table in the source is rendered as a 2-column table in the generated PDF, and a 2-column table containing a 'See also' column in the source is rendered as a single-column table in PDF
- The data for each table row is sourced from the name, notes and Tagged Values of a HelpTableRow element
- The contents of the first column are drawn from the element name and/or ImageRef Tagged Value of each HelpTableRow element
- The contents of the second column are generally drawn from the Notes field of each HelpTableRow element.
- If a HelpTableRow element has a completed 'ImageRef' Tagged Value, the specified image is loaded into the first column
- If the HelpTableRow element name is the same as the image name recorded in the 'ImageRef' Tagged Value then the element name is NOT included in first column; otherwise both element name AND ImageRef are loaded into the first column
- If a HelpTableRow element has one or more completed 'See also' Tagged Values, the HelpTopic names they reference will be loaded into the third column of the table
- The table widths displayed in generated HTML are controlled by the length of text loaded into the row cells, and vary according to the width of the screen in which they are displayed
- In HTML output, the column widths vary depending on the longest HelpTableRow element name and the volume of text in the other column(s)
- The table and column widths displayed in generated PDF are fixed, and based on predefined RTF templates
Table Formats
Format |
Description |
|---|---|
|
HelpTable2A |
A general two-column table that displays text in both columns. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 25% of the table width and the second 75%. |
|
HelpTable2B |
A two column table that displays text in the first column and hyperlinks in the second. In PDF, this will be a single-column table containing text from the HelpTableRow element notes, across the width of the page. |
|
HelpTable2C |
A 2-column table generally used to display a series of steps, with the first column displaying the step number (as the HelpTableRow element name), which is why it is narrow. The step instructions are drawn from the HelpTableRow element notes. In PDF output the first column is 10% of the table width, the second 90%. |
|
HelpTable2D |
A two column table that displays both element name and 'ImageRef' Tagged Value images in the first column and notes in the second column. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 25% of the table width and the second 75%. |
|
HelpTable2E |
A two column table that displays an ImageRef in the first column (NO text) and notes in the second. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 25% of the table width and the second 75%. |
|
HelpTable2AX |
A general two-column table that displays text in both columns. This table has no column headers or borders. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 25% of the table width and the second 75%. |
|
HelpTable2DX |
A two column table that displays both element name and 'ImageRef' Tagged Value images in the first column and notes in the second column. This table has no column headers or borders. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 25% of the table width and the second 75%. |
|
HelpTable3A |
A general three column table that displays text in the first two columns and 'See also' links in the third column. The first column contains the HelpTableRow element name and the second contains the element notes text. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 25% of the table width and the second 75%. |
|
HelpTable3B |
A three column table, generally used to display a series of steps, with first column displaying the step number (as the element name), the second displaying Notes and the third containing 'See also' links. You could depict the element numbers in, say, WordArt style, by using ImageRef images in the HelpTableRow elements. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 10% of the table width and the second 90%. |
|
HelpTable3C |
A three column table with the HelpTableRow element name and 'ImageRef' Tagged Value image shown in the first column, notes in the second and a 'See also' in the third. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 25% of the table width and the second 75%. |
|
HelpTable3D |
A three column table with the HelpTableRow 'ImageRef' Tagged Value image shown in the first column, notes in the second and a 'See also' in the third. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 25% of the table width and the second 75%. |
|
HelpTable3AX |
A general three column table that displays text in the first two columns and 'See also' links in the third column. The first column contains the HelpTableRow element name and the second contains the element notes text. This table has no column headers or borders. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 25% of the table width and the second 75%. |
|
HelpTable3CX |
A three column table with the HelpTableRow element name and 'ImageRef' Tagged Value image shown in the first column, notes in the second and a 'See also' in the third. This table has no column headers or borders. In PDF output this appears as a 2-column table, the first column being 25% of the table width and the second 75%. |