You can tag both topics and content within topics with include options. Different methods are used in each case.

•Topics are tagged with Change > Include in Builds in Project > Manage Topics.

•Content is tagged with the Conditional Text tool in Write > Insert Object.

There are two different kinds of include options, those based on your publishing format and those defined by the user. The format-based options are used to create different versions on the basis of your output format – for example alternative text for the PDF version. The user-defined options are used to create fundamentally different versions of your project – for example for different versions of your product or for different customer groups.

Format-based include options:

These include options are predefined. They correspond to the output formats supported by Help+Manual. For example, if you tag an item or topic content with the HTML Help option it will only be included when you  publish to HTML Help. However, they are not absolutely fixed to the output format: It is quite possible to include content tagged for CHM in another format if you want at publish time. You just have to activate the CHM include option in the Publish page.

You can optionally select the include options for other output formats if you also want to include content that is actually tagged for those formats. For example, when you publish to CHM the CHM include option is selected by default. If you also want to include content that you have actually tagged to be included only in WebHelp you can do that by manually activating the WebHelp checkbox as well.

User-defined include options:

These include options are conditions that you define yourself. you can define as many of them as you want. you can tag text and topics with them in exactly the same way as with the format-based options. they are defined in Configuration > Common Properties > Custom Builds.

When you tag content with a user-defined include option it will only be included in your output if you activate the corresponding option in the Publish options. Otherwise it will be excluded.

eWriter Help is a special case, because internally they are classed as both eBooks and WebHelp. Their content is exactly the same as WebHelp and supports nigh on all the formatting and scripting that WebHelp supports. However, they are – or can be – distributed in the same way as eBooks. Because of this, eWriter is the only output format that has two active include options for including and excluding content: both EBOOK (eBooks) and HTML (WebHelp).

If you look at the Include Options box in the Publish dialog when you publish to eWriter you will see that both the WebHelp and the eBook options are selected. This means that an eWriter Help file will normally include any content tagged for either WebHelp or eBooks.

Including content in eWriter Help only

If you want content to be include only in eWriter Help you need to nest two conditions around it, like this:

IF_HTML IF_EBOOK ... END END

Then it will only be included in eWriter Help and nowhere else.

Include options for topics and chapters

Topics and chapters will be included in eWriter Help if they are tagged with either WebHelp or eBook.

In addition to include options you can also control and vary your output with alternative TOCs, variables, HTML template conditions, and modular projects.

For more background information see the Variables & Conditional Output chapter in the reference section and the Working with Modular Help Systems chapter.

It is crucial to understand is that conditions use OR logic. This means that only one condition needs to evaluate true to include or exclude the content it refers to. If multiple conditions are true the corresponding content will also be included but only one condition is needed to enable inclusion.

This means you need to be careful with tagging using multiple conditions. For example, if you tag a topic for both CHM (HTML Help) and TEST_BUILD you will never be able to exclude that topic from your HTML Help output, because the CHM tag will always include it.

Topics and chapters:

•By default, all new topics are tagged with the option ALL Builds. This means that they will always be included.

•If you tag a topic with a format condition (e.g. CHM) that topic will only be included in that output format.

•If you tag a topic with a format condition (e.g. CHM) and a user-defined condition (e.g. TEST_BUILD) that topic will always be included in the matching output format. In addition to that, it will also be included in any other output formats when you activate the corresponding include option in the Publish options.

•IFNOT simply reverses the logic – IFNOT CHM includes content in all formats except HTML Help.

Content in topics

•By default all topic content is included in all output unless it is explicitly excluded with conditional text tags.

•Tagging content with a format condition only includes that content in that output format.

•Tagging content with a user-defined condition only includes that content when the matching condition is activated in the Publish options.

•Here too, IFNOT reverses the logic – IFNOT HTML includes the tagged content in all formats except WebHelp.