When you have added a new project you can create the content structure and add the actual content.
| • | You create the content structure by means of folder objects, which are containers to hold other objects. |
| • | You add the actual content in topic objects. |
You add new objects by popping up the menu on a node in the tree on the left. Next, under the 'New' menu item you have to choose the kind of object you want to add. The node on which you have popped up the menu determines the available kinds of new objects.
HelpServer supports different kinds of folder and topic objects. Each kind has its own behavior. For example a 'Book' behaves different then a 'Chapter' and a 'Chapter' behaves different then a 'Topic'. Instead of the term 'kind' we prefer to use the term 'class'.
You can build your content using the predefined classes. ‘Folder’ is the generic container class, 'Topic' is the generic topic class. Other predefined classes are ‘Library’, ‘Book’, ‘Chapter’, ‘Glossary’, 'FAQ topic', 'Glossary term', etc.
You can also define your own content classes to setup a specific behavior for your projects
If there is no 'New' menu item in the tree node's popup menu, then you have popped up on a topic object, and this cannot be further subdivided. So, you can only add new objects in a folder object
In this example let’s add a ‘Book’ folder to build part of the content structure of our 'Animals' project since a book is the most commonly known structure type.
Adding a book
Popup the menu of the ‘Animal information’ folder and select ‘New > Book’.
The 'Add new' window
Enter the description ( learn more) of the book, for example, ‘Birds’ and click ‘OK’. The new book is added under ‘Project: Animals information’.
The description is the object’s title (we prefer to use the term ‘description’). It is an important attribute that allows people to recognize and select a content object. It can be changed, translated and used in search requests.
If you try to add a new object in a folder that already contains an object with the same description a message will popup.
A new object's description is not unique
You can go on adding the new object without any problem because an entire new instance of the object will be created, it will not override the existing one.
The other fields on the 'Add new' window are some of the new object's properties to handle security, to determine the layout, etc. You will learn more about these later.
New book added
The string 'Book' that appears in front of 'Birds' indicates the type of the folder you have added. By default it is shown in the tree nodes. In changing class properties you will learn how to change this and other defaults. The icon that appears in the node is part of the look and feel of the content and of course it can be changed, along with the font and the colors.
Next, you can further subdivide the book by again popping up the menu on the node and selecting an item of the 'New' menu.
Adding a chapter
You could add a topic directly under the book but let’s assume that the book consists of chapters. So, select ‘New > Chapter’.
The 'Add new' window
Name it, for example, ‘Introduction’, click ‘OK’ and the new chapter is added to ‘Book: Birds’.
New chapter added to the book
You can divide the chapter further into subchapters or you can add other chapters to the book according to the same working principles.
But at this point you can also add content in topics.
