Adobe RoboHelp 8: User Defined Variables

by Kevin Siegel

RoboHelp allows you to quickly create and use variables. What are variables and how can they help you? Variables can contain information that occurs frequently in your project, such as a product name, company name or copyright notice. After creating the variable, you can insert it into any RoboHelp topic or onto a template by simply dragging and dropping.

Let's say you want to have your company name appear throughout the project. You could accomplish the task the old-fashioned way by typing the company name over and over again. Or you can create a variable called CompanyName, whose definition is your actual company name. After creating the variable, it's a simple matter of dragging the CompanyName variable into any topic.

Now here's the cool part. Assume your company name now appears throughout your project, and now you want to change it. Without the variable, you would have to search your entire project and update the company name. Thanks to variables, all you will need to do is update the definition of the CompanyName variable and you will change the displayed company name project-wide in just a few seconds.

Create a Variable

1. Show the User Defined Variables pod by choosing View > Pods > User Defined Variables.
   
   By default, the User Defined Variables pod is empty. Let's create a variable that will link text to your corporate Web site.
   
   
2. At the top of the User Defined Variables pod, click the Create a new variable button.
   
   
   
   The New Variable dialog box appears.
   
   
3. Type a name into the Variable Name field (no spaces allowed).
   
   
4. Type your company name into the Variable value field.
   
   
   
   
5. Click OK.
   
   Your unformatted variable text appears in a panel to the right of the variable list. You will add a hyperlink to the variable text next.
   
   
   
   
6. Highlight the variable value (your company name).
   
   
7. Right-click the selected text and choose Insert Hyperlink.
   
   The Hyperlink dialog box appears.
   
   
8. Select Web address from the Link to drop-down menu.
   
   
9. Type your corporate Web address into the field to the right of http://
   
   
   
   
10. Click OK.
    
    
11. Save your work.
    

Insert a Variable into a Topic

1. Open a topic.
   
   
2. Drag your variable from the User Defined Variables pod into your topic.
   
   The variable value will appear in the topic. The value will be formatted to match the CSS attached to your topic and contains a hyperlink.
   
   
3. Drag the variable into more topics.
   
   
4. Save your work.
   

Edit a User Defined Variable value

1. At the right of the User Defined Variables pod, double-click the linked text to your company.
   
   The Hyperlink properties appear. If the Web address you typed a while ago was incorrect, you could fix it now.
   
   
2. Click OK.
   
   Anywhere you used the variable (two times or 10,000), the value instantly updated. How cool is that?
   

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