Following are new features included in this version of Flare.
madcapsoftware.com/documentation/FlareV7/FlareWhatsNewGuide.pdf
Following are the major new features introduced in this version of Flare.
Feedback—Display Notification Options to Users
In previous versions, an end user always saw the Feedback email notification options when submitting a comment for the first time or editing his profile. In this version an option has been added to skins, allowing you to specify whether notification options are displayed to users in the output.
Feedback—Reply to Comments in Emails
Both Feedback administrators and end users can reply to comments directly from email notifications that they receive. This means that you no longer need to open the online output, navigate to the correct topic, and click the Reply button. Instead, you can click the reply link in the email message and enter your response to the comment. Your comment is added to that topic.
When administrators use this email feature to reply to new comments, not only is a reply created, but the original comment is also approved at the same time. In previous versions the administrator may have had to perform three tasks—approve the end user's comment, locate and reply to that comment, and approve his own comment. Now the administrator only needs to reply to the comment via the email notification, and both the end user's comment and his reply are automatically approved in the process.
Here is an email notification that an administrator might see.
And here is an email notification that an end user might see.
Note: Even if you are an administrator in Feedback Explorer, you must first be a registered user of the output (even your own output) in order to use this email reply feature. This means that you may need to add your first comment from the output itself, or at least click the Edit User Profile button 
(if included in the output). You do not need to select the notification check boxes in your user profile if you are also set up as an administrator.
Feedback—Unsubscribe Link for Users in Emails
Each email notification that Feedback users receive now includes a link to a page allowing them to unsubscribe (i.e., modify the email notification settings in their user profile).
Here is how the email message looks.
And here is the page that opens when the "Unsubscribe" link is clicked.
Font Options in Table Style Editor—Redesigned
The font weight (i.e., bold) and font style (i.e., italic) options have been redesigned in the table style editor to make it easier to distinguish between "default" (not set) and "normal" (set to normal), as well as to select more than basic bold or italic settings. The field labels have been changed from "Bold" and "Italic" to "Weight" and "Style," respectively. Also, whereas the fields were simple check boxes in previous versions, they are now drop-down fields that let you choose from multiple settings.
Here are how the options looked in previous versions.
Here are how the options look in this version.
Global Project Linking—Delete Stale Files
Previously, if you used Global Project Linking, keeping parent and child projects properly synchronized was somewhat manual when you deleted, moved, or renamed files in the parent project. For example, let's say you import a group of files from a parent project into a child project. Later, you delete some of the files from the parent project. In previous versions it was necessary for you to delete those same files from the child project manually. Starting with this version, you can select a new option that will delete these stale files from the child project automatically when you re-import files.
Note: This feature will delete stale files when you re-import either manually (by clicking Reimport in the Project Import Editor) or automatically when you generate output (if you have selected Auto-reimport before "Generate Output" in the Project Import Editor).
Help Controls—Styles
In Flare version 7.0, new styles called "MadCap|helpControlList" and "MadCap|helpControlListItem" were added so that you can specify the look of all Help control links (i.e., concept, related topics, keyword links). In this version several more styles have been added. The "helpControl" styles can still be used for all three types of links. But if you want different settings for each kind of link (e.g., one font size for concept links, another font size for keyword links, and yet another font size for related topic links), you can use styles that are specific to them (conceptLinkControl, keywordLinkControl, relatedTopicsControl).
Following are the styles available for Help controls in general, as well as for each type. Most of these styles pertain to Help control links when you display them as lists, rather than as popups.
Following are styles that can be used to control all Help control links (concept, keyword, related topics) as a group.
Following are styles that can be applied only to concept links.
MadCap|conceptLink (existed in previous versions) Edit this style to change the look of the heading for concept links. The following three concept link styles inherit properties from this style.
MadCap|conceptLinkControlList Edit this style to change the look of the entire list (<ul> element) when concept links are displayed in a list, rather than in a popup.
MadCap|conceptLinkControlListItem Edit this style to change the look of individual items in the list (<li> elements) when concept links are displayed in a list, rather than in a popup.
MadCap|conceptLinkControlListItemLink Edit this style to change the look of links in the list (<a> elements) when concept links are displayed in a list, rather than in a popup.
Following are styles that can be applied only to keyword links.
MadCap|keywordLink (existed in previous versions) Edit this style to change the look of the heading for keyword links. The following three keyword link styles inherit properties from this style.
MadCap|keywordLinkControlList Edit this style to change the look of the entire list (<ul> element) when keyword links are displayed in a list, rather than in a popup.
MadCap|keywordLinkControlListItem Edit this style to change the look of individual items in the list (<li> elements) when keyword links are displayed in a list, rather than in a popup.
MadCap|keywordLinkControlListItemLink Edit this style to change the look of links in the list (<a> elements) when keyword links are displayed in a list, rather than in a popup.
Following are styles that can be applied only to related topic links.
MadCap|relatedTopics (existed in previous versions) Edit this style to change the look of the heading for related topic links. The following three related topic link styles inherit properties from this style.
MadCap|relatedTopicsControlList Edit this style to change the look of the entire list (<ul> element) when related topics are displayed in a list, rather than in a popup.
MadCap|relatedTopicsControlListItem Edit this style to change the look of individual items in the list (<li> elements) when related topics are displayed in a list, rather than in a popup.
MadCap|relatedTopicsControlListItemLink Edit this style to change the look of links in the list (<a> elements) when related topics are displayed in a list, rather than in a popup.
Keep in mind the following rules when working with these types of styles.
Font color on link styles only You can set many different properties on Help controls. However, font color can be set only on styles that deal specifically with links (e.g., <a>, helpControlListItemLink, conceptLinkControlListItemLink).
example
Let's say you want to use red on keyword links. You can set that color on MadCap|keywordLinkControlListItemLink, because it controls the links specifically. But if you set the color on MadCap|keywordLinkControlList or MadCap|keywordLinkControlListItem, the color setting will have no effect because those styles deal with lists and list items, not links.
Inheritance from main list and link styles Because these Help control styles are based on the main styles for unnumbered lists (<ul>), list items (<li>), and hyperlinks (<a>), they inherit properties from those standard styles.
example
Let's say you set a purple font on the <a> style. If you do not make any changes to your Help control styles, all of the links will use a purple font. But suppose you want related topic links to use a green font instead. In that case, you can set the MadCap|relatedTopicsControlListItemLink style to green. If you do that, regular text hyperlinks, concept links, and keyword links will all display in purple, but related topic links will display in green.
Note: If setting a property on the <a> style does not seem to have an effect on the Help control links, check the heading style. For example, if you set purple on the <a> style but MadCap|conceptLink has blue, then MadCap|conceptLinkControlListItemLink will use blue. That's because MadCap|conceptLink overrules <a>.
Inheritance from general Help control styles Because the general "helpControl" styles (helpControlList, helpControlListItem, helpControlListItemLink) are used to determine the look of all three types of Help control links, the more specific styles (e.g., conceptLinkControl, keywordlinkControl, relatedTopicsConrol) inherit properties from them.
example
Let's say you set a 12-pt font on the MadCap|helpControlListItem style. If you do not make changes to any of the more specific styles (MadCap|conceptLinkControlListItem, MadCap|keywordLinkControlListItem, MadCap|relatedTopicsControlListItem), all of them will use a 12-pt font. But suppose you want concept links to use a 14-pt font instead. In that case, you can set the MadCap|conceptLinkControlListItem style to 14 pt. If you do that, keyword links and related topic links will display in 12 pt, but concept links will display in 14 pt.
No inheritance between specific styles As shown, there is inheritance from main styles (e.g., <a>, <li>) and from the general "helpControl" styles. That's because the main styles are at a higher level than all of the Help control link styles, and the general "helpControl" styles are at a higher level than the more specific styles. But all of the specific Help control styles are at the same level; therefore, none of them inherit properties from any of the others.
example
Let's say you set a 10-pt font on the MadCap|keywordLinkControlList style (which controls entire lists for keyword links). Neither the MadCap|keywordLinkControlListItem style nor the MadCap|keywordLinkControlListItemLink style will inherit that font size. Instead, the MadCap|keywordLinkControlListItem style (which controls list items for keyword links) will either inherit from <li> or MadCap|helpControlListItem. And MadCap|keywordLinkControlListItemLink (which controls the actual links for keywords) will either inherit from <a> or MadCap|helpControlListItemLink. Or you can set different colors on those styles specifically.
The following diagram shows how inheritance and precedence works with Help control styles. In this example, concept link styles are shown. But the same type of structure applies to keyword and related topic links as well. The arrows show inheritance. The numbers show precedence; in other words, if multiple styles have different settings for the same property, the style with a lower number has precedence over those with higher numbers.
Pseudo classes (e.g., focus, hover, link, visited), which are available for various link styles in your style sheet, can also be used for Help control link styles.
HTML Help—Display Merged Navigation in Child Outputs
A new option on the Advanced tab of Target Editor can be used when you merge HTML Help (CHM) outputs. This option displays the merged navigation (table of contents, index, search) in any CHM files, even child targets. However, the parent CHM must be present when you open a navigation element in a child CHM (i.e., it must be in the same folder as the child CHM).
HTML Help—User-Defined Position/Size of Window
A new option on the HTML Help Setup tab of the Skin Editor lets end users control the position and size of the output window. This option causes an HTML Help (CHM) file to save its window position and size after its first use. The next time, it will open at the same window position and size.
Images—Embed in Microsoft Word Output
Until now, all target types handled images by reference only. However, most users of Microsoft Word embed images directly into the document. Starting with this version, an option has been added to the Advanced tab of the Target Editor for Word targets. This option, which is enabled by default, lets you embed images automatically when generating Word output. Therefore, you no longer need to manually embed the images in Word or move the additional Resources output folder to accompany the document.
Images—Web
Image tags that link to websites or other external locations (for example, <img src="http://www.madcapsoftware.com/images/home/company.png" />), rather than linking to images in the project, now render correctly in the XML Editor and in print outputs. Previously these types of links did not display correctly in those instances, but only in online output.
Also, if you have many of these types of image links, slow website response times may slow down your work in the Flare project. Therefore, a new option has been added to the Options dialog, allowing you to disable the rendering of such images in the XML Editor.
In addition, the Insert Picture and Edit Picture dialogs now support such images. In other words, instead of adding the link directly in the markup, you can now use the Flare user interface when inserting and editing these types of images.
Note: If you are using the "generate web-safe images" option in WebHelp targets, images that link to external locations, such as websites, are not affected by that option.
Open File Dialog—Toggle Show/Hide Hidden Files/Folders
A new option has been added to the Open File dialog that toggles between showing or hiding hidden files and folders. When toggled on, all files and folders that are marked hidden in Windows Explorer will show up in this dialog. When toggled off, they will be hidden. Having this option toggled on greatly increases the performance of this dialog. This dialog is used for many tasks (e.g., when adding items such as page layouts or topics and clicking 
to search for a file).
Print Table Styles—Remove
An option has been added to the Apply Table Style dialog in the Table Style Editor. This option lets you remove print table styles. As of Flare version 7.0, print table styles are no longer the preferred method for single-sourcing tables in online and print output; mediums are now the recommended solution
Refresh Button in Content Explorer
A new refresh button has been added to the Content Explorer.
Skin Context Menu in Alias Editor
A context menu option has been added to the Alias Editor that lists all the available skins in your project. From this list you can select which skin to assign to identifiers in the Alias Editor. This is simply an additional method for selecting skins, in addition to the drop-down field already present in the editor.
Source Control—Lock Files During Check Out
If you have bound your project to source control and are using Microsoft Team Foundation Server or Apache Subversion, you can lock files so that other users cannot check in those same files when you have them checked out. You might use this feature to prevent conflicting changes from occurring and having to merge files as a result.
You can set files to be locked automatically when you check out files. This can be done from the Options dialog.
Another option is to manually set files to be locked whenever you check out files. This can be done from the Check Out dialog.
Source Control—Status Update
If you are using source control integration in Flare, a new feature lets you check for frequent status changes automatically. You can specify the number of minutes and seconds when you want Flare to ping the source control repository and get status changes for files that have been checked out, checked in, moved, deleted, etc. The upside of this feature is that you can ensure that the source control status information is always up to date. The downside is that you may experience slower performance due to this constant communication over the network.
If you elect to disable this feature (disabled is the default setting), you can manually check for status updates by refreshing the Pending Check-Ins window pane.
Targets—Exclude Content Not Linked Directly or Indirectly
In previous versions, the only way to completely exclude topics in online output was to place condition tags on the topic files and include or exclude them from the appropriate targets. Starting with this version there is another method. For online outputs, a new option has been added to the Target Editor. This option ensures that only content files directly or indirectly referenced from the target are included in the output, rather than including every content file in your project. This means that if the target is using particular files such as a table of contents (TOCs), master page, startup file, and so on, other files linked directly or indirectly from them will be part of the output.
example
Let's say your target points to a TOC that includes Topic A, Topic B, and Topic C. If you generate an online output and use the new option in the Target Editor, all three of those topics will be included in the output. In addition, Topic D will be included in the output. Although Topic D is not found in the TOC, a cross-reference to it is found in Topic B; therefore, it is linked to the TOC (and the target) indirectly. However, Topic E is not included in the output, because it is not found in the TOC and none of the topics to be included in the output contain a link to it.
Using this option can help prevent bloated output by excluding unused files.
example
Let's say you have 1000 images in your project, but only 500 of them are used in the HTML Help output you want to generate. By using this feature, only those 500 images are included in the output, thus keeping the output file size down to a minimum.
Text to Table Option—Tabs
An option has been added to the Text to Table section in the Table Properties dialog. This option lets you use tab separators when converting text to a table.
Following are the major new features introduced in this version of Flare.
Accessibility Enhancements
Flare PDF and WebHelp outputs have been improved to help you make your documentation more accessible to users who have visual and hearing impairments, and therefore in compliance with standards such as Section 508 and WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
Some of these improvements occur behind the scenes, and you do not need to do anything. There are other improvements where you can take actions in the Flare interface to improve accessibility.
If you are generating any of the WebHelp output formats (WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, WebHelp AIR, WebHelp Mobile), you may notice some improvements in accessibility.
The WebHelp runtime and navigation are now Section 508 compliant. This helps to ensure your output's adherence to item 1194.22 of the Section 508 specification.
In addition, there is a new Warnings tab in the Target Editor for WebHelp outputs. The options in this tab let you indicate whether you want to receive compiler warnings when your output fails to include information that makes it accessible.
You can receive warnings when:
Note: If you also have the latest version of MadCap Analyzer installed, you can see these same warnings before you generate output.
If you receive one or more of these types of compiler warnings, what should you do? That depends on the type of warning you receive.
Image elements If you receive this type of warning, you can fix the issue by editing the image and entering a description in the Alternate Text field.
Tables If you receive this type of warning, you can fix the issue by editing the table properties and entering caption text (above the table) and/or adding a header row.
Form elements If you receive this type of warning, you can fix the issue by opening the markup for the document and adding a label to the form. To edit the markup, you can use the Internal Text Editor or Notepad. For more information about working with form elements (and labels within them), see w3.org.
Frame elements If you receive this type of warning, you can fix the issue by opening the markup for the document and adding a title to the frame element. To edit the markup, you can use the Internal Text Editor or Notepad. For more information about working with frame elements (and titles/names within them), see w3.org.
There are a couple of new options in the Styles tab of the Skin Editor (for standard skins, not mobile skins).
First, there is a new option that lets you set a table summary for the table that is used to display search results in WebHelp output. The summary is used by screen readers to assist with accessibility.
Second, there is a new option that lets you set alternate text for TOC books when they are in an open state. This joins existing options for setting alternate text on topic icons, TOC books when closed, and items that are marked as new.
Improved PDF accessibility helps ensure that PDFs generated by Flare are as accessible as possible to users with disabilities.
When you generate a PDF, the following enhancements help make the output more accessible.
PDF tagging You can select an option on the PDF Options tab of the Target Editor to generate a tagged PDF. This gives the file a structure similar to that of the source XHTML documents. This structure is necessary for certain accessibility applications, including screen readers. For more information about viewing the tag structure in Adobe Acrobat Pro, please refer to the documentation provided with that application.
Note: If you enable this feature, the size of the PDF output may increase somewhat. Compilation time should not be significantly affected.
Similar to WebHelp output, there is a new Warnings tab in the Target Editor for PDF outputs. The options in this tab let you indicate whether you want to receive compiler warnings when your output fails to include information that makes it accessible.
You can receive warnings when:
Note: If you also have the latest version of MadCap Analyzer installed, you can see these same warnings before you generate output.
If you receive one or more of these types of compiler warnings, what should you do? That depends on the type of warning you receive.
Image elements If you receive this type of warning, you can fix the issue by editing the image and entering a description in the Alternate Text field.
Tables If you receive this type of warning, you can fix the issue by editing the table properties and entering caption text (above the table) and/or adding a header row.
When you insert or edit an image, you will see a new check box that allows you to apply the same alternate text and screen tip for all instances of the image throughout your project.
Alias Editor Enhancements
Many changes have been made to the Alias Editor to improve the process for creating context-sensitive Help (CSH).
These changes include the following:
Existing icons have changed in the Alias Editor. In addition, some new features have been added to the Alias Editor, resulting in new buttons.
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NEW FEATURE—Hide assigned identifiers This hides the identifiers that already have topics assigned to them. By doing this, you can concentrate solely on the identifiers that need topics assigned to them. |
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Create new identifier Note: You can also perform this task by right-clicking in the Identifiers side of the editor, and from the context menu selecting New Identifier. |
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Delete selected identifier Note: You can also perform this task by right-clicking in the Identifiers side of the editor, and from the context menu selecting Delete Identifier. |
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NEW FEATURE—Generate identifiers This lets you automatically generate new identifiers for all of the topics in your project. This is a good feature to use if you are creating identifiers in a header file for the first time. When you click this button, the Generate Identifiers dialog opens. In this dialog you can create a new header file or select an existing one. You can also see the identifier options—such as starting value, prefix, and skin—that will be applied to all of the new identifiers that are created. Note: You can also perform this task by right-clicking in the Identifiers side of the editor, and from the context menu selecting Auto Generate. |
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NEW FEATURE—Change identifier options This lets you specify options in advance for how new identifiers are created. See below for more information about the identifier options. Note: You can also perform this task by right-clicking in the Identifiers side of the editor, and from the context menu selecting Options. |
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NEW FEATURE—Identifier warning This lets you see if there are any issues with identifiers in the editor, such as identifiers that are not yet assigned to topics. |
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NEW FEATURE—Previous warning This highlights the previous identifier in the list that has an issue. |
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NEW FEATURE—Next warning This highlights the next identifier in the list that has an issue. |
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Assign topic to existing identifier Note: You can also perform this task by right-clicking on the topic, and from the context menu selecting Assign Topic to Selected Identifier. |
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Create new identifier and assign topic to it at the same time Note: You can also perform this task by right-clicking on the topic, and from the context menu selecting Assign Topic to New Identifier. |
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Open selected topic Note: You can also perform this task by right-clicking on the topic, and from the context menu selecting Open. |
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NEW FEATURE—Locate topic in header file This highlights the identifier to which the topic is assigned for a specific header file. Note: You can also perform this task by right-clicking on the topic, and from the context menu selecting Locate the Topic in Headers. |
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Unassign topic from identifier Note: You can also perform this task by right-clicking in the Identifiers side of the editor, and from the context menu selecting Unassign Topic. |
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NEW FEATURE—Select bookmark in selected topic This is a result of a change in the way the Alias Editor handles bookmarks. Previously, you could click the Show Bookmarks check box and then click on the appropriate bookmark in the list with the topics. Starting with this version, you first select an identifier row that has already been assigned to a topic and then click this new button. A dialog opens, letting you select a bookmark within that topic. Note: You can also perform this task by right-clicking in the Identifiers side of the editor, and from the context menu selecting Select Bookmark. |
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Select skin for identifier Previously you selected a skin from the Skins region and then clicked the Assign Skin button. Starting with this version you click the down arrow in the Select Skin button and choose the appropriate skin for the identifier. |
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NEW FEATURE—Not assigned This icon displays next to any identifiers that are not yet assigned to a topic. |
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NEW FEATURE—Assigned This icon displays next to any identifiers that have already been assigned to a topic. |
A new Identifier Options dialog can be accessed by clicking 
in the local toolbar of the Alias Editor.
This dialog lets you do the following:
Capitalize identifier names You can specify that the name that is automatically added for new identifiers should have all caps.
Default skin You can specify which skin should be assigned by default to new identifiers that are created. Of course, you can always manually select a different skin for any identifier, but when you first create a new identifier, it will initially be assigned to the default skin that you specified.
Prefix You can specify a prefix to be added at the beginning of each new identifier that you create (e.g., ID_, Dialog, Module1).
Primary header You can select a specific header file as the primary one, if you have more than one header file in your project.
When you are working in the Alias Editor, you can select a specific header file in the local toolbar. But what if you do not select a header file and "(all identifiers)" is shown in the drop-down field in the Alias Editor?
In previous versions of Flare, the changes you made in the Alias Editor were applied to the first header file (alphabetically) in your project.
However, starting in this version you can select a primary header file in your project. Therefore, when you do not select a header file and "(all identifiers)" is shown in the drop-down field in the Alias Editor, your changes are applied to the primary header file that you have selected.
Starting value You can specify the starting value for identifiers that you create, with the value for additional identifiers being incremented automatically based on that starting value.
Topic in identifier name You can specify that new identifiers should automatically include the assigned topic in the name.
In addition to the new icons and features, you will notice that the interface has changed somewhat. Previously the identifier list appeared on the left and the topic files were displayed on the right. Now it is the opposite; the topic files are on the left and the identifier list is on the right.
In addition, the topic list was previously a simple list with a filter to view topics in a particular folder. This has changed to the "multi-view" that you can find in many other places in Flare. This allows you to locate topics in the same folder structure that is found in the Content Explorer, use a "split view," and see all topics in a grid view.
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Shows all of the files |
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Shows or hides the folders that the files are stored in. |
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Shows or hides the files. If you click this button when the "Show Folders" button is selected, the area splits into two halves. The folder is shown on the left side, and the files and subfolders within it are shown on the right. |
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If the "Show Files" button is the only one selected, you can click this button to move up one folder level. |
Context menus have been added to both the topic tree and identifier list.
Auto Suggestion Replaces IntelliSense
IntelliSense is a feature in previous versions that displayed a popup as you typed text, allowing you to quickly select similar content that is already found in your project. This meant that you could add content without typing it completely. Starting with this version, IntelliSense is being replaced by Auto Suggestion.
Like IntelliSense, Auto Suggestion lets you choose existing content as you type. However, Auto Suggestion is different from IntelliSense in the following ways.
Focused suggestions Rather than basing the suggestions on all of the text throughout your entire project, Auto Suggestion gives you more control over the text that you see in the popup when you type. In addition to several common system suggestions (e.g., date, time) that are already provided, you can add your own words and phrases to an auto suggestions list. That way, instead of being overwhelmed with too many suggestions every time you begin typing text, you only see suggestions that you are likely to use.
Snippets In addition to system content, text from your auto suggestions list, and variables, Flare recognizes when you are typing content that matches existing snippets in your project. This makes it a very fast and convenient way to single-source your content.
example
Let's say you work on a team of 15 writers and there are a series of snippets in all of your projects that begin with the same three words—For more information…
Perhaps each person knows to start typing those words in certain places. But what if a snippet already exists with the full content that the writer needs? Without knowing that, a person might spend time typing all of the content, and maybe even create a new snippet for future use. But if Auto Suggestion is enabled, as soon as a person types a certain number of characters, all matching snippets are shown in the Auto Suggestion popup. Therefore, the writer can quickly find and select the appropriate snippet.
Enable/disable suggestions from specific files With IntelliSense, you could enable or disable the entire feature if you did not want to use it. You can also do this with Auto Suggestion. However, you also have the ability to enable or disable the suggestions from particular files (i.e., those from a specific auto suggestions word list, those from specific variable sets), in case you want to use some types of suggestions but not others. You can also enable or disable suggestions from all snippets.
Auto suggestion maximum number and minimum character length Not only can you control which types of files are included in the Auto Suggestion popup, but you can also specify the maximum number of suggestions shown in the popup (from 1 to 25). In addition, you can specify the minimum number of characters that must be typed before the popup opens with suggestions (from 3 to 12).
Following are the most common tasks that you will perform when using Auto Suggestion.
Equations
Flare now supports Mathematical Markup Language (MathML), which is a way to describe mathematical notations in XML. Recommended by the Word Wide Web Consortium (W3C), MathML in Flare allows you to embed virtually any kind of mathematical equation in the XML Editor.
Following are the primary tasks when working with equations.
Note: When you generate output, your equations are converted to images in the appropriate format. If you build PDF output, the equations are converted to vector images. If you build any other type of output, the equations are converted to raster images (PNG files).
Note: You can add alternate text and screen tips for an equation so that it becomes accessible for disabled individuals in the output. You can also create a report that shows accessibility suggestions, which includes equations in your project that are missing alternate text.
Note: When an equation is used in a heading and that heading is referenced in any way (e.g., cross-reference, table of contents entry), the equation is stripped from the reference.
Note: The Equation Editor contains its own online Help, which is separate from the rest of Flare's online Help.
External Resources
Flare has expanded its team collaboration support to include mappings to external resources.
A new External Resources window pane lets you select and maintain groups of external files that you want to share among Flare projects. The paths of these files are written to the registry so they will be available for all your Flare projects.
External resources can be virtually any local or network files that you have access to (e.g., images, PDF files, Flare project files). From the External Resources window pane, you can easily bring external files into a project (i.e., a copy of the file is added to your Flare project) and keep them synchronized with the source files through mappings.
The external resources feature is ideal for shared files that you expect to change over time (e.g., logo images, PDFs, style sheets), as opposed to, say, a template file that is simply copied into your project and changed only in that project.
example
Let's say you have a PDF containing employee contact information, and the master copy of this PDF resides somewhere on a network drive. You need to include this PDF in one of your Flare projects and link to it from a table of contents (TOC). But the PDF changes periodically, and you need to make sure you always have the latest data.
Perhaps the easiest way to accomplish this is to first add the folder containing the PDF to your External Resources window pane.
Next, you can right-click on the file and bring a copy of it into the Flare project you have open.
Now the copy of the PDF is in your project and you can include a link to it from a TOC.
A couple of months later, you need to generate new output from the project. So in the External Resources window pane you click the button to synchronize any changed files.
And now the project contains the latest changes to the PDF file.
Following are the primary steps that you will perform when it comes to external resources.
Copy and map files After you add folders to the External Resources window pane, you can copy any of the files to your project, mapping them to the source files at the same time.
This is a different process than that of importing files, which you can do elsewhere in Flare. Files that are brought into a project using a traditional import process can be connected to the source file, but only in one direction (i.e., files can be updated from the source to the imported file in the project). On the other hand, files that are copied from the External Resources window pane can be connected via mappings to the source files in two directions (i.e., files can be updated from the source to the copied file or from the copied file to the source).
Synchronize files After you map project files to source files located elsewhere, you can synchronize them to ensure that each file contains the same content. This process allows you to import content from external files, export content from mapped files in the project, or keep the most recently modified content.
If you attempt to synchronize files and Flare detects a conflict (i.e., a mapped file has been modified both locally and in its mapped location), a dialog opens so that you can take the appropriate action.
QR Code
You can now insert QR code into content files (topics, snippets, master pages, page layout content frame) using the XML Editor. A QR code is a type of barcode that can be read by devices such as smart phones. The data encoded in the QR Code can be text, a website URL, an email address, contact information, or SMS (Short Message Service, which is used for sending text messages). Basically, QR codes are a way to bridge the gap between a static print document and searchable, more detailed online information at your fingertips.
There are many different kinds of QR code readers on the market. If you have a mobile device that supports QR code readers, you can install an app and use it to read these types of codes.
example
Here is an example of a QR code:
If you have a QR code reader on your cell phone, you can scan this QR code and the MadCap Software website will open on your screen.
Following are some possible uses for QR codes.
Following are the primary steps for using QR Code.
Reports—New and Improved
There have been several enhancements to the reports feature in Flare, and some new reports have been added.
Previously the report items were displayed in a simple alphabetical list of check boxes.
Starting with this version, the items have been categorized, making it easier for you to find and select related data. In addition, each category has a "Select All" check box so that you can quickly choose all of the items in a category.
You can capture even more information about your projects with the addition of several new options in the Report Editor. Following are all of the reports available, with the new items indicated in red italics. Some reports appear in multiple categories.
Note: For items starting with the words "Files With…," the files listed in the report may include topics, snippets, master pages, style sheets, or page layouts. For example, if you run a report for "Files With Variables," the results may show a list of topics, snippets, and page layouts that contain variables.
The item "Files With Condition Tags" may include any content or project files, as well as content folders. The item "Files With File Tags" may include any content or project files.
A new option in the Report Editor lets you print a report immediately after you generate it. If this option is selected, the Print dialog opens as soon as a report is finished generating.
Review and Contribution Enhancements
Several changes have been made, and new features added, to the review and contribution process. This includes the introduction of MadCap Contributor, enhancements to annotations, the ability to track changes in documents, and more.
In previous versions, Flare worked hand-in-hand with three different MadCap applications to support topic reviews and contributions. X-Edit Review was designed for topic reviews only. X-Edit Contribute was designed for contributions only. And X-Edit was designed for both reviews and contributions.
Starting with this version, these three applications have been consolidated into one, called MadCap Contributor. This application closely resembles the full X-Edit product, although many enhancements have been made to support new features such as track changes. However, keep in mind that you do not necessarily need MadCap Contributor in order to use features such as annotations and track changes. MadCap Contributor is simply available for you to work more seamlessly with people who review and contribute to your Flare projects.
For more information, see the online Help provided with MadCap Contributor.
Annotations are now edited directly in the XML Editor. Therefore, the Edit Annotations and Annotations window panes have been removed.
In addition, annotations now use the same user initials that are part of the new track changes feature. You can change the initials (and user name) from Tools>Options>Review tab.
You can now track changes made to content files edited in the XML Editor (topics, snippets, master pages) and accept or reject those alterations individually. Each change is marked in a color (different colors for different users) and/or labeled in a sidebar.
When this feature is enabled, every change to the document—along with the user who performed the change—will be stored in the document’s markup. For example, deleted text won’t actually be removed from the document, but will instead be marked as deleted in the code. However, if the change is accepted, the text will be removed from the document at that point.
The track changes feature is especially useful as part of the topic review process (when you send topics out for review to individuals who make changes to them).
When reviewers open topics in MadCap Contributor to review them, the track changes feature is always enabled.
With this feature enabled, you can see exactly what the reviewer modified in the returned document. In addition, you are not limited to accepting the entire returned document only; rather, you can easily see where the changes occurred and you can pick and choose which edits to accept or reject.
Following are the primary tasks involved with using this feature.
or select an option in the Review menu (Review>Show Changes) to hide or show tracked changes in the active document. Note: The track changes feature is intended only for self-contained operations within the WYSIWYG (XML Editor). For example, if you make changes to index keywords or concepts in the Index and Concept window panes (e.g., renaming, assigning them to topics), those modifications are not indicated as tracked changes because they are considered project-wide "link updating" processes.
Note: The track changes setting is not global in a project (i.e., it does not affect other content files open at that time). For example, let's say you have two topics open. With focus on topic A, you enable the track changes feature. If you bring focus to topic B, the track changes option is not enabled for that topic yet. However, if you then open other topics after that point, the track changes feature will be enabled in those topics.
Note: Because of the addition of the track changes feature, when you send a topic for review, there is no longer an option to allow reviewers to edit the topic or not. However, you can always lock certain portions of a topic so that they cannot be edited.
In previous versions a simple dialog opened when you accepted contribution files, thus importing them into your project. Starting with this version, a more detailed wizard opens when you accept contribution files.
This wizard allows you to do the following:
Previously, if your contributors saved contribution templates, they saved them in this folder:
My Documents\My Templates\X-Edit
With the change to MadCap Contributor, they should now store contribution templates here:
My Documents\My Templates\Contributor
Note: In Windows 7 and Vista, the folder is called "Documents" instead of "My Documents."
Any templates that were created for X-Edit can still be used in MadCap Contributor, but you may need to inform contributors that those files will need to be relocated to the new Contributor folder location so they can use them when creating new documents.
If you attempt to accept a reviewed topic and Flare detects a conflict, a dialog opens so that you can take the appropriate action.
example
Let's say you send a topic to a reviewer. Before the reviewer returns the topic, you make changes to the original topic in your project. Then you receive the reviewed topic and attempt to accept it so that it becomes part of your project. Flare detects a conflict because the original has changed, so you are given a few options. You can merge the changes from the topics, keep the edits from the reviewer (undoing your changes), or keep your edits (discarding those from the reviewer).
A Review menu has been added to the Flare workspace, which lets you perform tasks such as sending topics for review, importing review packages, tracking and accepting changes, and inserting annotations. Because of this, the options that were previously in other menus (e.g., File, Insert menus) have been moved or removed.
Also, the File>Contributions options have been moved to Tools>Contributions.
The Review toolbar has been modified, with some options added and others modified.
The button for switching between Review Mode and Edit Mode has been removed; starting with version, you will always be in Edit Mode.
Previously the topic review process occurred only between a Flare author and reviewers using X-Edit (now MadCap Contributor). Starting with this version, this process can also take place between authors who are both using Flare. Therefore, not only can you send topics for review, but you can also use Flare to review and edit topics sent from others. In Flare you can open these kinds of topics from the new Review Packages window pane.
SharePoint Integration
Flare has expanded its team collaboration support to include integration with Microsoft SharePoint. If your company uses Microsoft SharePoint (software that allows organizations to collaborate, share files, and publish information to the Web), you can connect to a SharePoint server. Doing this makes it easy to access and edit the SharePoint files from any of your Flare projects. From Flare you can open SharePoint files, checking them in and out as necessary. You can even copy SharePoint files to your project with mappings that let you keep them synchronized with the source files. In addition, you can publish Flare output to a SharePoint server. Finally, you can use the SharePoint server to store any kind of template files supported in Flare so that they can be used by any Flare users in your company.
SharePoint is like a scaled-down version of a source control tool, with the ability to check out and check in files. Many organizations use a source control tool to manage files that are part of products and will be shipped to customers, while using SharePoint mostly for internal files to be shared among colleagues.
example
Let's say you need several people—such as subject matter experts, managers, or peers—to review your topics. You can always email review packages to those individuals, but an alternative is to upload the review package to a SharePoint server. Each reviewer can check out the package, make their comments, and check the file back in. You can then bring the review package back into your project, integrating the updated topics into your project.
Following are steps that you can perform when it comes to SharePoint integration. Connecting to the SharePoint server is the only mandatory step. The other steps are optional, depending on how you and your company or team wants to work. You might decide to use the check-in/check-out functionality, or you might decide to use the copy/map/synchronize features.
(Optional) Check out files You can check out files from the Flare interface. Checking out a file simply means to activate a "flag" on the SharePoint site indicating that you want to access the file and prevent others from editing it and conflicting with your changes.
If necessary, you can also undo any check outs.
Copy and map files You can right-click on any files in the SharePoint Explorer and copy them to your Flare project. When you do this, you can map the copied files in your project to the source files on the SharePoint server.
This is a different process than that of importing files, which you can do elsewhere in Flare. Files that are brought into a project using a traditional import process can be connected to the source file, but only in one direction (i.e., files can be updated from the source to the imported file in the project). On the other hand, files that are copied from the SharePoint Explorer can be connected via mappings to the source files in two directions (i.e., files can be updated from the source to the copied file or from the copied file to the source).
Following are some additional tasks related to SharePoint integration that you might perform.
Subversion—Native Source Control Support
Native support for Apache Subversion (SVN) is now available in Flare. SVN is one of the most widely used source control solutions; it is free and can run on almost any platform. This means that you no longer need a third-party plugin to take advantage of integrated source control with Flare and SVN.
As a result of this new support, you can now select SVN as a provider when binding a project to source control.
After doing this, you can take advantage of all of the source control features that are built in to Flare, such as checking files in or out, or getting the latest version of source control files.
Table Enhancements
Tables in Flare have been improved in the following ways.
You can now set backgrounds (color, images) on specified cells within a table. Simply select one or more cells in a table, select Format>Cell(s), and click the Background tab.
You can now convert tables to text and text to tables.
If you have a table containing text, you can remove the table but keep the text. When doing this, you can choose how the converted text should be represented: paragraphs, separated with commas, separated with text.
If you have a series of paragraphs or some text separated by commas or other strings, you can quickly place all of it into a table.
You can now use a button with a drop-down grid to insert a new table. The button is located on the far right side of the Text Format toolbar (View>Toolbars>Text Format).
If you click the face of the button, the Insert Table dialog opens, letting you specify properties for the new table as you insert it.
If you click the arrow on the right side of the button, a drop-down gird with a series of horizontal and vertical squares is displayed. When you hover over the grid, the squares change color to indicate how many rows and columns will be included in the table. As soon as you click, the new table is inserted.
The table initially looks very plain because it has no properties or style sheet associated with it. Therefore, you will likely want to open the Table Properties dialog at some point to specify settings and/or apply a table style sheet to it.
A new paste icon 
appears when you perform certain actions with tables. This icon allows you to specify how you would like to merge tables or paste content. You can also set the default behavior for similar actions in the future.
If you use the new "convert table to text" feature, a paste icon displays at the bottom. Following are the different options you can select from the paste icon.
If you cut entire columns in a table, a paste icon displays after the table. Following are the different options you can select from the paste icon.
If you cut entire rows in a table, a paste icon displays after the table. Following are the different options you can select from the paste icon.
If you remove content or empty space between two tables so that the tables are positioned immediately after one another, a paste icon displays to the right. Following are the different options you can select from the paste icon.
example
Let's say you have two tables in a topic and those tables are placed one after the other, as a result of removing content between the tables. When this occurs, you see a paste icon to the right of the tables.
If you click on the icon, you can select from various options to specify how the tables should be merged, or not merged.
Suppose we tell Flare to "Merge Table Down." In this case the look of the table would change because the second table is given priority.
Note: You cannot merge tables if the column count is different in them.
If you paste a table immediately above or below another table (or between two tables), a paste icon displays to the right. Following are the different options you can select from the paste icon.
If you copy cells from a table, then place your cursor within a table cell and paste the contents, a paste icon displays to the right. Following are the different options you can select from the paste icon.
The "Reset Local Cell Formatting" option has undergone a couple of changes.
| Change | Previous Versions | Flare V7 |
|---|---|---|
|
Menu option |
Previously the option was located here: Table>Table Style>Reset Local Cell Formatting. |
Now the option is located here: Table>Reset Local Cell Formatting. |
|
Selected cells |
Previously the option would remove all local formatting in the entire table, even if you only selected some of the cells. |
Now local formatting is removed only from the selected cells in the table. |
example
Let's say you have a table with three columns and you have locally added a different background color for each column. If you want to remove the background colors for all of the columns, you simply need to place your cursor somewhere in the table and select Table>Reset Local Cell Formatting.
However, let's say instead that you want to remove the background color for only the middle column. In that case, you can select that column so that it is highlighted and then select Table>Reset Local Cell Formatting.
Note: This option resets formatting placed on the entire cell (e.g., a background color added to cells would be removed). However, local formatting on content (e.g., bold text) is not affected. If you would like to remove local formatting for cells as well as cell content, you can use the "Remove Inline Formatting" button 
instead.
You can now sort rows in a table by selecting an option from the Table menu at the top of the interface or from table context menus. Rows can be sorted in ascending or descending order, numerically and alphabetically (numbers are first, then letters).
If certain cells are selected, only those rows are sorted, but the sorting occurs for all columns in the table. The rows are sorted according to the content in the first column in the selection.
The structure bars for tables have been improved in the XML Editor.
The table row bars have been merged with the regular tag block bars on the left of the editor. To turn these on, you can click the button for showing tag block bars 
. The old button for showing table row bars has been removed.
Previously, if you clicked inside a table, you could see structure bars for only some of the table tags (e.g., <th>, <td>). If you wanted to see the main <table> tag, you needed to click somewhere outside of the table, but then you no longer could see the tags for the individual rows. Starting with this version, you can see all of the main table row tags, whether you click inside a table or not. You can see additional tags when you click in certain cells.
The main <table> tag can be seen. This tag represents the entire table.
Within that tag you can see the <caption>, <thead>, <tbody>, and <tfoot> tags. These tags represent any table captions, header rows, regular table body rows, and footer rows, respectively.
Within those tags you can see the <tr> tags, which represent the individual rows in the table.
Within those tags you can see <th> or <td> tags when you click in different cells. These tags represent content for table headers or regular cell text, respectively.
And finally, within those tags you may see other types of tags such as <p>, <ul>, or <li> (paragraphs, lists), depending on the types of content you add to those rows.
The table column bars are now grouped with the span bars, being displayed above them in the XML Editor. To turn these on, you can click the button for showing span bars 
. The old button for showing table column bars has been removed.
Note: In order to see table column bars, you still need to click inside a table. The reason for this is that a topic might contain many tables, and because column bars are displayed across the top of the editor (rather than down the left side), Flare first needs to know which table you want to work on before it can show you its column bars.
You can now enter a summary for a table. This adds the "summary" attribute to the <table> tag and is used to help make your output more accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Many improvements have been made to the way table styles work in Flare.
These changes include the following.
On all tabs in the Table Style Editor (except the General tab), the Alignment and Vertical Alignment fields now use a drop-down list.
You can now apply a table style sheet to more than just one table at a time. Starting with this version you can apply a table style sheet to multiple, even all, topics in your project in one quick process. When you do this, the table style sheet will be applied to every table in those topics.
To use this feature, first open the style sheet in the Table Style Editor and in the local toolbar, click Apply Style.
A dialog opens, displaying all folders and topic files in your project. Click in the check box next to each folder and/or file containing tables that should use the style sheet. If you click next to a folder, the style sheet will be applied to all files and subfolders under it.
You can also select either of the following options in the dialog:
In previous versions you could set the background color on all of the tabs in the Table Style Editor, except for the General tab. Starting with this version, not only has this feature been added to the General tab, but you can now set the following background properties on any of the tabs.
In previous versions you could set the cell padding only on the General tab in the Table Style Editor, which meant that the padding values were applied to the entire table. Starting with this version you can set cell padding on any of the tabs (General, Rows, Columns, Header, Footer), allowing you to control the padding for specific areas of the table.
Previously there was a field called "Text" on all tabs in the Table Style Editor, except the General tab. This field allowed you to set the color, size, and font family for text in the cells. You could also specify bold or italic for the text. The same options are available in this version, but the field has been renamed "Font."
You can now set the height for all rows (body, header, footer) in a table style sheet. You can also set the width for columns.
Mediums have always been available in topic style sheets. Now they are also available in table style sheets.
Previously if you wanted different table style settings for online and print purposes, you needed to create a separate table style and then associate those two style sheets using the Table Properties dialog. You can still work that way, but you now have the option of simply changing mediums in a single table style sheet when you set your property values.
Patterns in table style sheets have been improved. This is how the "Patterns" area looked in previous versions of the Table Style Editor.
Area name changes This area was previously called "Patterns." Starting with this version, the label name is different depending on the type of table element you are working with.
Rows The area is now called "Row Styles."
Columns The area is now called "Column Styles."
Headers The area is now called "Header Styles."
Footers The area is now called "Footer Styles."
Button changes You can still add and remove items in a pattern. The only difference is that the buttons have been changed.
Move pattern items In addition, there are two new buttons that let you move items around in the pattern. For example, if you decide you want the third item in a pattern to occur first, you simply click the up arrow to move it to the top of the list.
Custom pattern item names Another new feature is that you can provide your own names for the different items in a pattern. By default items are named Body1, Body2, Body3, and so on when you first add items. But you can simply click in the Name cell and type a custom name.
Types Perhaps the most important change to patterns is that you can now assign a type to each item (either Pattern or Custom).
Most of the time you will probably want to use the Pattern type for an item. This means that the settings for that item will be added automatically to any table using that table style sheet. But if an item has a Custom type, its settings will not be added to a table automatically; instead, you would need to apply that item manually to the particular areas of the table where you want to use it. The Custom type might be used if you want a particular style for most of your tables, but there might be some tables where the style needs to be changed somewhat. In those cases, you can manually override the style for those specific tables.
example
Let's say you have a table style sheet with three pattern items on the Rows tab (Body1, Body2, Body3), with alternating background colors of blue, yellow, and red, respectively.
However, only the first two items are using the Pattern type. The third item is using the Custom type. Therefore, when you insert a table and use this style sheet, the rows alternate between blue and yellow only.
This particular pattern was created on the Rows tab, which means that it displays only in your body rows, not in any header or footer rows. By right-clicking on the <tbody> tag or any of the <tr> tags within it, you can select Row Style from the context menu. From there, you can select any of the available items in the pattern to override what you already have in the table.
The only difference between the first two items (Body1 and Body2) and the third item (Body3) is that Body3 can be applied only from this context menu manually. Body1 and Body2 are applied automatically, but can also be applied manually from the context menu too.
Repeat Previously the field used to indicate how many times a pattern item repeated was found in the Pattern Properties area. This has been moved to the Patterns area.
When you insert a table, you can select to use either a table style sheet or a <table> style from a regular topic style sheet. Whichever one you choose will control the look of the table that you insert.
If you choose to use a table style sheet, you can select the default style sheet provided by Flare or any table style sheet that you have added to your project.
Also, if you use a table style sheet and are creating print as well as online output, you can select a special style sheet for the print output by clicking the button to the right of the "Table Style" field. However, it is recommended that you instead use the new print medium feature in table style sheets.
If you choose to use a regular topic style sheet, you can use the main <table> style tag to control the look of the table, or you can use any class that you have added under that tag.
In previous versions, you could set page breaks on table elements by modifying the standard HTML table tags in a topic style sheet (e.g., you could put page breaks on rows by modifying the <tr> style tag). You can still use this method, but now you also have the option of setting breaks on rows (and on the entire table) through a table style sheet. And because you can create patterns in table style sheets, each pattern item might have different settings for breaks. See Setting Page Layout Breaks on Tables.
You might use standard HTML table tags in a topic style sheet if you want all tables to follow the same behavior when it comes to page breaks. On the other hand, you might use table style settings if you have complex tables and patterns requiring some table elements to break in a certain way and other elements to behave differently.
example—topic style sheet
Let's say you have a long table in a topic. In the output, the first part of the table might be shown on page 14, and the second part of it is shown on page 15. Suppose the final table row on page 14 has so much content that it wraps around to page 15, in essence splitting that row. If you would rather not split rows such as this, but rather keep them entirely on one page or another, you can set a page break on the <tr> style tag in a topic style sheet. In this situation, you would set the "page-break-inside" property to "avoid." Therefore, all tables in your project would simply break automatically at the end of pages when necessary.
example—table style sheet
Let's say you have many tables in your project where you have not only main headings with a gray background at the top of each table, but subheadings with a blue background every so many rows. And whenever a new subheading is needed, you want a page break to occur before it so that the subheading row begins a new page.
After designing your main header row in the Header tab of the Table Style Editor, you open the Rows tab. In the Rows tab you create two pattern items—one for the main table rows and another for rows used as subheadings.
You leave the "RegularRows" item set as a "Pattern" type, which means that this style will be applied to rows in the table automatically. On the other hand, you change the type of the "SubHeadings" item to "Custom." This means that the style will not automatically be applied to rows to be used as subheadings; instead, you must apply the style to those rows manually. Why? Because you can't predict when you're going to need a subheading in a table. So you simply apply that look whenever it's needed.
As mentioned, subheading rows should have a blue background, so that's what you set in the Background area.
With the "SubHeadings" item still selected, you can click the Advanced button at the bottom of the tab.
In the Breaks dialog you select Always in the Before field in the Page Break section.
After you are completely finished designing your table style sheet, you insert a table into a topic and apply the table style sheet to it. But because the "SubHeading" pattern item was set to "Custom," none of the rows initially have the blue background or the page break setting.
In PDF output the table might look like this:
In order for a row to be treated as a subheading row with a page break, you need to right-click on the tr tag bar and select the custom "SubHeadings" style.
In the XML Editor, the table might now look like this (in this example, the topic is being viewed with the Default medium, which is why we don't see the page break in action):
And in the PDF output, it would look like this:
If you set breaks in a table style sheet on the General tab, you can also specify widow and orphan settings. By default, table widows and orphans are set at 1, which means that it is possible for there to be a single row from a table left at the top or bottom of a page or column (if you use multi-column page layouts). But you can change the setting in order to ensure that multiple rows are always shown at the top or bottom of a page or column.
Note: If you have topic style sheets where you have specified a break on the main <tr> tag, these changes in Flare will not affect your tables. However, if you created a custom class of the <tr> tag (e.g., tr.BreakInside) and specified breaks on it, your settings will be overwritten if you create a new table style sheet or edit an existing one and apply it to a table. When controlling the look of tables, you should not create and use classes of standard HTML table tags (e.g., a class of the <tr> tag) if you also intend to use table style sheets.
Vector Graphics
Flare now supports the following vector image file types when you are generating PDF output. If you generate an online output type such as WebHelp or DotNet Help, the image is converted to a PNG file, which is a raster-based image file.
A vector image is comprised of geometric elements such as lines, points, and curves, based on mathematical equations. On the other hand, raster graphics are made up of pixels. A vector image is ideal for print-based output because the clarity is maintained even when you reduce the size of the graphic.
It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between a vector and raster graphic when viewing it at 100%. But if you zoom in the difference becomes apparent.
Following is an example of a PDF document with the same image in JPEG and SVG format.
The text in the SVG image is a little more readable. And if we zoom in, we can see why.
Here is what the JPEG image looks like when we zoom in at 300%. Notice that the pixels look blurry when enlarged.
And here is what the SVG image looks like. Notice that the text still looks as clear as it does at a much smaller size.
In addition to the major features, the following additional features were added in this version of Flare.
Analyzer—Scan Options and New Information/Reports
Flare's integration with MadCap Analyzer has been enhanced in the following ways.
There is an Analyzer tab in the Options dialog (Tools>Options) that lets you set advanced scan options. In previous versions, the options on this tab let you simply disable the collection of phrases and set the maximum word count for phrases. Starting with this version, you can enable or disable the collection of specific types of information.
For more information about viewing reports of the following, please see the online Help provided with MadCap Analyzer.
By disabling the collection of different types of information, you can improve the performance of scans done by Analyzer. This may help if your computer seems sluggish during an Analyzer scan.
To see the reports on these types of information, scan your Flare project in MadCap Analyzer.
A few new types of information have been added to the built-in Analyzer feature in Flare (as well as to the external Analyzer).
Corresponding reports for these types of information are also now available.
In addition, the built-in Analyzer data was previously accessible by selecting View>Project Analysis, which then opened the Project Analysis window pane. You could then navigate from one type of data to another in that window pane. You can still find Analyzer data in that window pane, but now when you select View>Project Analysis, a submenu opens, which lets you navigate to a specific type of information.
Following are the types of information available in the previous and current versions of the built-in Analyzer.
| Data | Previous Flare Versions | Flare V7 | See This Topic |
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Broken Links |
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Database Errors |
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Files with Changes |
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Incoming Links** |
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Topics not in Index |
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Topics not in Selected TOC |
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* This replaces the old window pane called "Project Annotations." ** This has been removed because you can view incoming links in the Link Viewer. *** This has been removed because you can launch the external MadCap Analyzer from the Tools>Launch menu. |
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Chrome
Previously, there were issues with viewing WebHelp outputs locally in Google Chrome, due to new security restrictions in Chrome. In this version these issues have been resolved. As a result, you and your end users can now view WebHelp outputs in Chrome when those files reside on your computer.
Columns—Hide/Show From Context Menu
In certain window panes in the Flare interface, information is presented in a grid. You can configure the information in these grids and the way that the information is displayed. For example, you can hide or show certain columns, set a background color for a column, or increase the width for a column. Previously, the only way to hide or show columns was to select them from the Columns dialog. However, you can now hide or show columns by right-clicking on the column headings in the window pane and selecting column names from the context menu.
Concept Link Help Control Changes
The dialog that is used to insert or edit a concept links control has been modified. The dialog has been reconfigured, and some new features have been added.
Here is how the dialog looked previously.
And here is how the dialog looks now.
You can click 
to open the Concept Link Options dialog, which lets you specify how the link looks and behaves.
This dialog includes the following fields.
Display topics in You can specify that the links should be displayed in a popup menu (same as default) or as a simple list.
In addition, the following two new styles have been added to topic style sheets.
Note: For projects that are merged, the list option is supported for standard merging (e.g., linking to an FLPRJ file in the table of contents). However, it is not supported for auto-merging in WebHelp Plus output.
Document Tab Changes
The following changes have been made to the tabs in Flare's Multiple Document Interface (MDI).
Drag tabs You can now click and drag tabs to the right or left to change their order.
Hidden documents You can open as many documents as you need in the interface. When you have opened more documents than can be shown, the hidden documents were represented by a partial tab with an ellipses, like this:
Starting with this version, the look of the drop-down menu has changed to this:
Footnotes Integrated Into XML Editor
Footnotes are now edited directly in the XML Editor. Therefore, the Edit Footnote window pane has been removed.
Home/End—Navigate to Beginning or End of Line
In previous versions, pressing the Home or End key on your keyboard placed the cursor at the beginning or end of the paragraph, respectively. Pressing Shift+Home or Shift+End did the same, but also selected the content between.
Starting with this version, pressing the Home or End key places the cursor at the beginning or end of the line, rather than the paragraph. And pressing Shift+Home or Shift+End selects the appropriate content.
HTML Help (CHM)—Merging outputs
The process for merging HTML Help outputs has been improved and simplified. There is a new option in the Properties dialog for table of contents (TOC) and browse sequence entries that enable you to find and select a CHM file. You can select a CHM file that you have already brought into your project (perhaps via the external resources feature
HTML Help (CHM) File—Select in Hyperlinks
You can now select a CHM file to link to when inserting a text hyperlink, image hyperlink, or topic popup. More specifically, you can select a topic within the CHM file as the destination for the link.
Icons Replace Text Buttons
In some places in the interface, buttons that had text on them have been replaced by buttons with icons. Following are some examples.
| Description | Old Button | New Button |
|---|---|---|
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Open Linked File This button is found in the General tab of the TOC or Browse Sequence Properties dialog. |
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Select Bookmark This button is found in the General tab of the TOC or Browse Sequence Properties dialog, as well as in the Insert Hyperlink dialog and Insert Cross-Reference dialog. |
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Select Link This button is found in the General tab of the TOC or Browse Sequence Properties dialog. |
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Import—Menu Options Changed
In previous versions the following was used for importing RoboHelp or HTML Help projects:
Starting with this version the option has been replaced by the following options:
In addition, the following new option has been added to the menu:
These options have also been added in the Getting Started Wizard.
Keyword Link Help Control Changes
The dialog that is used to insert or edit a keyword links control has been modified. The dialog has been reconfigured, and some new features have been added.
Here is how the dialog looked previously.
And here is how the dialog looks now.
You can click to open the Keyword Link Options dialog, which lets you specify how the link looks and behaves.
This dialog includes the following fields.
Display topics in You can specify that the links should be displayed in a popup menu (same as default) or as a simple list.
In addition, the following two new styles have been added to topic style sheets.
Note: For projects that are merged, the list option is supported for standard merging (e.g., linking to an FLPRJ file in the table of contents). However, it is not supported for auto-merging in WebHelp Plus output.
Mimic Movie Link Enhancements
A few enhancements have been made to the process for inserting links to MadCap Mimic movies in topics, tables of contents (TOCs), and browse sequences.
Previously, when you selected an option to insert a Mimic movie link, the MadCap Mimic Movie Link dialog opened. This dialog has been replaced with a simple Open dialog that lets you find and select any of the following types of Mimic movie files:
When inserting a Mimic movie link into a topic, the Edit Mimic Movie dialog now opens.
You can use this dialog to set the following options:
Lets you find and select a different movie or project file.Link Text Displays the text that you highlighted in the topic, which will be used as the movie link. Leave the text as it is, unless you decide you would like to change it. If you want to change the link text, type the new text in the field. It will replace the previously selected text in the topic.
If you do not provide link text, the file name for the movie or project will be used.
When inserting a Mimic movie link into a TOC or browse sequence, there is a new drop-down field next to the option. This field lets you select a specific output format (MadCap Movie Player, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight) for the movie link, just as you can do in the Edit Mimic Movie dialog for topic links.
Page Navigation Buttons
The Project Analysis window pane (View>Project Analysis>[Name]) now has page navigation buttons in the local toolbar. If you have more than 100 items in the window pane, these buttons are enabled. Because only 100 items are displayed at a time (to help with system performance), you can use these buttons to go to additional "pages" of the window pane to display more items.
Paste Icon—Content Outside of Flare
In previous versions, when you copied content from a file outside of Flare and attempted to paste that content into topic or snippet, the Paste Text dialog opened. This dialog let you specify exactly how to paste the text.
Starting with this version, that dialog no longer opens. Instead, the content is simply pasted into the Flare file, based on the default behavior specified (e.g., as paragraphs, as a list). However, a new paste icon displays after the pasted content, and if you click the icon you can choose a different method for bringing the content into Flare, just as you were able to do with the old Paste Text dialog.
Following are the different options you can select from the paste icon.
example
Let's say you frequently copy text from Word documents into your Flare topics. Normally you bring the text in as regular paragraphs, so you use that as the default behavior.
But suppose that in this case you want the content to be brought in as a list. In that case, you simply click on the paste icon and select Paste List.
And here is the result.
Preview Topics—Select Any Target
In previous versions, you could click a button in the local toolbar of the XML Editor to preview a topic. The topic preview was displayed using the output format specified in the primary target in the project.
You can still click the face of this button to preview the topic based on the primary target. However, a drop-down arrow has been added to the button. If you click the arrow, you can select any of the targets in your project from a menu. The topic preview is then displayed using the output format specified in that target.
Note: The topic preview feature is not available for Microsoft Word or Adobe FrameMaker formats.
Related Topic Help Control Changes
The dialog that is used to insert or edit a related topics control has been modified. The features in the dialog have been reconfigured and the look of the buttons have changed. In addition, some new features have been added.
Here is how the dialog looked previously.
And here is how the dialog looks now.
You can click to open the Related Topics Link Options dialog, which lets you specify how the link looks and behaves.
This dialog includes the following fields.
Display topics in You can specify that the links should be displayed in a popup menu (same as default) or as a simple list.
In addition, the following two new styles have been added to topic style sheets.
Note: For projects that are merged, the list option is supported for standard merging (e.g., linking to an FLPRJ file in the table of contents). However, it is not supported for auto-merging in WebHelp Plus output.
In previous versions, related topics links always displayed in alphabetical order. Starting with this version, you can use the up and down arrows to create place certain selected topics above or below others. Then if you select Yes from the Use Custom Ordering drop-down, the topic links will be listed in that custom order in the output.
Note: Custom ordering is not supported in DotNet Help output.
There is a new Clear Bookmark button 
at the bottom of the Select Bookmark dialog. If you have previously selected a bookmark when creating a related topic link, you can click this button to remove the bookmark from the reference. This removes the bookmark from the link only; it does not remove the bookmark from the destination topic.
Remove Inline Formatting—Replaces Unformat Option
The Unformat option in the Text Format toolbar has undergone a few changes.
| Change | Previous Versions | Flare V7 |
|---|---|---|
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Renamed |
Previously this option was called "Unformat." |
Now the option is called "Remove Inline Formatting." |
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Selected content |
Previously you needed to select the exact formatting in order to remove it. |
Now you only need to have your cursor somewhere in the tag. For example, if you have bold text in a sentence, you do not need to highlight that bold text; you only need to have your cursor somewhere in the tag. |
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Multiple tags, topics, tables |
Previously, because you were required to precisely select the formatted content, you were unable to use this option to remove local formatting in multiple tags (e.g., multiple paragraphs). |
Now you can select content across multiple tags or even an entire topic (e.g., press CTRL+A—Select All), and when you select this option, all inline formatting will be removed from that content. This also works for local formatting inside tables. However, only the cells (e.g., background color) and their content (e.g., bold text) are affected. Any inline formatting within table tags (e.g., <table>, <tr>, <col>) is not affected. |
Shortcuts—New/Changed
The following new keyboard shortcuts have been added.
Snippets—Shortcut Button
A new shortcut button 
has been added to the top local toolbar in the XML Editor, making it easier and quicker to insert snippets.
Source Control—Team Foundation Server 2010 Support
Flare's source control integration has been enhanced to support Microsoft Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2010.
As a result, you can now browse for a TFS 2010 server and select a "Team Project Collection." Therefore, a "Browse" button has been added to both the Import Project From Source Control Wizard and the Bind Project dialog.
When you click the Browse button, this dialog opens:
If you click 
, this dialog opens:
Templates—Subfolders Added at Point of Template Creation
Previously when you created a template folder, Flare automatically added all possible subfolders to it. These folders are used to hold the different types of template files that you can create from Flare (e.g., topic templates are stored in a subfolder called "Content"; page layout templates are stored in a subfolder called "PageLayouts").
Starting with this version, subfolders are not automatically created at this point. Instead, creating a template folder adds that folder only, and the appropriate subfolders are added whenever you create a new template.
Variables—Shortcut Button
A new shortcut button 
has been added to the top local toolbar in the XML Editor, making it easier and quicker to insert variables.
WebHelp Outputs—Choose Browser
Previously if you generated WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, or WebHelp Mobile output and selected to view the output, your default browser would open. You can now choose the browser you want to use (if you have more than one) from the Build Progress dialog. Simply click the down arrow on the View Output button and choose a browser that you have installed. If you click the main portion of the button, the output opens in the default browser.
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Copyright 2011 MadCap Software |
See Also