Two (related) questions:

1. Does v5 include multi-topic find and replace? That is, can I set Find & Replace to go from one topic to the next automatically? I'm currently using v4.68 (licensed), and I need to change some terms that are scattered through over 100 topics. It's really tedious to have to use the Search dialog box to find a topic with the term to change, then bring up Find/Replace, then go back to the Search dialog box for the next topic, particularly since the Search dialog box can't be moved out of the main display window, and you can't freely edit the topic text when the Search dialog box is displayed. (BTW, I see a Scope selection in Find/Replace, but it's grayed out and I don't know how to activate it.)

2. Can I install v5 for testing without affecting my v4 installation? If I open a help project in v5, can I still open it in v4, or will the files be changed in a way that's not backwards compatible?

Kelvin

I need to follow up on this with a full-fledged bug report. Using Help Builder v4.68, if I use the Search dialog box to find text, then don't close it and use Find/Replace to change the text, when I later do close the Search dialog box, my changes are reverted. This happens even if I've gone to a new topic (by clicking on it in the Search dialog box). This makes my editing process even more tedious...

Version 5 includes a quicker search mechanism based on titles only which uses the standard tree view on the left that shows you all matches. So it's easy to see what contains.

But the main search hasn't changed. The biggest change for search and replace is that you get a better search and replace experience that is embeddd directly into the editor. But overall the process is still the same when searching multiple topics.

You can install V5 seperately (use a different folder) or you can just reinstall 4.x if you decide to revert. But once you install 5 and change files and templates there's no easy going back to V4 as the formatting and templates have changed. You can copy your project though and work in the copied location.

+++ Rick ---

Hi Kelvin,

Since the .HBP file is a FoxPro table, you can open it and search for strings using Fox commands, browse it, etc. May not be ideal but it's likely quicker and easier than searching 100's of topics in the HelpBuilder UI.

Carl

Thanks for the suggestion, Carl. However, I don't have FoxPro installed. Hmm, I had it at one time; I'll have to dig through my pile of old installation disks and see if I can find it (and whether it's a recent enough version to use the files)... If I can, that would certainly be preferable to the current situation.

FWIW, in HB 5.0 you can use this workflow (which isn't great but doable):

• Do you search in Search window
• Search Results come up
• Click first result link
• Ctrl-H - type search and replace phrases
• Click replace all
• Next topic from Search window
• Ctrl-H (search phrase is remembered)
• Click replace all

I realize this isn't exactly what you want but a lot better than what was in 4.x since the editor has good support for search and replace functionality.

I've played with global search and replace before, but frankly I think a 'just do it' approach is too dangerous - you really want to see the items being changed which is why I didn't provide it out of box. Too much chance for seriously messing up your data with no easy way to undo (short of backing up before and restoring).

+++ Rick ---

*I've played with global search and replace before, but frankly I think a 'just do it' approach is too dangerous - you really want to see the items being changed which is why I didn't provide it out of box. *

I understand the concern, and one issue that I've noticed with Replace All even in a single topic is that there can be capitalization issues that have to be dealt with individually. But it would be very helpful to at least be able to go through all the topics with the Find Next function (i.e., not do a global Replace All, but still search All instance by instance, and then click Replace for each instance).

And I guess the other issue is, your customers aren't noobs looking for the Any key; we're developers who should understand what we're doing, and have automated backups to protect against being hurt by big mistakes. It's frustrating to have unwanted and unneeded protection get in the way of doing my work. (You might have a confirmation prompt if someone clicks Replace All when the scope is global: "Do you really want to Replace All for all topics?") The lack of global search and replace is going to add a number of hours to my current update of my help messages. (I have to update terminology due to external requirements.)