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Generate Mobile App output

Last updated on Nov 30, 2023

Learn how to easily generate Mobile App output in RoboHelp.

What is Mobile App output

In RoboHelp, the Mobile App output preset allows you to generate an Android or iOS mobile application as your project output.

Configure a Mobile App output preset

The first step in generating the output of a RoboHelp project is to create an output preset and then configure the various settings of the output preset. You can use the following settings to configure a Mobile App output preset:

General

Title Specify the title for the generated output.

You can use variables in the title. To do so, type Ctrl + 1 and select a variable from the drop-down list, and then press Enter. Note that if you have provided a variable set in the Content tab > Variable Set field, during output generation, the value of the selected variable is picked from the variable set.

The title, along with the variables if used, appears on the browser tab of the output.

Output Path Specify a location for the output. To select a location, click .

Ensure that the output path is NOT located inside the project folder. If the output path is inside the project folder, the output generation fails. Also the folder you select should NOT have any content that you need. RoboHelp deletes the contents of the folder before generating the output.

Save output path as relative to project: If enabled and you browse to the output path., the path to the output will now be a relative instead of absolute.

Language Use the drop-down list to specify a language for the output preset if the language of the UI of the generated output needs to be different from the language of the content.

Encoding Use the drop-down list to specify the type of character encoding format to be used for your content.

Post Generation Script To run your custom script after output generation, select the script .js file from the drop-down list.

Content

Use the following options to specify content-related output settings, such as the settings for Table of Contents, index, glossary, and condition expression:

Table Of Contents Use the drop-down list to select a Table of Contents to be included in the output. This drop-down list displays the Tables of Contents available in your project. The first Table of Contents in this drop-down list is selected by default.

The set of files and their references present in the selected Table of Contents appear in the generated output.

Browse Sequence Use the drop-down list to view the defined browse sequences in your project. You can select more than one browse sequence. The selected browse sequences are then merged for the output. If there is a conflict with the selected browse sequences, the first selection is given preference.

Default Topic Click to select the topic that displays in the Topic panel when you open the output. By default, the first topic in the Table of Contents selected for this output is the default topic.

You can also select the default topic from the merged child projects. The list shown under the merged child projects is read from the selected TOC.

Include Index Select this setting to include the index page in the output.

Glossary Use the drop-down list to select the glossary to be included in the output. The glossary helps your users to quickly retrieve the relevant terms in your project, with the corresponding definitions.

Condition Expression Use the drop-down list to specify the condition expression for your output. This setting allows you to easily include or exclude content depending on the desired type of output or userbase. Click to edit the selected condition expression. You can also select None in the drop-down list to not specify any condition expression.

Dynamic Content Filter Use the drop-down list to select a dynamic content filter so your end users can filter content in the generated output. Click to edit the selected Dynamic Content Filter. Alternatively, select None in the drop-down list to not specify a dynamic content filter.

Variable Set Use the drop-down list to specify the variable set to use in this output. In the drop-down list, you can select <Default Variable Set> to use the project's default variable set. Variable sets allow you to implement output-specific use of variables. For example, you can have different variable sets for generating output for customers and internal users.

Map Files Use the drop-down to select a map file to use context-sensitive help. For more help, see Work with context-sensitive help.

Layout

Use the following options to configure the appearance of your output:

Search

Use the following options to specify search-related settings for your output:

Use topic description as search context Select this setting to display the topic description with the title in search topic results. In Set a Character limit, enter the maximum number of characters to be displayed in the topic description. To set a topic description, right-click a topic in the Contents panel and select Properties. In the Topic Properties dialog box, enter the description in Description and click Apply.

Enable auto complete in search box Select this option to display predictive options for the search query based on the initial characters typed by users.

Auto correct search query Select this option to correct misspelled terms that are typed during search. This setting corrects up to one character in each word typed during search. This ensures that you receive relevant search results, even if you enter a misspelled term.

Show definitions from glossary Select this option to display definitions of search terms from the glossary selected for this output. If the search term matches a glossary term, the definition of the term is displayed.

Select file types to exclude from search You can exclude specific types of files, such as PDF, Word, and Excel, from search. The content from the selected files will not be included during search.

App Details

Package Specify a name for the mobile app. A common naming convention is to use your company domain name in reverse followed by the name of the app. For example, com.adobe.myapp.

To avoid issues with third-party tools, use English letters, the underscore character, and a period as the separator.

Version The version number for the mobile app.

Version Code (Android only) The Android version number for the app. This is a positive integer that increases by one value each time you update the app. When you upload your app to an Android store, such as Google Play, your user will be notified of updates to your app when you update the version number.

Title The name of the mobile app. This is displayed in Google Play Store or App Store and on the mobile device when a user installs the app.

Description Specify the description for the mobile app.

Icon Specify the icon that is associated with the application. This is displayed in Google Play Store or App Store and on the mobile device when a user installs the app.

Splash Screen Specify the splash screen for the app.

Note:

The settings marked with * are mandatory fields; you need to configure these settings to successfully generate an app.

Publish

You can publish your output to FTP, SFTP, or File System. To be able to publish your output, first configure a publish profile for the appropriate server type. For more information, see Configure a publish profile for FTP, SFTP, or File System.

After you save the publish profile, RoboHelp displays the profile in the Publish tab. To publish your output, select the appropriate publish profiles and click .

By default, only modified files are published using the chosen publish profiles since the last publish.

To publish all files, select Republish All and click . To view the publish log, in the Output Presets panel, against the appropriate output preset, choose > View Publish Log.

Note:

Learn how to convert your Responsive HTML5/Frameless output generated from RoboHelp into a mobile app by using Apache Cordova. For details about how to generate a mobile app, visit this page.

Generate Mobile App output

In the authoring window of your project, click the Quick Generate icon in the upper-right corner of the standard toolbar.
Select a Mobile app output preset in the Quick Generate dialog box.
To configure the settings, do one of the following:
- Click the Edit Settings icon in the Quick Generate dialog box.
- Click the Output tab at the left side of the Standard toolbar.
The Output view opens.
In the Output toolbar, click Output Presets. In the Output Presets panel, do one of the following:
- Double-click the desired Mobile app output preset.
- Click the icon next to the desired output preset and select Edit.
To save your settings, click the Save icon in the upper-left corner of the standard toolbar in the Output view.
Click the Generate Preset icon  in the Output Presets panel.

You can then view a progress bar next to the selected output preset in the Output Presets panel. Once the output generation is complete, a Success dialog box is visible at the lower-right corner of the screen.

After the output generation is complete, click  in the Output Presets panel to open the output folder.

Note:

Alternatively, you can generate the output in the authoring window. Click Quick Generate  on the toolbar, select the desired output preset, and click Generate.

You can then view a progress bar in the Quick Generate dialog box. After the output generation is complete, click  next to the output preset to view the Mobile App output dialog box. In case the output generation failed, click  next to the selected output preset to view the error log.