Help authoring tools with SharePoint

Long time ago I used to use Help Authoring tools such as RoboHelp and ForeHelp. These were for Visual Basic applications. Wondering what would be a good help authoring tool for SharePoint 2010 applications that can help users understand SharePoint
features? Thanks so much.
Mayank

Try Component One’s Doc-To-Help (D2H)
http://blog.accusoft.com/2013/february/top-4-help-tools-that-integrate-with-sharepoint
http://blog.infotech.com/advisory/sharepoint-and-help-authoring/

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Need help authorizing tool with root privileges

So i've read apples docs on AuthorizationServices many times but they're examples leave a lot out (or maybe im just overlooking things) Can anyone provide a simple example of how to give an application root privileges, im trying to create a cleaning tool that removes caches etc.

You can't really "give an application root privileges". You can execute a tool with root privileges. I use the following:
#import "Authorization.h"
#import <Security/Authorization.h>
#import <Security/AuthorizationTags.h>
@implementation Authorization
// Constructor.
- (id) init
self = [super init];
if(self)
AuthorizationFlags flags = kAuthorizationFlagDefaults;
OSStatus status =
AuthorizationCreate(
0, kAuthorizationEmptyEnvironment, flags, & myAuthorizationRef);
if(status != errAuthorizationSuccess)
@throw
[NSException
exceptionWithName: @"AuthorizationCreateFailure"
reason: [NSString stringWithFormat: @"Error code: %d", status]
userInfo: nil];
return self;
// Destructor.
- (void) dealloc
if(myAuthorizationRef)
AuthorizationFree(myAuthorizationRef, kAuthorizationFlagDefaults);
[super dealloc];
// Execute a privileged task.
// Returns YES if the task executed successfully, NO otherwise.
- (BOOL) run: (NSString *) executable
withArguments: (NSArray *) arguments
output: (NSString **) output
AuthorizationItem items = { kAuthorizationRightExecute, 0, 0, 0 };
AuthorizationRights rights = { 1, & items };
AuthorizationFlags flags =
kAuthorizationFlagDefaults
| kAuthorizationFlagInteractionAllowed
| kAuthorizationFlagPreAuthorize
| kAuthorizationFlagExtendRights;
OSStatus status = AuthorizationCopyRights(
myAuthorizationRef, & rights, 0, flags, 0);
if(status != errAuthorizationSuccess)
@throw
[NSException
exceptionWithName: @"AuthorizationCopyRightsFailure"
reason: [NSString stringWithFormat: @"Error code: %d", status]
userInfo: nil];
char ** args = (char **)malloc([arguments count] + 1);
int index = 0;
for(NSString * argument in arguments)
args[index++] = (char *)[argument UTF8String];
args[index] = 0;
FILE * pipe = 0;
flags = kAuthorizationFlagDefaults;
status =
AuthorizationExecuteWithPrivileges(
myAuthorizationRef,
[executable UTF8String],
flags,
args,
& pipe);
free(args);
if(output)
NSMutableString * results = [NSMutableString new];
char buf[128];
while(true)
int bytesRead = read (fileno(pipe), buf, sizeof(buf) - 1);
if(bytesRead < 1)
break;
buf[bytesRead] = 0;
[results appendString: [NSString stringWithUTF8String: buf]];
[results autorelease];
*output = results;
return status == errAuthorizationSuccess;
// Execute a privileged task.
// Returns YES if the task executed successfully, NO otherwise.
+ (BOOL) execute: (NSString *) executable
withArguments: (NSArray *) arguments
output: (NSString **) output
Authorization * authorization = [Authorization new];
BOOL result =
[authorization run: executable withArguments: arguments output: output];
[authorization release];
return result;
@end

RoboHelp vs. SharePoint as Help Authoring Tool

Hello All,
I'm currently looking at RoboHelp to replace our old help
guides. Right now our guides are accessed though a 2 frame page
with an asp driven TOC on the left. The TOC just links to some html
pages that display in the right fram and others that are just
downloads of word, excel and PDF docs.
We will be purchasing Microsoft SharePoint next year and it
has been suggested to use that as our help authoring tool. I don't
know much about RoboHelp (other than I've been using the demo for a
couple days and love it's ease of use) and SharePoint and was
wondering if anyone out there has used both as a help authoring
tool and what your experiences were.
Are they pretty much similar, does anyone use them in
conjunction, any pros and cons to each?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to our community, mschallmo
I'm not a Sharepoint user and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn
Express last night, so I can't claim to be one.
I think you are comparing Spiders to Hedgehogs here. RoboHelp
is a Help Authoring Tool (HAT). Sharepoint is a product that might
display what RoboHelp created, but will not facilitate actually
creating the content you would later display as RoboHelp will.
Unless someone more experienced with Sharepoint steps up to
refute this, my understanding is that you would need
Both RoboHelp
AND Sharepoint. RoboHelp to author the content and
Sharepoint to present it to your users.
Cheers... Rick

Help Authoring Tool Options & Enhancements

I have been using RoboHelp x5 since 2005. For this year's
budget meeting I have to provide options/cost comparison on other
tools that are available. One thing that is of crucial importance
is that my background is not in computer/technical (no can do code,
scripting, etc), which is why RoboHelp was chosen in the first
place.
1) Can anyone offer an "addon products" to use with RoboHelp
(i.e. to enhance search function, etc)
2) Can anyone offer any advice (pros and/or cons) about any
of the following Help Author Tools?
• AuthorIT
• Doc-To-Help
• chm2web
• FAR
• Help & Manual
• Help Generator
• HelpConsole 2008
• HelpNDoc
• HelpServer
• HelpStudio
• HelpTron
• HyperText Studio
• Macrobject Word-2-CHM
• Macrobject Word-2-Web
• MadCap Flare
• Mif2Go
• WinCHM
Any assistance will be MUCH appreciated!
Cindi

Hi, Cindi,
If you're an experienced RoboHelp user and happy with the
output that you're getting with it then I would question the
benefit of switching to another help authoring tool. This may be
necessary in some circumstances —- for example, if you need
to output your help content in a format that RoboHelp does not
support, such as Microsoft Help 2.0 -— but for the most part
the time and effort required to learn the new tool and convert your
existing content for use with it will outweigh the benefits of
switching to it.
Here are a few notes on the tools you listed.
> chm2web
> Help Generator
> HelpConsole 2008
> HelpNDoc
> HelpServer
> HelpTron
> Macrobject Word-2-CHM
> Macrobject Word-2-Web
> WinCHM
I see little or no mention of these tools in any of the
Help-related forums that I frequent. This isn't necessarily a bad
thing, of course, but I believe it indicates that few professional
help authors are using them. I'd expect the cheaper of these tools
to provide few or no editing facilities, and in some cases they may
be designed to perform a single, very specific function, such as
compiling a set of existing HTML files into a .chm file.
> FAR
This is an excellent tool for performing search-and-replace
operations across a set of HTML files and compiling them into a
.chm file or Help 2.0 file. It provides no facilities for creating
and maintaining your topic content, however, so you should really
only view it as a potentially useful add-on to RoboHelp.
> Mif2Go
This is like WebWorks Publisher (not on your list): an
application that takes source content authored with Adobe
FrameMaker and converts it into a number of different help formats.
If you've already authored a lot of content with RoboHelp then
moving it into FrameMaker and setting up the Mif2Go or WebWorks
templates appropriately could be a big undertaking.
> HyperText Studio
This was up-and-coming five or ten years ago but, for
whatever reason, it seems to have dropped completely from view
(though I'm aware that it is still for sale).
> HelpStudio
This is a quite heavy-duty application that appears to be
more popular with software developers than with full-time help
authors. A "lite" version is now being given away with Visual
Studio.
> AuthorIT
> Doc-To-Help
> Help & Manual
> MadCap Flare
These are all significant players. I've used AuthorIT only
and, while it's certainly a powerful tool, the learning curve is
quite steep.
You can read detailed reviews of many of these applications
at the Writers UA site (
http://www.writersua.com).
Pete

Help Authoring Tool

I would like to add a comprehensive help feature to the application I'm creating. Ideally, I would like a "mini website" which the user would access via a link from the navigation bar. If it's possible, I'd like to program the link to be context sensitive (i.e. pull up help for the given page, but once the user is in the help website, he/she can use a search tool or jump to the Table Of Contents or Index).
Is there a help authoring tool (e.g. Adobe's Robohelp or something similar) that works particularly well with APEX? Is there something built into APEX that I haven't found yet? (note: I'm new to APEX programming). Any advice on any of the tools would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Rob

APEX includes built-in features to develop a help system for your application.
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17556_01/doc/user.40/e15517/app_comp.htm#CHDCDBFB

Is there an HTML help authoring tool for LV?

Ideally one tool fits all, LabView, C# and MSVC++.
I know RoboHelp is a good tool for non-LV languages, does any one know other good tools? Thanks

The standard Common User Access (CUA) states that the key F1 will open help. Unfortunatly you cannot associate this key with a help file and topic as you can in other development systems.
On windows systems the behaviour seem to be common with what I have tested with MS Outlook, MS Internet explorer, LV and my favourite Help authouring tool (HAT). All open the default topic of the help file.
On IBMs AS /400, now iSeries, F1 will open a window which depends on the field where the cursor is. On GUI system this is related to the control who has the key focus. If the cursor is outside any field a help window explaining the current screen will be opened.
LV allows you to simulate this using the event structure. Make a event case for "Key up". Look into help for scan codes and how the keys are mapped to the values in this case. This event exists for the VI and for each control/indicator. If you have detected a F1 key you can open the help file with the corresponding topic.
The other way of context sensitiv help is Shift-F1. This works different in different applications. MS Outlook will open a popup window depending on the part where the mouse cursor is. MS IE will open the default topic of the help. My HAT will change the cursor and when you click somewhere you get a corresponding popup window. LV will ignore this key. The best way LV has for that is the "Tip" or "Tip Strip".
I think that NI will not make a new property to VIs and controls containing help file information and to associate the F1 key with that properties because you can connect F1 to a control using Key Navigation. This is another method of providing help. Place a control outside the visible aera and connect it with F1 using key navigation. This way you can open a help file with a topic with the context sensitivity of the window.
Another thing I have to comment is that why will you use HTML files instead of HTML based help (Win98, this is the same help LV uses)? If you have a medium sized application you will have to be careful to deploy a lot of files (more than 30 I would expect, 1 for ech topic and two or three for the frame, navigation and table of contents). You have to take into concern various browsers (4 Versions of MS IE, some versions of Netscape, some versions of Opera) with various versions of JavaScript if you will use a dynamic table of contents. And you will loose such things like Search and Favourites. Win98-Help looks always the same because there is only one viewer installed with every Windows and there are no third party products doing some things different. The only answer I would really accept is you are not on a windows platform.
Waldemar
Waldemar
Using 7.1.1, 8.5.1, 8.6.1, 2009 on XP and RT
Don't forget to give Kudos to good answers and/or questions

Help starting off with SharePoint Search

We are looking at ways to help narrow down search results. The system is being implemented to manage Policies, the managers manage policies using Word Documents and are stored in a Library, and the published documents are saved as PDF files and are stored
in another library.
is it possible to make it so end users can search only the published policy folder and give the managers to search both (ideally separately, depending on what they are working on). We are basically looking for ways to create more managed search
environments.

The way SharePoint Search works it to only show results for the "stuff" to which a user has access. So the users can get only those results for which they are intended to get. Other than that you can set refinement to get differnt types of metadata
filtered in search result.
Here are few ref links
http://blogs.technet.com/b/tothesharepoint/archive/2013/11/11/how-to-add-refiners-to-your-search-results-page-for-sharepoint-2013.aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/b/tothesharepoint/archive/2013/11/07/plan-to-use-refiners-on-a-search-results-page-in-sharepoint-2013.aspx
Let us know if this helps
Regards,
Pratik Vyas | SharePoint Consultant |
http://sharepointpratik.blogspot.com
Posting is provided AS IS with no warranties, and confers no rights
Please remember to click Mark As Answer if a post solves your problem or
Vote As Helpful if it was useful.

Recommend project management calendar tools that integrate with SharePoint

Hi All,
Has anyone integrated SharePoint with project management tools like Trello or DivvyHQ. We built out a task management system in SharePoint, and would like to integrate it with an out-of-the-box project planning tool so marketers can take advantage
of calendars with multiple dates, ghantt charts, etc. I'm looking for something out-of-the box that already has an integration with SharePoint.
Thanks,
-Jamie

Hi,
you can user project server
or if nor possible check the following
http://sp2010teamplates.codeplex.com/
http://www.brightwork.com/resources/free_sharepoint_project_management_template.asp?event=4
https://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-kw/Applications/12884943482
Kind Regards,
John Naguib
Senior Consultant
John Naguib Blog
John Naguib Twitter
Please remember to mark this as answered if it helped you

I am an MBA student , doing a research project on e-learning authoring tools, would like to find out no. of licences sold/active to date for adobe captivate. how many get sold every year. any pointers/help is appreciated. cheers.

I am an MBA student , doing a research project on e-learning authoring tools, would like to find out no. of licences sold/active to date for adobe captivate. how many get sold every year. any pointers/help is appreciated. cheers.

I doubt you'll get an answer in a user forum, sorry. This forum is meant for users to help other users when they have problems that have to be solved. You should contact Adobe itself.

Comparison with other authoring tools

Most of the time people get into one authoring tool like Encore, DVD Studio Pro, Sonic Solutions Authoring packages, ...
I have the feeling with Encore 2.0 that it is not a professional package (but of course I could be wrong);
a lot of possibilities, but not reliable and the result is not very professional.
Subtitles don't look too great,
a lot of bugs, really a lot,
seamless transitions between animited menus,
I'm curious to hear comparisons with other solutions which are professional, to orient and know more about the differences and similarities.
DaLuna

DVDit is ghastly.
Encore is based on Sonic's DVD Producer, but has had a lot more of the options "Switched on" in the Authorcore. Plus of course it has a far better GUI compared to the Sonic one.
Scenarist is seriously good, but seriously expensive, and as it is not an abstraction layer tool, it has it's own unique issues as well.
If you want to try your hand with the scripting side of things, then you should have a look at DVD-Lab Pro.
It's about to go to version 2, which will include goodies like Multi angle, Button Over Video, that sort of thing.
It's only drawbacks compared to Encore are:
1 - No DLT output.
2 - No built-in Transcoding. You MUST feed it with DVD compliant assets.
3 - Poor PSD support
4 - No integration with other Adobe products
BUT, it is well worth a look at $200

Workflow created with Authoring tool produces a workflow that doesn't work

Hi,
I'm getting fed-up with the Authoring Tool. It has such inconsistently bad results.
Anyway, here's my current problem:
1. Create a new MP
2. Create a new Workflow that triggers when an incident is created with no additional criteria
3. Add a command script to the workflow that runs an exe based on the workflow server
4. Add two parameters, one of /commit the other of the Id of the incident
5. Import the MP, copy the resultant assembly DLL to the workflow server
6. Trigger the workflow, it fails with:
Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Common.InconsistentDataException: The requested objects had an unknown management pack. ---> Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Common.InconsistentDataException: The call produced inconsistent results. The data on the client
does not match the data returned from the server. The most likely cause is that client-side cache is out of sync with server data. ---> Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Common.ObjectNotFoundException: An object of class ManagementPack with ID ab2e712a-8963-028c-50bb-8d2fbecf380a
was not found.
   at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Configuration.TypeSpaceCacheBaseWithManagementPacks.GetManagementPack(Guid id)
   at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.ManagementPackManagement.GetManagementPack(Guid id)
   at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Configuration.CreatableManagementPackElement`1.GetManagementPack(Guid managementPackId)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Configuration.CreatableManagementPackElement`1.GetManagementPack(Guid managementPackId)
   at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Configuration.ManagementPackTask.Constructor.CreateSingle(Result row)
   at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Configuration.ManagementPackElementConstructor.CreateMultiple[T,H](IList`1 dataAccessResult, EnterpriseManagementGroup managementGroup, ManagementPack managementPack)
   at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.TaskConfigurationManagement.GetTasksInternal(ManagementPackTaskCriteria criteria, IList`1 targetTypeIds, BaseClassTraversalDepth baseClassTraversalDepth, Nullable`1 managedEntityId)
   at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.TaskConfigurationManagement.GetTasksInternal(ManagementPackTaskCriteria criteria, IList`1 targetTypeIds, BaseClassTraversalDepth baseClassTraversalDepth)
   at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.TaskConfigurationManagement.GetTasksInternal(ManagementPackTaskCriteria criteria)
   at Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.TaskConfigurationManagement.GetTasks(ManagementPackTaskCriteria criteria)
   at Microsoft.ServiceManager.WorkflowAuthoring.Common.ManagementGroupHelper.GetTaskGuid(String taskName, String mgmtGroupName)
   at Microsoft.ServiceManager.WorkflowAuthoring.ActivityLibrary.CommandScript.InitializeRunTaskActivity()
   at Microsoft.ServiceManager.WorkflowAuthoring.ActivityLibrary.CommandScript.Execute(ActivityExecutionContext executionContext)
   at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.ActivityExecutor`1.Execute(T activity, ActivityExecutionContext executionContext)
   at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.CompositeActivityExecutor`1.Execute(T activity, ActivityExecutionContext executionContext)
   at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.ActivityExecutor`1.Execute(Activity activity, ActivityExecutionContext executionContext)
   at System.Workflow.ComponentModel.ActivityExecutorOperation.Run(IWorkflowCoreRuntime workflowCoreRuntime)
   at System.Workflow.Runtime.Scheduler.Run()
Does anyone know why this is or how to fix it?
I've tried twice now with the same results.
Cheers,
Rob

I gave up with this approach and created a custom activity for this workflow which is passed the same parameters and performs the same actions but works perfectly.
Did you ever find a reason for this error?

How difference between Adobe captivate with Adobe captivate authoring tools

I just confused coz I cant edit the widget via captivate 7. Some expertise said I need to have Captivate authoring tool to edit and modify the widget.
PS. while I clicked on the aidget the library present a link to SWF file.

You do not need any add on to install the widget. The widgets are installed when you install Captivate.
Captivate widgets are created in Flash. If you know Flash and ActionScript, you can create one of your own. The Flash source files of the existing widgets are at:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 7 x64\Gallery\Widgets\Source
You can find some info on this at:
http://helpx.adobe.com/captivate/using/create-widgets.html
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1203981
Sreekanth

Robust Help Authoring System

I need to design a reobut help authoring system to provide contextual help for WLP pages and portlets.
The help content will be authored by business users (about 50 of them) so the interface has to be super friendly.
I'm looking for a solution that allows authors to collaborate in producing the content.
Has anyone implemented anything similar? Does anyone have any good recommendations?
Thanks,
Anthony

Try Component One’s Doc-To-Help (D2H)
http://blog.accusoft.com/2013/february/top-4-help-tools-that-integrate-with-sharepoint
http://blog.infotech.com/advisory/sharepoint-and-help-authoring/

Inconsistency between catalog authoring tool & Search engine

Hi,
We are on CCM2.0 and SRM5.0 with catalog deployment in the same client as SRM.
In our implementation we are using master catalog and product catalog. We have very recently deleted around 65 items from our product catalog which is mapped to mater catalog and hence those 65 items are not found anymore in master catalog in CAT (Catalog authoring tool).
This master catalog when published, we expect that these 65 products should not be available for end users.
But end users can still see the deleted items through CSE (Catalog search engine). Thus there is data inconsistency between CAT & CSE.
Has anyone faced similar issue before if yes can you please share the same with us.
Edited by: Manoj Surve on Mar 24, 2009 7:05 AM

Run TCODE SE38 program /CCM/CLEANUP_MAPPING to look for errors/orphaned records in test mode.
If you want to clear out orphaned records uncheck the Test Mode but:
Warning: This program can slow down a production system as it clears out the memory buffers for user catalog searches and these have to be built up again by the users doing searches. This can be hours to days depending upon the size of your system and the number of users.
In Dev or UAt no problem.
Hope this helps?
Regards
Allen

"An error occurred accessing your Microsoft SharePoint Foundation site files" connecting site with SharePoint Designer

I have a SharePoint 2013 environment with 1 AD Server, 1 DB Server and 1 APP Server, with 13 Web Applications running under the SharePoint.
Recently I rebuilted the application because of some infrasctrucutre problems, and I was able to solve all of them, except one. I can't connect to any of those 13 Web Apps with SharePoint Designer. When I try to connect, it always ask credentials, then it
seems like loading the site, then the error appears:
"An error occurred accessing your Microsoft SharePoint Foundation site files. Authors - if you are authoring against
a Web server, please contact the Webmaster for this server's Web site. WebMasters - please see the server's application event log for more details."
I've spent hours troubleshooting it, but none of the information I found was valid. I've already tried to clean the cache, but didn't work. I found plenty of related data of this
error with FrontPage and old versions of SharePoint, but nothing helped. All the Web Apps are SPD-Enabled at Site Collection Administration. I've tried connecting from many different PC's. The 15/LOGS folder doesn't get any data from this error, neither the
Event Viewer.
I really don't know what else to do. Please Help!

I found the answer of my issue was in a .NET Agent installed by NewRelic on the server. I found a connection trouble with Fiddler, then I end up figuring this out:
This can be the result of Real User Monitoring so the first step in troubleshooting would be to disable it and see how it affects the application. The .Net Agent injects snippets of javascript into the header of pages sent to the users browser to measure the
page load time on the user's end.
You can disable RUM by editing newrelic.config and changing this line:
<browserMonitoring autoInstrument="true"/>
to this:
<browserMonitoring autoInstrument="false"/>

Help authoring tools with SharePoint

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