IE 7 and Context-Sensitive FlashHelp

Hi all, I'm hoping that you can brainstorm with me. I have a
FlashHelp system with context-sensitive topics that are called from
the application using the
start_page.htm#topic_name.htm syntax. Up to now, this has
worked really well in all browsers (IE, Netscape, Firefox, Safari,
etc.). In the new IE 7, however, making this kind of call doesn't
display the CS topic, but instead opens the default topic
(start_page.htm). Likewise, the URL in the browser window only
displays
start_page.htm, with the
#topic_name.htm info removed. From testing we've done, it
appears that IE 7 receives the complete help call, but then somehow
ignores or truncates the CS topic info.
Has anyone else had this problem? Any ideas as to what is
causing it or (more importantly) how I might work around it?
Thanks,
Melinda

The updating of the help topic is distinct from the problem you are encountering. I believe this is a bug in FlashHelp.
The more people who report a bug or request a feature, the more likely it is to be actioned. Please follow this link.
http://www.Adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=38
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

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Context-sensitive FlashHelp from a Client App - Has it EVER been done?

We are trying to call context-sensitive FlashHelp from a .NET client application. I've found posts from people with the same problem - they can't get it to work. The help window and main topic appear, but the topic context-sensitive portion of the address (pound sign and after) is ignored. In the comments at the end of the online help topic "Program Help for .NET" (http://help.adobe.com/en_US/RoboHelp/8.0/RoboHTML/WS5b3ccc516d4fbf351e63e3d11aff59c571-7f3 9.html) the administrator states that the information will be updated in April, 2009. Still nothing. Any solutions out there?
Regards,
Joseph

The updating of the help topic is distinct from the problem you are encountering. I believe this is a bug in FlashHelp.
The more people who report a bug or request a feature, the more likely it is to be actioned. Please follow this link.
http://www.Adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=38
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

Converted WinHelp to HTML Help and context-sensitive topics aren't working.

Converted WinHelp to HTML Help and context-sensitive topics
aren't working. Anyone run across this?

I am a developer and we have big project that needs to be
converted from winhelp to HTML help. I received only the .CHM help
file from the help auther. I added the HTMLhelp.lib file and
HTMLhelp.h file in to my project. I tried to change atleast one
page of the dialog. I added on helpinfo function htmlhelp function
call and hard coded the .chm file path and for the right click I as
well did the same thing. But I am getting "No Help topic is
associated with this item" upon F1 key and crash after the right
click with wincore.cpp error.
The code is as below.
BOOL CCnvCfgGenNRecPage::OnHelpInfo(HELPINFO* pHelpInfo)
// TODO: Add your message handler code here and/or call
default
if (pHelpInfo->iContextType == HELPINFO_WINDOW)
int nCtrlId = pHelpInfo->iCtrlId;
DWORD dwContextId = pHelpInfo->dwContextId;
//THE NEW HTMLFUNCTION CALL
::HtmlHelp((HWND)pHelpInfo->hItemHandle,
"D:\\vista_setup\\Patmob\\PatMob.chm",
HH_TP_HELP_WM_HELP,
(DWORD)&IDARRAY(nCtrlId, dwContextId)) ;
THE OLD CODE
::WinHelp ((HWND)pHelpInfo->hItemHandle,
AfxGetApp()->m_pszHelpFilePath,
HELP_WM_HELP,
// HELP_WM_HELP flag brings up pop-up help and expects an
array
// of DWORD pairs of the control ID and the context help ID
(DWORD)&IDARRAY(nCtrlId, dwContextId));
return TRUE;
DO I NEED ANY OTHER FILE? Should I checked out the dialog h
file and .hm file which compling the html related code?
Regards,
Kreena

Map.xml and context-sensitive help question

We're changing the tools we use to generate JavaHelp from RoboHelp to WebWorks.
RoboHelp's output always includes a file named map.xml. WebWorks doesn't include this file.
My understanding is that map.xml is what applications use to find the correct context-sensitive topic. Is that right? Will the app be able to find context-sensitive files without it?
Stan Stansbury

There are a couple of posts about masterdata.xml that seem to indicate it's not a problem. See if either of these help.
Context Sensitive Help Question
MasterData.xml
For the 'main portal page' bit - maybe the developer wants to know the Start Page of the project, rather than the Default Topic? I'm not very familiar with CSH and webhelp, so I'm uncertain of the details the developer needs, but I wouldn't think you'd have to change anything as long as they have all the necessary details.
Amber

Glossary and context sensitive help

Hi
I was wondering if it is recommended to include the same terms and definitions used in context sensitive help and in the glossary or should I keep them seperate? Also, when I printed the glossary in RoboHelp verison 8 for HTML, I only got the terms and not the related definitions?
Thanks for advice
Caryn

Hi again
When you do this, did you try changing the dialog as shown below?
Cheers... Rick
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Pagination, topic naming, and context-sensitive Help

This question was posted in response to the following article: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/techcomsuite/tcs/using/WS1b49059a33f77726-31aee1b1342288940d-7 fd8.html

This TCS4 Help documentation is very vague on how to do most of the things it's talking about. For example: "Create separate HTML topics based on FrameMaker paragraph formats - You specify the heading styles in FrameMaker that should be used as the page break. For example, if the FrameMaker file contains ten topics, each with subtopics, tasks, and tables, you can have each topic convert into a separate HTML file. If each of these topic headings is at Heading 1 format, you can set each Heading 1 topic to be created as a separate HTML topic. On the other hand, if you set the pagination at Heading 2, separate HTML files are created for each Heading 2 topic" ... how do you actually do this? Can I do it within FrameMaker itself? Or do I do it somewhere within RoboHelp?

Robohelp 7 - Context sensitive help and map ID's

Hi there,
Long time reader, first time poster. Let me just say my background is in training, as opposed to technical writing or software, so forgive me if my technical knowledge seems lacking.
My issue is that I've been presented with a bought in software product that the company I work for uses, and it's been updated. A year or so ago, we took their product, rebranded it and released it. The help was generated for our software build internally, producing a .chm file, which then mapped to their software to make it context sensitive for about 10 of 58 topics (top level only). (The original vendor provided an .ini file with some map id's)
My issue is that over the year, numerous changes have been made to the Word document, and it doesn't really resemble the original anymore. It is used to produce a manual, and from this manual, one chapter is imported into Robohelp 7 without images and converted to .chm. I've managed to import the chapter, convert it and produce the .chm file, however I am at a com-lete blank when it comes to making it context sensitive. I have several questions therefore...
1. Is it possible to create a new .chm that links to the old map id's? And if so what do I need to do?
2. Would it be possible to simply import the new Word file to the old project if the topics stayed the same? (Would there be much manual work?)
3. If these files are to be localised, what needs done to make that process as painless as possible? (The manual will be translated and we get that back)
Further details on the project. It's approx. 58 topics long, ranging from 20 sentences in one topic to approx. 250 in another. There are jump hotspots within the project, and a TOC has been produced. (I believe this makes the topic ID's sensitive?)
The old project had an .hh file with each line having the format: "#define 1001 1001", my new .hh file states "#define topic_title 1". I believe this is important and these may need to match?
The old project had a .hpt file with each line in the format: "23|1001|topic title", my new .hpt gile states: "23|topic_title|topic title". Again as these seem to refer to reference I believe they'd be important.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! Nothing I've tried so far has worked
Regards,
Wazza

The construction of your call is invalid. You can use a URL with the structure path/startpage.htm#topic.htm to call a specific topic but that is not how it works with map ids. There are topics on my site about calling webhelp by various means.
I don't know where you got the trial of RoboHelp 7 but you will not be able to buy a full version as the current version is RoboHelp. Also Adobe have announced various sneak peeks of RoboHelp 9. There is a clue there.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Context-sensitive help - where is the CS topic folder in the output files?

I have created a FlashHelpPro help file in RoboHelp 7 HTML. In the project setup pane, I have Map ID'd my context-sensitive topics and linked them to their respective pages. I generated the project, but there is no folder containing the context-sensitive topics in the output files. As a result, the developer suggested that I need to create a separate folder in the Project Manager that contains all the context-sentitive topics. Is this actually the next step, or can the developer find what he needs elsewhere in the files?
I haven't seen anything about creating a separate folder in the Project Manager, which seems redundant as there is the 'Context-sensitive Help' folder already present in the Project Set-up. Do I need to create a separate folder, as suggested by the developer? If not, where can he find the context-sensitive files in the output? Thank you.

Hi,
What do you mean that the context sensitive topics are not in the output? RoboHelp generates your output and (in WebHelp, so the same should count for FlashHelp) puts the context sensitivity in cshdat_webhelp.htm. Your developer doesn't need to worry about this, he just has to get his call right.
For information on calling the help, see http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/calling_webhelp/calling_webhelp.htm. It's for WebHelp but it should be the same for FlashHelp.
If your developer only wants to know which mapid's he has to call, you best give them your map files (the .h files).
Greet,
Willam
This e-mail is personal. For our full disclaimer, please visit www.centric.eu/disclaimer.

Creation of context sensitive help with pure FM 12 usage doesn't work

Hi,
I hope somebody is able to help me with a good hint or tip.
I am trying to create a context-sensitive Microsoft Help with FM12 only using the abilities of FM (no RoboHelp). For some reasons, my assigned ID's are not used in the generated chm file and therefore the help does not work context-sensitively.
What did I do?
- I created my FM files and assigned topic aliases to the headers. I did this two ways: a) using the "Special" menue and assigning a CSH marker and/or b) setting a new marker of type "Topic Alias" and typing the ID. I used only numeric IDs like "2000" or "4200",
- I created a .h file (projectname.h) - based on the format of the file projectname_!Generated!.h (I read this in some instructions). So the .h file (text file) looks like this:
#define 2000 2000 /* 4 Anwendungsoberfläche */
#define 2022 2022 /* 4.1.1 Menü Datei */
#define 2030 2030 /* 4.1.3 Menü Parametersatz */
#define 2180 2180 /* 6.6.7 Objektdialog Q-Regler */
#define 2354 2354 /* 6.9.2 Objektdialog Extran Parameter */
#define 2560 2560 /* 6.9.5 Objektdialog Extran2D Parametersatz */
- I published the Microsoft HTML Help. A projectname_!Generated!.h has been created. My IDs were not used in this file:
#define 2000    1
#define 2022    2
#define 2030    3
#define 2180    4
#define 2354    5
#define 2560    6
- When I open the .chm file and look in the source code, the ID even is totally different. It is not the one, I assigned in FM, it is not the one which I assigned in the projectname.h file and it even is not the one, which was put in the projectname_!Generated!.h file. It is a generated name starting with CSH_1 ...n in a consecutive way numbered.
Example:
<p class="FM_Heading1"><a name="XREF_72066_13_Glossar"></a>Gloss<a name="CSH_1"></a>ar</p>
What goes wrong? Why does FM not take my assigned IDs? I need to use these IDs since our programmers are using those already - I had to re-create the whole online help but the programs stay untouched.
Please help!
Many thanks
Mohi

Hi Jeff,
thanks for your note!
The text in my marker is just a number like "2000" or "4200". As said, I created manually a my.h file and used this marker there. E.g.
#define 2000 2000.
Whereby the first 2000 (in my opinion) is the marker text and the second 2000 is the context ID which the programmers are using for the context sensitive call of the help. My definitions in the my.h file were translated to #define 2000 1 (in the my_!Generated!.h file). The source code "translates" the context ID into CSH_8.
I am still confused :-/
Thanks
Mohi

How can I reference an external help file from context sensitive help at the control level?

My goal is to provide context sensitive help for each control displayed on the front panel using a help file created externally. I know that at the VI level I can specify a Help Path; I want the same behaviour for each control inside a VI. I also know about creating a custom control and specifying the Help Path in there, but it doesn't help in this situation, for I have hundreds of controls in my application and I cannot go back and replace each one with a unique .ctl. If I could override each instance of the custom control with unique path data that would do the trick, but that's not how it works.
Is there a way to add the Help Path information to regualr controls?
-euge
ne

This functionality is not yet built into LabVIEW.
About all you can do is cut and paste the help for each control into the description for the control. It is tedius but a finite task.

Is there a way to open context-sensitive help in a new window with RH10?

I'm linking my context sensitive help using the RoboHelp_CSH.js file to my web application.
The correct topic opens when I click the help link, but it opens in a pop-up window. This causes problems in Firefox and Chrome (which block pop-ups by default).
Is there anyway to force the context-sensitive help topics to open in a new window?
I've tried adding
<p><A HREF="javascript:RH_ShowHelp(0,'http:/myurl/index.htm', HH_HELP_CONTEXT, 100)" target="_blank">Help</A>
which opens an empty tab in Firefox with no content in it. And it doesn't work in Chrome either.
Has anyone else run into this? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Colleen

Hi and welcome to the forums.
Using the RoboHelp API, that is quite a bother. (Read: major pain)
Fortunately, there is a simple solution:
<a href="http://myurl/index.htm#<id=4>>newwnd=false" target="blank">Help<a/>
This link does exactly the same, only opens the help in a new browser window.
You may also be interested in my custom WebHelp API: http://www.wvanweelden.eu/blog/2012/08/03/custom-webhelp-apis
Greet,
Willam

Problems with context-sensitive HTML made from importing FM 10 to RH9

This worked in October and it doesn’t work now.
Start with a clean, well-formatted Frame 10 book with multiple chapters. Chapters, Heading 1, 2 and 3 headings have various FM Markers TopicAlias with ID for calling the help.
Example of FM marker: ID_HELP_SYSTEM_DEFAULT
Import FM book to RH 9 –pointed to an AllStyles.fm doc as a template, pagination on the above 4 headings, cross-refs mapped, on the Other Settings page the Context Sensitive Help Marker is set to TopicAlias.
Import looks spiffy; great TOC, Index, formatting, links, everything is exactly like I expected. Create chm file help. It looks great too. This part works well IMO.
My.h file is formatted with Hex number to match the application’s call.
Example:
#define ID_HELP_SYSTEM_DEFAULT 0x3F131
#define ID_HELP_EDITDATASET_TOOLBAR 0x3F132
Rename my mapping h file to BSSCDefault.h and put in root directory replacing the one RH makes. [When RoboHelp makes an h file, the numbers it assigns do not match what my application calls for. Changing these is not an option. I have hundreds of mapped IDs.]
Reopen RH and view the BSSCDefault. h file from RH. It has magically changed the Hex numbers to 6 digit numbers.
Example:
ID_HELP_SYSTEM_DEFAULT              258353      Saving Project Defaults as System Defaults
ID_HELP_EDITDATASET_TOOLBAR 258354      Editing Datasets Using the Mouse
The Mapped IDs are blue and are not locked. My FM TopicAlias Markers are all listed as Map IDs, I have Map#s for them and they point to the correct topic. The center panel shows Assign as grayed out. The project that worked in October looked just like this too, I checked.
Recomplie. Place new chm file in application. It will open from the menu item for Help, it will open from F1 but it will not open from any of the mapped Help buttons.
I uninstalled/reinstalled RH 9 and tried reimporting/compileing with an unpatched version. No change, still borked.
There has not been a change in the application; there are no new IDs in this version. I tried the new compiled help in an older version of my application and it will not work. Same behavior.
Any suggestions? Anyone else have this problem? What am i missing?

I dont use the settings file, I use a FrameMaker doc as a template. It has all my styles and I set the others before the import. There arent very many.
But, since you import from Frame, would you look at this and verify?
Looking at Map File in the Edit Map IDs dialog On the left the panel the Map ID is listed, then the Map # and finally the topic title.
Do your Topics show a notation at the end?
Example: Averaging Datasets #CSH_71
Then on the Topic panel if you find that same topic you see
Topic symbol -Averaging Datasets   [and the Topic properties show “no map ids for this topic]
Bookmark symbol -Averaging Dataset#CSH_71 [topic properties show the map id when you select it]
Bookmark symbol -Averaging Datasets#IX_averaging_datasets
Bookmark symbol-Averaging Datasets#XREF_25075_Averaging Datasets
I understand the Index and cross ref markers, but the isolated book mark is odd. You would think the notation would be on the topic
The chm file from October works in my latest build, and the developers swearz they changed NOTHING in the way it is called. I still have to talk to QM who do the builds just in case.

Muddled context sensitive help ids

Hi All
I've done some quite major updates to a help project,
including the creation of new context sensitive help Map Ids.
When I generate the help I get two files, cshdat_webhelp.htm
and cshdat_robohelp.htm. The cshdat_webhelp.htm contains the
correct map ids, however cshdat_robohelp.htm is still picking up
old IDs and some that look like random IDs, and this appears to be
the file that is called from the top level file
(projectname_rhc.htm) that the application calls. We can't get the
app to work with the projectname_csh.htm, so we need to use the
projectname_rhc.htm and cshdat_robohelp.htm files.
The only map file used in the project is the BSSCDefault.h
file, which only contains the correct IDs. I can't understand where
it is picking up the old/incorrect map IDs from. Can anyone please
help??
Thanks in advance,
Emma.

In case this is of use to anyone else, I found that there was
a .ppf file (whatever that is) in the directory, which was somehow
messing with the cshdat_robohelp.htm file. I deleted this, and hey
presto, problem solved.
Emma.

Cannot get simple merged HTML Help project going with context sensitive help

I have built a very simple project in RH9 from scratch, consisting of a main project and a sub-project now after I have modified our large project in changing every hyphens from file and directory names over a couple of days now only to see that context help still doesn't work.
The map IDs are not visible in the main project. To test it in the example, invoke the CSH-Test (context sensitive help test) from the Toolbox, enter !SSL!\Microsoft_HTML_Help\main.chm in the Offline field and a number 57 in the ID field. In our large project I'm getting nothing (no window pops up). In this example I'm getting this mystical error box, saying HH_HELP_CONTEXT called without a [MAP] section.
Christoph

Hi William,
thanks having a look at my problem. I read in another thread today a description which comes close to the problem I'm facing.
Maybe I formed the mini sample not exactly as our problem is situated. (thus the doubled map ids you were claiming).
I will try to explain again: we have a couple of CHMs in separate single help projects. These go into their own TOCs, Index Glossar etc. like in sub1->Einzel. For the merged project we produce a chm that goes into the directory of the master (main) project, like in sub1->Primäres Layout.
Each Topic in the sub project (e.g. sub1->Erstes Thema) has a symbolic link address (e.g. "Linkadresse=det_org_angaben), which is mapped to the MAP ID via the .h file.
This all used to work that way in RH5.
Now it seems that this information between the map ID and the symbolic Linkaddress gets lost with the merge process.
I am not using the same ID (57) twice in my example. The MAP ID in the main project comes from the sub1 project (see the yellow locked MAP ID).
The simplest test is using the CSH-Test in the Toolbox giving the main.chm as the Helpfile to test and enter the 57 as a MAP ID.
The idea behind is to use one CHM later to have to open in the application. The other CHMs of the subprojects only need to be present in the application directory. Then you invoke HtmlHelp(with the MAPID),like I posted in this thread.
The method you are suggesting in mapping the ID to the topic in the main project will not work since the topic is in the CHM of the sub project.
I modified the sample project once again (somehow the baggage files were not showing) to come closer to the constellation we are using in the large project, though I'm getting the "HH_HELP_CONTEXT called without a [MAP] section" error (which does not occur in our large project).
Christoph

Context-sensitive help breaking in RoboHelp 8

Peter - you're a lifesaver and I hope you're out there today . . . or somebody's out there who can help . . .
I shouldn't have said that in my last post about something being the "wackiest" thing I'd ever seen in RoboHelp. Now we have a new problem that's much more serious.
We have an aforementioned (in previous post) enormous RoboHelp 5 project, converted to RoboHelp 8 after much anguish, replacing hundreds of WYSIWYG graphics with true code etc. Map IDs were *not* touched.
Now the context-sensitive help for our VB app is not working, even though the map IDs are still in place on both ends (dev and docs) and all the relevant .hh files were included in my compile. Some topics (within the same help file) appear when called from the app, some don't.
A developer had a theory that in one case the topic ID was assigned (on their end) during design time, the other during run time. He's testing it now.
If it doesn't work, I have no idea where to begin. Is anyone aware of any changes in RoboHelp 8 that would affect the way the .hlp links to VB?
Thank you! - Sandy

Hi all,
I wanted to thank everyone who responded and post a follow-up to this, as well as a caution.
I felt like the world's biggest *** when I found this out, but it turns out that in my .doc files for this particular .hlp file (our project includes multiple .hlps) "Automatically Generate Map IDs" was turned on, and of course it should not have been. So the problem was on my end, not the software developers' end.
However - part of the reason it took me so long to figure this out is that I know I never turned that setting on. The other writer on this project has been here longer than I have and never would have turned it on. And it's not like that command is easy to stumble upon and set off accidentally (For those of you who don't know, it's under File>>Project Settings in RoboHelp Explorer). I have to think that RoboHelp defaulted those settings in somehow, maybe during our conversion from 5 to 8.
(Unless someone knows a way that you *can* just stumble on this setting and trigger it accidentally, maybe by inserting some random character in your .hpj . . . if anyone does, I would love to know about it.)
So, especially if you just changed versions of RoboHelp, I would encourage you to be proactive and, if you don't want "Automatically Generate Map IDs" turned on, double-check and make sure nothing is selected for Automatic Map ID Generation on the "Map Files" tab of the Project Settings dialog. After what happened to me this last time around, I'm probably going to check it every time I compile. - why not add another neurosis to the list?
Thanks again - Sandy

IE 7 and Context-Sensitive FlashHelp

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