I imported a chm and lost most of my context sensitive help

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Deb@VersaForm
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Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:07 am

I imported a chm and lost most of my context sensitive help

Unread post by Deb@VersaForm »

Hi,
I am evaluating H&M and really like it. However I have lost almost all of my context sensitive help.
The programmers are using PowerBuilder, and are calling for things like "Ambulance" and "Ambulance Tab".
I would code in FrontPage:
<Object type="application/x-oleobject" classid="clsid:1e2a7bd0-dab9-11d0-b93a-00c04fc99f9e">
<param name="Keyword" value="Ambulance">
<param name="Keyword" value="Ambulance Tab">
</OBJECT>
Then HTML Help Workshop would produce a chm that works.
I don't see the Object in the XML.
In H&M I have a Topic ID
Ambulance
and A-Keywords
Ambulance
Ambulance Tab
Can H&M do something similar? If so how do I do it?
Thanks and sorry if it is in the help, I couldn't find it :oops:
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Deb,

The importer won't convert associative links with associative keywords like this because they need to be inserted as code objects. You can find instructions for creating links like these in Help & Manual in this section of the help:

Basic Working Procedures > Links, Anchors, Macros, Scripts and HTML > A-Links and A-Keywords
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Deb@VersaForm
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:07 am

I got the context sensitive help working

Unread post by Deb@VersaForm »

Hi,
It turns out that what I need for linking to PowerBuilder is anchors. A-keywords didn't work and inserting HTML objects didn't work.
So now the problem is that the Index, which was going to be so clean, is cluttered up with the not-so-pretty links that the programmers used. Is there any way around that?
Thanks
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi,

There's not enough information there to provide a meaningful response. Please explain what you are doing and how you are doing in a little more detail. Where are you inserting the anchors and how are you inserting them?
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Deb@VersaForm
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:07 am

Unread post by Deb@VersaForm »

I use Ctrl + H to put an anchor at the start of the header, or further down the page if I want to go in other than at the top. I use the name of the page, without spaces, as the Anchor ID, and put the word(s) and/or phrase(s) that the program is looking for in the Keywords.
Those keywords then show up in the Index.
In the example, I want "Anesthesia" to be a sub-keyword to "Tabs", not "The Anesthesia Tab" as a keyword.
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Inserting an anchor at the top of the page is not really necessary, you can do that with a normal keyword that always links to the top of the page. Sub-keywords are inserted by inserting them on a second line, preceded by a tab. For full details on all this see the following chapter in the help:

Basic Working Procedures > Keywords and Indexes
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Deb@VersaForm
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:07 am

Unread post by Deb@VersaForm »

I am sorry to keep going on this, but the point is that the keywords in anchors seem to be the only way to link to the Help buttons in our program and I don't really want to see all of those anchor keywords in the Index.
I tried A-keywords, keywords from the Topic Options tab and inserting the same HTML objects that worked in HTML Help Workshop, but none of those worked.
So the questions are:
1. Can you think of any other way I could try to link to the Help buttons?
2. Is there a way to keep the keywords in anchors out of the Index?
Thanks.
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Deb,
the point is that the keywords in anchors seem to be the only way to link to the Help buttons in our program
Your program would be unique if that was the case. HM outputs 100% standard-compliant CHM files, so if you follow the MS HTML Help API and write the API calls correctly for the language you are using then it will work. You have the choice of using topic IDs (i.e. the internal HTML filenames) or help context numbers, but if you have been studying the API documentation in the MS HTML Help Workshop package help you already know that.

What's still not clear is exactly what you are trying to do and how you are trying to do it. For example, you say you have tried using the HTML Help objects, but how are you doing that? If you enter them directly in the text of your topics the code will be escaped to plain text and won't work. For something like that you need to use the HTML Code Object tool in Write > Insert Object. You can also add code to your <head> sections with HTML templates, you will need to study the chapters on using templates in the More Advanced Procedures section of the help to get into that.

If you can provide a detailed description of exactly how you are trying to make your calls and how you are trying to implement the targets in your help with H&M then our developers will certainly be able to help you. But they do need this information -- just saying that you have "tried A-keywords" doesn't help, because the way you are doing it may be the cause for the failure.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Alexander Halser
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Unread post by Alexander Halser »

Deb,

The way you encoded keywords in Powerpoint creates a regular keyword index, e.g. an index that is visible to the user in the "Index" tab of the compiled HTML Help file.

Code: Select all

<Object type="application/x-oleobject" classid="clsid:1e2a7bd0-dab9-11d0-b93a-00c04fc99f9e"> 
<param name="Keyword" value="Ambulance"> 
<param name="Keyword" value="Ambulance Tab"> 
</OBJECT>


This will add two top-level keywords "Ambulance" and "Ambulance Tab" to the visible keyword index.

Note:
A HTML Help file may optionally contain a second, invisible keyword index. This index is most often used for linking context sensitive help and is called an associative keyword index, in short A-keywords. Help & Manual has entry fields for both types of keywords. The entry fields are on the topic options tab of the topic editor, and are labled "Keywords" and "A-Keywords", respectively.

According to your initial explanation, you need the regular keywords. Not the A-keywords and no anchors. Just put the words "Ambulance" and "Ambulance Tab", both in a separate line, into the Keywords field of the topic options tab.

This should make your help file work with the keyword call from the application.
In the example, I want "Anesthesia" to be a sub-keyword to "Tabs", not "The Anesthesia Tab" as a keyword.
The keyword entry field in the topic options tab works as you would see it in the compiled index. Just put this text into the keyword field and compile:

Code: Select all

Tabs
   Anesthesia
   Patient Chart
   Patient Encounters
   Patient Registration
The word "Tab" starts at the beginning of the line, subsequent keywords are indented with the tab key.
Alexander Halser
Senior Software Architect, EC Software GmbH
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