chm table of contents icons

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zagioutantis
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Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2020 12:50 am

chm table of contents icons

Unread post by zagioutantis »

It looks like a similar question was asked a long time ago for older versions of HM, but even there I could not find a satisfactory answer/solution, therefore I am restating the question through a new topic. If this is not appropriate, please let me know.

When compiling a chm file with default settings (or even using some of the skins provided), the table of contents shows a closed book for collapsed topics and an open book for expanded topics. However, the icon for topics that don't have child topics is a "?" (the attachment shows a screenshot of the help and manual chm file where the question marks are highlighted). By searching I realized that the icon that should be there resembles that of a sheet of paper with lines or similar.

On one of the answers to previously asked questions it was pointed out that one could make custom icons and place them in the baggage and then refer to them. Again I could not find the default icons to place there.

So the question is twofold:
a) how can I compile the chm file so that the "?"s in the TOC are replaced by the default icon?
b) if that is not easily done, where can I find the default icons to place in the baggage area and use that instead.

I am posting to the HM7 forum. I have purchased HM8 but have not migrated my projects there yet. If there is an easy solution in HM8, I could go with that.
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Tim Green
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Re: chm table of contents icons

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Zag,

The Microsoft CHM system has a set of hard-wired internal icons that can be selected but not changed or replaced with other icons. The page with the question mark is actually the default in the CHM viewer. The icons that you can select in the HM viewer are a new set that are used in WebHelp and eWriter but cannot be injected into CHM, because it does not allow that. You can change the icons for CHM, but you won't get the actual icon shown in the Help+Manual table of contents but the "corresponding" icon in CHM.

To change the icon for a topic right-click on that topic in the TOC in Help+Manual and select Change Icon. Note that you can't do this globally for all topics. You need to do it individually for each topic. On the whole I would recommend just leaving it at the default because that is what users expect in CHM files. Note also that the first 8 icons are open/closed pairs that should only be used for chapters, not for regular topics.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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zagioutantis
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2020 12:50 am

Re: chm table of contents icons

Unread post by zagioutantis »

Thank you Tim for a very comprehensive answer. I will leave them be.
Zach
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