Related Topics/ALink Wizard for HTML Help

[Tim Green]

Something I am missing more and more in H&M is a simple wizard to create Related Topics buttons or links for HTML Help projects. At the moment you have to insert a WinHelp macro and manually copy the topic's A-keywords into it, like this:

Code: Select all

ALink(widgets;dongles;insulation;installation)

along with any other parameters like specific jump commands or window titles. You also can't just copy the list of A-keywords from the topic properties because the list format is wrong and the semicolons are missing. In addition to this the keywords are not updated automatically; if you add an A-keyword to the topic you have to remember to add it to the ALink macro as well.

Things get worse if you want to use the neater HTML Help popup menu style instead of the dialog box style. This isn't supported by the WinHelp macro, so you have to enter something like this as inline HTML:

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<OBJECT id="related_1" type="application/x-oleobject"
	classid="clsid:adb880a6-d8ff-11cf-9377-00aa003b7a11"
	width=12 height=12>
<PARAM name="Command" value="ALink, MENU">
<PARAM name="BUTTON [or TEXT]" value="Text:Related Topics">
<PARAM name="Item1" value="sampleapp.chm">
<PARAM name="Item2" value="widgets">
<PARAM name="Item3" value="dongles">
<PARAM name="Item4" value="super dongles">
<PARAM name="Item5" value="dongle problems">
</object>

This means creating all the PARAM entries manually, and again you have to copy in the individual A-keywords and remember to update the inline HTML for each topic whenever you add or delete keywords.

What I'd like:

The missing wizard would be accessed with a Related Topics entry in the Insert menu. It would open a simple dialog box with these options:

[ ] Insert all A-keywords from this topic
[ ] Update automatically when new A-keywords are added
[ ] Dialog box style
[ ] Menu style
[ ] Button link
[ ] Text link [*] Text font
Button/link text: [_______________________________________]
Additional A-keywords: [__________________________________] [*]Browse
Additional topics: [__________________________________] [*]Browse[/b]

The Browse option for additional keywords would show a clickable list of all the A-Keywords in the project. The Additional topics option would show a clickable list of all topics in the project not covered by the keywords already entered and then display an entry screen to enter/select new keywords that would include the selected topic in the Related Topics list. Not sure if these two options would be feasible but even without them a wizard like this would be a godsend.

[Alexander Halser]

Sounds like a good suggestion.