Script Automation for Help and Manual 8

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Theo_Gottwald
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Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2022 5:08 pm

Script Automation for Help and Manual 8

Unread post by Theo_Gottwald »

I was happy to migrate my software docs to "Help and Manual 8".
After checking all options, I came to the conclusion that HM8 is just the best option to edit Help-Files and technical documentation.
I wonder what other people may use.
The site and the very fast and in depth support reminds me of Centurion Setup by Gammadyne which is the best Setup-Creation program and also has that personal touch. I like these programs where you can see that there are somehow individuals behind who know their product.
Its just not like if you call the hotline of one of these large companies ... and get lost.

Let me add abig Thanks to Mr. Green for his great support, if it would be only for this.I could recommend HM 8.

While Help an Manual 8 is possibly the best Authoring Software for technical Manuals, its not a magical stick.
Especially if you have to migrate a larger file (like me) and want to automatically change styles ...
Automation is needed.
So I did something what i did with many other programs before. I added my own Buttons to the program.
A click on the Button and the SPR will start doing automated tasks inside HM8.
If you ever missed some "customs functions" in HM 8 and wondered if you can
add them yourself, maybe this is a option? I have take a Video that shows what i did.

SPR Automation with Help and Manual 8

Now that was yesterday, today I have already added that the third part of the Header
will also get an own style, "Headline3", all with the click on one Button.
While i have no idea if this might be interesting for other people, i simply like the fact
that i do not depend on functions from the manufacturer. If I need something special. I can add it using the SPR.
It will still take several days to migrate the whole helpfile to HM8.
But then i can use the new Premium Pack with those Templates and the helpfile will "Look like new".
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Tim Green
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Re: Script Automation for Help and Manual 8

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Theo,

This looks interesting -- thanks for posting! It would be great to hear from people trying this out. 8)
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
Theo_Gottwald
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2022 5:08 pm

Re: Script Automation for Help and Manual 8

Unread post by Theo_Gottwald »

Currently my help-file has >3800 Pages. Thats why experimenting will cost a lot of time.
That's why your help in the process was important.

Also from the style of HM8 and the Addons, this is a very clean program stable and it works bug free with my large Manual.

There is one small cosmetical issue i found:
During Saving the Help-File (with >3800 Pages andmany pictures, lots in PNG-Format) the HM8 Window sometimes becomes black.
Maybe some "DoEvents" would be good at that place?
If the program gets black and in the worst case Windows might bring up a Messagebox "HM8 is not responding ...".
This is not really a functional issue, but it could irritate new Users.

After all i made 3 styles for the 3 Header parts,
and changed the Script so that it runs the complete Section while I look News in the TV. Now I am done with the headers.

If there would be a way to export the whole document in a sort of XML and later re-import it,
then external changes would be possible. I could load the XML into the SPR, patch all the styles and then import it into HM8 again.
Is there an option planned to export the whole file as an XML-File (in a way that it can be re-imported again)?

Sort of "Open Help File Format" like the Open Document Format for Open Office?
This way also other Tools could import and Export HM8 Files more easily.

Just an idea.
I can do it automatically in the GUI, but going through >3800 Pages in a GUI takes much longer then patching XML-Code.
Even though a robot can do it much faster then a human.
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Tim Green
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Re: Script Automation for Help and Manual 8

Unread post by Tim Green »

If there would be a way to export the whole document in a sort of XML and later re-import it,
then external changes would be possible. I could load the XML into the SPR, patch all the styles and then import it into HM8 again.
Is there an option planned to export the whole file as an XML-File (in a way that it can be re-imported again)?
The entire Help+Manual project is already 100% plain-text XML, so that you can do exactly this. You can edit it and manipulate it directly without any restrictions (but you should close the project in HM before doing so). All you need to do is use the uncompressed XML format (HMXP), in which all the component files are stored openly in a folder with sub-folders, instead of the single-file HMXZ format. HMXZ is actually exactly the same format and it is a standard ZIP, just like a Word DOCX file. You can convert HMXZ to HMXP with Save As.. in the File menu. Alternatively, you can just unpack the HMXZ with a zip utility and then rezip it.

The Help & Manual XML schema is fully documented in the Helpman_XML_ref.chm file, which you can find in the Help & Manual program directory. The current XSD schema file for validation is included with every project. If you do any programmatic operations on the XML with your application you should always validate with the XSD before saving, in addition to performing basic XML syntax checking.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
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