Popup question

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John Johann
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 7:35 pm

Popup question

Unread post by John Johann »

Output format is CHM in English, German, and some more.

I'd like to add pop-ups to an image for mouse-over/click and also list them beneath the image (e.g., for printing, those who cannot click).
  • I created the pop-up class topics in Project A (which also contains other stuff).
  • I set the project search path in Project B to include Project A/Topics.
  • In the hotspots on the image in Project B, I selected the name of the topic and set the "Help file" to Project A.
  • In the list beneath the image in Project B, I added a linked snippet to the topic in Project A.
When I output to chm (Project A and B), the snippet contents in Project B are included in the list. However, the hotspots on the image "cannot find the topic".

When I decompile Project A, the pop-up class topics are not included. Project A only has the main TOC with the topics I want displayed.

On the topic level in the Project Explorer, I set the builds for the pop-up topics to CHM and Webhelp, but it did not help.

How can I force Project A to include the pop-ups?
- Or can I put them in Project B/Baggage

Note that I cannot put the pop-ups in Project B/Topics as the Project B language siblings have Project B/Topics in their Project search paths so that I can include untranslated topics as linked snippets :-)
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Tim Green
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Re: Popup question

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi John,

Because of the way popups work in CHM you can't "share" them across multiple CHM files in the way you describe here. CHM doesn't save the popups as topics at all. They are all stored in a special plain-text file that is only available within that CHM file, because it is accessed internally. You can change the name of the file from its default of CSHelp.txt in the Extended .HHP Settings section of the CHM project publishing options. That won't help you here, however, because the file is only accessed internally in the CHM.

TL/DR: You're going to have the popups available in both CHM files. There's no way around that, if you're going to use popups. However, if you just want to display text there is a much simpler solution: Insert your image hotspots as Internet links and enter just the character # in the Address: field. Then enter you text in the Title field. That will be displayed automatically on mouseover, and clicking on the hotspot won't do anything.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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John Johann
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2017 7:35 pm

Re: Popup question

Unread post by John Johann »

Hi Tim,
Thanks again.
I don't know where you're going with TL/DR.
The pop-ups are sometimes multiline (perhaps with a little table, ...) so the # solution won't always work.
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Tim Green
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Re: Popup question

Unread post by Tim Green »

John Johann wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 10:01 am I don't know where you're going with TL/DR.

Basically just that any popups you call must be locally defined in the CHM file from which they are called.
The pop-ups are sometimes multiline (perhaps with a little table, ...) so the # solution won't always work.
OK, but it's quite practical when you do only have a little text. :?
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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