cross references in frame not converting to hyperlinks in chm

[nelleharpo]

My external cross references do not convert to hyperlinks when generating a chm file with linked FrameMaker files in Robohelp. I have cross references from one frame file to another, which work fine in frame. When generating a chm file they appear as plain text with no hyperlink option. I have tried mapping styles, making them hypertext in frame as opposed to cross references. In addition, if an external cross reference exists in DropDownBody text, it breaks the dhtml DropDownCaption funtion in the chm file. Any suggestions?

[Guest]

Nelleharpo,

Are all links in this project having this problem, or just a few?

You say the links work fine in FM, but have you checked the links in RH prior to generating the CHM? In other words, is the problem occurring from FM-to-RH or from RH-to-CHM?

Are the files you are importing by reference chapters of a book? Are the files imported independently or as part of a book?

[nelleharpo]

Daggins,

Thanks for your interest. The Frame9 files are linked (not imported) in Robohelp8. Cross references within the same frame document chm correctly. Cross refererences to a different frame file do not convert. When I preview the html topics in robohelp, the results are the same as within the generated chm file (the external links don't work). The frame files are linked in robohelp as stand-alone fm files (not in a book). Any ideas are welcome, I've been struggling for months, doesn't seem to me it should be this hard...

Thanks,

nelleharpo

[Guest]

I am having the same problem. Did you ever find a solution/work around?

Missy

[nelleharpo]

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I know how frustrating it is... I did solve my problem by taking all of my framemaker books and putting them into one book. Seems silly to have an extra book just to hold your books, but it worked. All the cross-references between books and frame files now convert to hyperlinks in the chm file. However, I still have the problem within dropdown bodytext getting external links to work.

nelle

[Jason L-S]

You said you've tried mapping styles.

I solved a similar situation. This involved a FrameMaker book imported by reference to RoboHelp. A cross reference to the paragraph style "Figure Title" was not getting converted.

I realized that in RoboHelp, I had mapped "Figure Title" to "None" or no output. (I do not want figure titles appearing in the online output, only in print).

Therefore, since the style was not mapped, the content was excluded and the cross reference did not get converted.

A different situation, but perhaps it can point you in the right direction.

Try changing the cross reference in FrameMaker to the next nearest heading, table title, or figure title. See if that makes a difference.

Make sure all the styles from each of your FrameMaker files is mapped to a RoboHelp style.