Iframing a robohelp project

[egockel]

Has anyone iframed a robohelp project? We have a client who needed to put their robohelp project/files behind a login, and share the main website's header and footer.

So we ended up iframing (the already iframed) robohelp project. The print button in the robohelp toolbar isn't working, probably because we're iframing an iframed project. Has anyone had a good workaround for that?

[Willam_van_Weelden]

You can put the help in an iframe, but I found that the TOC doesn't load

correctly on IE when the help is placed in an iframe. I've worked around

this by commenting a check in the function ExpandIt in whthost.js:

function ExpandIt(nId)

{

//if(!gsTP)/* Workaround for not loading in IE11 in iFrame. */

ExpandIt2(nId,false);

}

As for the print button, you may need to amend the code of the print

button in the skin editor so that the button points to the correct

frame. top..restofpath or something like it.

Kind regards,

Willam

[egockel]

Thanks William!

We put in a fix in the whskin_tbars.htm file but it looks like it gets overwritten every time the project is republished with new content. Is there a workaround for that?

[Willam_van_Weelden]

There is a workaround. You will have to update the seed file. The seed

files are the templates that RoboHelp uses to generate the output.

You find the seed file for whthost.js in %RH installation

directory%\RoboHTML\WebHelp5Ext\template_stock

Make a backup of the original file before you change the seed file!

Kind regards,

Willam

[egockel]

Willam, thanks for the continued support.

Apparently our robohelp author can't locate the seed file you indicated. There are a number of files beginning with whskin_ in the projects that aren't in the template_stock directory.

She was only able to locate whskin_ in the robohelp output folder, which is separate from the folder where the application is.

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Sorry about that. It's a little trickier: you must amend the code in

whst_frames.xml for this to work. You can search for the code there and

make the amens. But be carefull: this is a template file and you need to

escape all slashes and single/double quotes.

Kind regards,

Willam

[egockel]

Willam,

Sorry, no dice. We can't seem to locate the script we need to update in the whst_frames.xml file. Should we try looking in a different file?

[Willam_van_Weelden]

I hope we're talking about the same file. You can find the scripts and

most files in the folder template_skin and template_stock. Only for the

whskin_frmsetxx.htm files you need to amend the xml.

Kind regards,

Willam

[egockel]

Willam,

We tried searching for var printAction = function() in the entire folder/project to modify the target of the print function in the seed file and no luck.

Is there a technical resource at Adobe we can escalate this to?

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Just a couple of things.

First, (and this is mostly for anyone finding this thread down the road) I'd like to clarify something. An HTML page may have an Inline Frame inside it. That is referred to as an IFRAME. While RoboHelp produces an output type known as WebHelp, this output is presented using a FRAMESET. A FRAMESET is totally different from an IFRAME. In an IFRAME, the content from a different web page is presented inside a single frame. But a FRAMESET is typically used to divide a HTML page into two or more areas, with each area presenting a different HTML page.

As for the function and the changes you are referring to, Willam advised you to make a tweak to the seed file. That tweak was simply to allow the TOC and other elements to display properly. There was a second bit. The second bit involves the Print function.

Note that the print function is not part of the seed file. It's part of the skin. So it's no surprise whatsoever you aren't finding it in the seed file. It simply isn't there to be found.

You need to be looking at the code inside the skin editor.

Cheers... Rick

[Captiv8r]

Oh, and what you are trying to do is something outside the scope of what RoboHelp is configured to do. So it's doubtful that there is anyone at Adobe to actually escalate anything to.

Perhaps it will help to think of it this way. You purchase a vehicle from General Motors. Instead of driving it on normal roadways as the factory supplied it, you wish to drive it on railroad tracks. The vehicle needs to be modified in order to allow it to be driven on railroad tracks. You will need to find a third party shop to make the modifications as the dealership is only really set up to make repairs to the car as it came from the factory.

Cheers... Rick

[egockel]

Thanks Rick. We ARE the 3rd party shop that the client hired to put a IFRAME around their robohelp project so it could maintain the main site branding and navigation, as well as putting it behind a login.

We'd rather not frankenstein the core code any more than necessary to make it happen. Is there any documentation on integrating a robohelp project with an existing website so it can leverage the same navigation as well as keeping it behind a login? Or, are robohelp projects best suited for "stand alone" applications?

And per your analogy, I'm not requesting Adobe change anything for us, just confirm where the file/code is that we need to change, something more specific than "in the skin editor". We searched outside the seed file too.

[Captiv8r]

Okay, I recorded a little video that may be useful, See if helps you.

http://screencast.com/t/VFg7kxNB

Cheers... Rick

[egockel]

Thanks Rick, that worked!

[Willam_van_Weelden]

There's no documentation as RH was not designed for being iframed. It's

a lot of trial and error. Branding WebHelp beyond the Skin Editor

requires quite a bit of custom coding. Especially when you want

interaction with the parent.

Kind regards,

Willam