Creating button that prints DHTML drop-down text

Report · Apr 23, 2009

Hi -- I'm trying to follow instructions in Rick Stone's Tips 'n Tricks (Thank you so much Rick!) for creating a Print button that when clicked, expands all DHTML drop-downs in the topic and then prints the topic. However, I'm just learning RH7 and don't know JavaScript. The button appears on the page, but when clicked doesn't do anything. If anyone out there does know JavaScript and can tell me what I'm doing wrong, I'd greatly appreciate it!

I copied Rick's code into the topic HEAD:

Report · Apr 24, 2009

Hi db_tw -

On the third line of the script, there's an end brace that looks like it doesn't belong (no open brace). Try removing that } character on the third line.

HTH,

G

Report · Apr 24, 2009

Hi -- I removed the } but unfortunately, it didn't do anything. Button still doesn't work. Thanks so much for your input though!

Report · Apr 27, 2009

Try deleting the hard carriage return at the end of the first line.

Good luck,

Leon

Report · Apr 27, 2009

Hi Leon,

Thank you so much for your suggestion. No luck though. Maybe I'll have to give up on this feature, or at least try to start learning JavaScript!

Best,

Daryl

Report · Apr 27, 2009

FYI, the script did work for me (once I removed that "}" character). Here's some more info, in case it helps.

I added Rick's code as specified above. Note that once it was added, then RH does things to it. See below for what my example topic looked like after I did a save. In particular, note how RH assigns an id (a1) to the function in the script, and then later refers to it. Does your topic do that? If not, then that may be where your problem lies. This is from RH8, but the concept should be the same.

G

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<meta name="generator" content="Adobe RoboHelp 8" />
<title>test1</title>
<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.2">//<![CDATA[
<!--
var arrayofDivs = document.all.tags("DIV");

<body>
<?rh-script_start ?><script src="../ehlpdhtm.js" type="text/javascript"
language="JavaScript1.2"></script><?rh-script_end ?>
<h1>test1</h1>
<p>Type topic text <a class="dropspot" href="javascript:TextPopup(this)"
id="a1">here</a>.</p>
<div class="droptext" id="POPUP285400662" style="display: none;">
<p>Some lovely dropdown text.</p>
</div>
<p> </p>
<input type="button" name="button" value="Print this topic" onclick="JavaScript:printEm()" />

</body>
</html>

Report · Apr 27, 2009

Hi G -- Thanks so much for your help! I have RH7 from the TCS. I did a Test topic with one drop-down, removed the } and saved, but it still doesn't work. In the RH script that RH inserts in mine, I don't see the a1 reference that's in yours: TextPopupInit('a1', 'POPUP285400662'); however, it does put id=a1 in the drop-down code (without quotes around a1). Also, in yours, on the first line after the JavaScript declaration there is //<![CDATA[ (plus the closing code for it at the end of course), which doesn't appear in mine.

I'm just learning RH7 and don't know JS, so I'm giving up on having this function. However, being one of those people who hates to not understand why something doesn't work, do you have any idea why RH isn't inserting the a1 reference in the RH script?

Thanks so much!
Daryl

Here's what my test shows:

<!doctype HTML public "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Frameset//EN"> <html><head>
<meta http-equiv=content-type content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<meta name=generator content="Adobe RoboHelp - www.adobe.com">
<meta name=generator-major-version content=0.1>
<meta name=generator-minor-version content=1>
<meta name=filetype content=RoboHelp>
<meta name=filetype-version content=1>
<meta name=page-count content=1>
<meta name=layout-height content=604>
<meta name=layout-width content=1104> <title>test</title> <link rel=StyleSheet href=ContractWorks.css>

<script type="text/javascript" language=JavaScript1.2> </script> </robohelp> <robohelp><form> </robohelp> <div class=x-popup-text id=POPUP312934890 style='display: none; position: absolute' > <p>Here's the text for the drop-down.</p> </div> <h1>Test</h1> <p>This is my <a class=dropspot x-use-popup=#POPUP312934890 x-popup-type=pulldown href="javascript:TextPopup(this)" id=a1>drop-down</a><robohelp><script
type="text/javascript" language=JavaScript1.2></script></robohelp>.</p> <p> </p> <p><input type=button name=button value="Print this topic" onClick="JavaScript:printEm()"></p>
<p> </p>
</body>
</html>

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Creating button that prints DHTML drop-down text