See Also keywords in merged webhelp

[Amebr-ke0mH4]

Hi all,

Does anyone know if it's possible to use See Also buttons that pull topics from merged webhelp projects?

We have several modules for our help which may or may not be installed, and the See Also buttons/text/hidden scripts are quite nice for ensuring we don't have inactive hyperlinks floating around. However, using RH6, I haven't had any luck with the existing "Remote See Also Keywords" functionality. (We currently use CHMs, but are investigating moving to webhelp.)

So for example, we have our base project that everyone has. One window has additional functionality when a particular module is installed. In the topic discussing that window, we have a text See Also link to the appropriate module help, which ensures that the link is available if the module is present and not available if it isn't.

I'm not hopeful, but thought I'd check with the webhelp experts out there.

Thanks,

Amber

[Peter Grainge]

Not sure, not a feature I use or have tested.

Download the merge demo on my site as it is small, making it easy to set up a test. Let us know the result.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[Amebr-ke0mH4]

After playing with the small demo in RH6, you can't automatically do See Also between merged webhelp projects. In the Webhelp See Also button dialog box, there is no option for Remote See Also Keywords.

However, if you feel masochistic, you can hack the output files.

The See Also keyword is re-written to something like "...'Topic Title', 'Associated_Filename.htm'..." (in a javascript). So if you add another one pair in that script and include the relative path to your topic, it works.

I did think of a sort of work around using redirect topics, although it works out more like Related Topics than See Alsos. Might be okay if there aren't a lot of links between projects...

I'll use the "parent/child" terminology as per Peter's merging tutorial. Plus I haven't worked with this except in the sampel project, so I haven't discovered all the problems associated with larger projects. Consider it a thought experiment.

1. Create a topic with the same Title as the topic in the other child project.

2. Remove all content from the topic.

3. Switch to code view and add the following script:

  <script type="text/javascript">
  window.location.replace('path/to/child_topic.htm');
  </script>

The path should reflect the output path, so for example if you are working in child_2:

'../child_1/child_1.htm'

4. Assign the same See Also keyword as assigned to the topic in the other project. It probably doesn't matter, but I suspect it will help keep track of what you are linking to.

5. In the topic with the See Also button, add the See Also keyword to the button.

I think I'll submit a feature request tomorrow and see what Adobe says.