Attach an External html file in the project TOC

[Guest]

Dear Sir,

I am using robohelp 7 and my project output is Webhelp, my problem is that I need to put a link of an external html file in my the project TOC.

and as long as this external file is modified in its originial project, the modification should be displayed every where it is attached.

putting an hyperlink of this project inside the topic is OK but putting the hyperlink in the TOC is the problem.

thank you..

Ahlam

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Should be pretty simple and straightforward.

Add a page and configure it to point to the file.

Click the image below for full size view.

Cheers... Rick

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[Guest]

Thank your for your reply but you did not get what I meant.

my file is an Html file that is created in robohelp in a different project.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Indeed it does look like I missed what you wanted. Which begs the question. What do you really want?

What I suggested would work perfectly if your other RoboHelp project exists as WebHelp on a server location. If that's the case, you simply need to insert the path to the file.

So why don't you take a moment and provide us with some more information.

Things we will likely need to know in order to provide a reasonably intelligent answer that may help you:

You already advised us you are using RoboHelp 7. Check

You advised you are using WebHelp output. Check

Where does that output ultimately exist? Is it on a server somewhere or do you install it on each PC that uses your system?

Cheers... Rick

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[Guest]

I will clarify more:

Assume I have [Project 1] with the following topics: topic 1, topic 2, topic 3

and in [Project 2] I need to put Topic 1 from the first project in the TOC

remember my project type is Webhelp

thanks.

[Peter Grainge]

Thanks for the reminder that this question in the webhelp category is about webhelp.We may have been around a few years but the memory ain't that bad yet.

Rick has answered the question. The TOC entry needs the path to the external topic. That can either be the server address or the relative path from the root of the output from Project 1. It may not work from the source but it should be OK from the published help.

Remember the external topic will not be found by a search from Project 1.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[Guest]

hi again,

I do not know from where exactly the path of the required topic should start. I am saving project locally and publishing the project in a server side location. I tried the path as :-

"merged project/project 1/topic.html"

and published every thing but it did not work, I cannot find the topic in the main TOC

thanks

[MergeThis]

Remove any spaces in the folder path names (merged project, folder 1, etc).

Also, if you're actually working with merged projects, the correct path should be "mergedProjects".

Ultimately, you need to anticipate the location of the target file before you can reasonably establish the link, no?

Good luck,

Leon

[Dépagne Ronan]

Sorry to revive such an old topic, but I tried to link an external file to a TOC item. I used a relative path. My problem is that the path is not correctly interpreted by Firefox 3.6.13 because the link uses \ instead of / in the generated url.

Whereas Chrome and IE correctly interpret ..\..\external.htm as ../../external.htm, Firefox uses <current_url>/..\..\external.htm which does not work.

If I try to use a Web address link, all browsers try to find the http://../../external.htm address which does not work.

When I create a link inside a topic, the relative link works correctly, so I have the option of creating a topic containing a link and accessing this topic from the TOC. I find this is not as smooth as accessing the external file directly, but it would be an acceptable workaround if no other solution can be found.

I use RH 8.0.2.

Thanks for any forthcoming help.

Ronan

[Captiv8r]

Hi Ronan and welcome to our community

See if the thread linked below helps. In that thread I talk about using a Redirect topic. My thought is that you would create a redirect topic and link that to the TOC. Basically the TOC node would be clicked, the redirect would appear and immediately open the desired link. Because the slashes would be stored inside the head area of the redirect topic, RoboHelp would leave them alone.

Click here to view

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Dépagne Ronan]

Well thanks Rick,

I implemented your solution. Works like a charm, except for a small visual glitch with Chrome, where the underlying topic can be seem briefly.

It should be acceptable however.

Thanks again

Ronan