How to add jump to location within same topic?

[pgcalc]

We are migrating a client-server application to being a SaaS application.  In the process, we need to consolidate all of our 650+ context-sensitive topics into a much smaller number of what we're calling "page topics".  Each page topic will document all of the data entry fields, drop-down menus, checkboxes, and radio buttons available in a single data entry window of the SaaS application.  Since some of these windows contain dozens of data entry fields, etc., their page topics will be long.  We'd like to simplify the user's task of finding a specific data entry item by including a list of links at the top of each page topic that jump to all of the respective data entry items covered in the topic.

While I've created countless jumps between topics, I haven't been able to find a way to create jumps within a topic.  I currently use RH X5 on a Windows XP machine, but I am considering upgrading to RH 8.  Also, while the Help system in question is currently compiled as Microsoft HTML Help (.chm), I plan to move to WebHelp format for our SaaS application.  Is there a way to create intra-topic jumps in RH X5?  How about RH 8?

Many thanks for any suggestions you can make!

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

See if the link below helps.

Click here

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[pgcalc]

Thanks for such a quick response, Rick.  You've helped me get part way there, I think.

I'm using RoboHelp for Word X5, then compiling as WebHelp. Following information in the "RoboWizard" you sent, I am now able to add bookmarks. Then, to add a link to a new bookmark, I use Insert/Hyperlink and click the Bookmark button, whereupon I am presented a list of bookmarks from which to choose and a "Text to display" field in which to name the link I'm creating. When done, I click OK.

All seems to go smoothly. While still in RoboHelp, I see my link to the bookmark underlined in blue. If I hover over the link, I see a message to click it with the CTRL key pressed to follow the link. If I do so, my cursor jumps to the bookmark. HOWEVER, after compiling my topics as WebHelp and then open my test topic, the bookmark links are there, again underlined and blue, but when I click them, nothing happens. I'm running IE 7.

Thoughts?

[Captiv8r]

Thoughts? Do you really want to know?

On the outside chance you do, my thoughts are: Why on God's green Earth would anyone want to create WebHelp and use RoboHelp for Word to do it? Why aren't they using RoboHelp HTML? A tool designed specifically for creating HTML output?

But that's just me.

Sorry, but I don't use RoboHelp for Word. I abandoned it last century. Maybe another author still using it can step in at this point and offer better assistance.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Guest]

Hey, pgcalc. Rick's harsh, but he's right - you have an opportunity during this conversion process to switch to RoboHelp for HTML, and it will make your WebHelp easier.

I had two thoughts about in-topic jumps:

1) Your bookmark hyperlinks may indeed be broken, but WebHelp's normal functioning may be fooling you. When you click on a bookmark topic in generated WebHelp, there is no cursor to jump to the bookmark. What is supposed to happen is that the window scrolls down to put the bookmark location at the top of the screen. However, the page won't scroll past the bottom of the text, so if you have a window that shows 100 lines of text and a bookmark 20 lines from the bottom, that bookmark will not be at the top of the page. I find this disconcerting, myself, but that's how the WebHelp browser works.

2) RH8 for HTML has a new feature that might be really useful for you. In the new Master Page setups (they are actually HTML templates), you can insert a thing called a mini-TOC in the body of your topic. This automatically creates a little outline list of links within the topic, based on heading styles. So you can make a heading for each control/field/drop-down in the topic text and RoboHelp will create the hyperlinks for you.

HTH,

Elisa

[Captiv8r]

Hi Elisa

I'm shocked! Me? Harsh?

Okay, I do admit to being a bit opinionated when it comes to the Word/HTML bit.

A couple of points here.

1. The Mini-TOC placeholder may be inserted independently inside any topic you like. You aren't limited to using it inside Master Pages.
2. The behavior you cite isn't a WebHelp behavior. It's a standard behaviour you see with Web Browsers. And there is a workaround. Just position your cursor at the end of the text and press Enter many times to create "White space" at the bottom of the topic. This then allows the page to position to the Bookmark properly.

And before someone chides me and says: You know, Mr. Man, that if the user prints that topic it will make more paper come out of the printer!

I will heartily agree with you. That's the trade off. But why is the user printing the electronic documentation anyway?  After all, it *IS* called WebHelp for a reason.

Cheers all... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[pgcalc]

Thanks to both of you for your responses.  Rick, you obviously monitor this forum closely.

After compiling in WebHelp format, I viewed the source for the topic to which I added bookmarks and bookmark links, only to find no #ref or #href tags, which tells me that they simply weren't created during the compiling process.  Yes, I used RoboHelp for Word X5 to do this.  I've since downloaded trial copies of RoboHelp for Word 8 and RoboHelp HTML 8.  As you could probably predict, RoboHelp for Word 8 does no better at creating bookmark tags than X5 did.  Alas, my machine is not up to the demands of RoboHelp HTML 8.  I can open it, but it is too excruciatingly slow to do any testing with.  A little Googling tells me that I'm not alone in this experience, so I'll try a few of the suggestions to see if I can speed things up.

Bill

[pgcalc]

The solution to getting RH 8 for HTML to run (much) faster was to move my source files from a network folder to a folder on my local c:drive.  Now that I am able to test with RH for HTML, I have also been able to add bookmarks and bookmark links successfully (and easily).  Lastly, contrary to some posts I've read in the last day about the "massive" work ahead of me to convert RH for Word files to work in RH HTML, the file I converted for my test converted quickly (less than a minute?) and accurately.  Is there something I'm missing here?

My path is clear.  I'll be purchasing RH 8 for HTML shortly.  Thanks Rick and Elisa for your input.

Bill

[Guest]

Rick - thanks for the clarification. I feel like a total dunce for not thinking about adding a little white space - duh! I've spent too many years beating up Word users for using returns to force a page break, I guess.

I'm thrilled that I can put an "ad hoc" mini-TOC in a long topic. I'm pretty much thrilled generally about getting RH8 (maybe by the end of this month), but this is one of the features I'm happiest about. We created our help from printed manuals, and there is some explanatory text that is enormously useful if it can be read in contextual order. I can't wait to reunite some of these little chopped-up topics into a coherent overview.

Bill, I'm really glad you fixed your problems, both with bookmarks and with response times. Working on source files that reside on a network is a dangerous business - on this forum, they use the professional term "The Big No-No."

[Guest]

Rick,

Thank you so much for this tip!! I am thrilled with the whole jumping to the top of the page thing, I just want to jump out of my chair!

You have been such a great help to me! (and many others I am sure!)  Thanks for all your good advice.

gp4life