inserting wmv files into compiled HTML help in RoboHelp V7

[Guest]

I am trying to create a topic that can be used to view a wmv file. So, I:

1 - Select Insert | Multimedia/Demo...

2 - Navigate to my wmv file and say Open.

3 - A placeholder box with "[Windows Media: introduction.wmv] appears in Design View.

4 - I compile WebHelp and a Windows Media Player appears in the topic, but the player is unresponsive.

What am I doing wrong?

I saw the help topic about embedded wmv files in webhelp, but it is unanswered. th

[Guest]

I tried something different. I used a frameset with hyperlilnks to each wmv in one frame. I tried to configure it so that when the user clicked a hyperlink, the wmv would play on the left-side frame.

Well, Robohelp didn't allow me to target a frame in a frameset.  The hyperlink did allow me to point to a file and the wmv successfully played when I clicked the hyperlink in the compiled Webhelp.

I also tried to add a "target=left-frame"> to the hyperlink, but it did not force the wmv into the frame.

Anyone know a workaround for getting the wmv to load into a frame?

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

First off, you will find that regardless of what you do, RoboHelp seems to work against you when it comes to working with video.

That being said, here are some observations.

1. The output from RoboHelp only seems to like using video if the video being used is in the same folder as the page presenting it. See point two.
   
2. The video typically needs to be sitting on an HTML page.
3. The video can be made to use controls, but you will need to tweak the code in the HTML to coax them to show. Don't be surprised, however, when you return to Design/WYSIWYG view and discover RoboHelp has been ever so helpful and undone your wonderful changes.
4. To make things work in a Framset, you actually *CAN* target a frame. I'm guessing RoboHelp misunderstood to place video in there. But if the video is embedded on an HTML page, it should work.

Hopefully the observations above help.

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]

1 - In my first attempt, I embedded the wmv on an HTML page and was able to display the HTML page in a frame. The problem was - the controls were inactive.  I even went into the SSL!|Webhelp and edited the HTML page for "ShowControls=1," but it didn't do anything.

2 - In my second attempt of just hyperlinking to a file, I realized that the WYSIWYG in RoboHelp doesn't allow you to specify a frame as the target.  So, I directly edited the href to include Target=movieframe. But, the wmv still opened in its own window.

This project will be presented in a website template with active areas/frames.  I am going to see if the developer can tweak my code to focus each of the wmvs into one of the website areas/frames.  Right now, the WebHelp opens it in a new window.  That would work, too.

Thanks for your help.

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Hi,

Directly hyperlinking to a file will normaly let the browser download or open the file directly. As peter said, you will need to embed the video in html code, meaning that you will have to call a page and not a file. You open the page in the frame and add the video to that page. The W3C has a small tutorial for adding video's to a html file, click here.

To use your file, you can either use the <object> tag (see W3C reference for details, and this MSDN site for how to make it work). You can also use the <embed> tag, but that isn't supported in xhtml, so if you're planning to upgrade to RoboHelp 8, stick with the <object> tag.

In RoboHelp 7, you can use an <object> tag, but it will probably remove the <embed> tag. Whenever you click the object in the WYSIWYG editor, will make Robo change your code, in short: use a third pary editor for the topics with a video file. Notepad++ does a wonderful job and is free.

About targeting frames from the WYSIWYG, when you define a frameset and give a name to all windows in the frame, you can target them from the standard hyperlink window. Select Display in frame and select the frame you want the page open in.

Greet,

Willam

[Guest]

Thanks. This is a lot for me to take in, as I am not very saavy with HTML.  I'll give it a try.  One question first:  do I actually substitute somehting for "MMS" in the script example?  Specifically, if I want the clip to use Windows Media Player, so I substitute "wmp"  ?

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Hi,

Don't make it hard on yourself, skip the script part and go straight for the <object> tag, note that the method on the MSDN site works only for Interner Explorer. It's been a while since I embedded video's, so I can't tell you all the details from memory. I'll see whether I have some time this weekend to create an example.

One thing I just thought of: Did you add the files as baggage files to your project? RoboHelp doesn't add them as media files when you manually code an <object> or <embed> tag.

Greet,

Willam

[Guest]

I just started followng the MSDN instructions, not realizing I was goin down the scripting road.   An example would be much appreciated.

And, yes, I also added them as baggage files, and also copied them to the !SSL direcotry, in case Robohelp was looking for the link there.  Tried to cover all the bases....

[Captiv8r]

Hi all

@William - Just curious as to why you recommend Notepad plus? Why do you feel an additional download is better than just opening a file in Windows Notepad, which is already installed on every copy of Windows I've ever seen?

I might suggest using RoboHelp to initially insert the video. After all, it will create most of what you need with the Object tag parameters. Then you amend the topic (using the text editor) to include what RoboHelp likes to "help with" by removing. Unless I'm missing something, this would seem the simpler approach. No need to ensure files are added to Baggage, let RoboHelp do the heavy lifting of adding the code and whatnot.

Of course you are free to follow the path that suits you. Just thought I'd point out the possibly easier path.

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

[Captiv8r]

Further note here - Adding files to baggage is what makes them appear in !SSL!\OutputName. So if you are manually copying them to this location, you are wasting effort.

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Rick,

Good observation, I'm probably so html oriented, that I didn’t even consider that RoboHelp has the feature to add media files (other than captivate movies) :-s. You're absolutely right about the easy way...

As to why I advise Notepad+: Notepad+ is a completely different program than Notepad. The two best features (I think) are the code syntax colouring and the compare files feature. The standard notepad makes it very hard to read any code, while Notepad++ recognizes the coding and colours tags, style, and so on accordingly.

Greet,

Willam

PS: By the way, why does everybody misspell my name

[Captiv8r]

Ahhh, just noticed that!

So sorry about the misspelling. I have a friend that is referred to as Bill, but his given name is William. I guess I'm so ingrained in seeing William that my eyes automatically included the additional i.

Apologies! Rick

[Willam_van_Weelden]

LOL, I wasn't just referring to you. I just noticed that no one spells my name correct, even my direct colleages struggle every day

Greet,

Willam

[Guest]

Can you be more specific as to what I am supposed to be amending to the code that RoboHelp places in the HTML topic that I embed it in?

The only thing I saw to do was to change "ShowControls=1" in an attempt to get the Windows Media Player controls to activate.

[Guest]

I cut and pasted code from another page on our website, where our developer embedded a movie player.  It worked!  I still had to go into the SSL and reset the "ShowControls=1" since Robohelp insists on resetting it to "0".