Question: Why does RoboHelp do this?

[Brad55]

Why does RoboHelp 8 place 87 lines of code to a HTML file when the file works just fine without the code.

What I’m talking about is if I make up a tutorial in Captivate 4 and then bring it into my RoboHelp 8 project as baggage then publish the project with RoboHelp 8 it writes 87 lines of code to the HTML file. I know part of the code is breadcrumb trail. This has caused some problem but nothing I could not fix by just replacing the HTML files with the ones form Captivate 4 and once I replace the files with the Captivate 4 files everything work as it should. Everyone does not want a breadcrumb trail on their tutorials. Plus when you click the Show link it shows the tutorial in the main frame where it was not planned for.

There shold be more control over what a person wants on their page by placing options for different things, and I could name a lot because we out put at least 10 projects per month.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Brad55 wrote:

Why does RoboHelp 8 place 87 lines of code to a HTML file when the file works just fine without the code.

Because you told it to. Oh, you may not realize you told it to, but you did by choosing the options (or by not DE-selecting options) that govern the manner in which your output is created.

Brad55 wrote:

...Everyone does not want a breadcrumb trail on their tutorials...

Adobe understands that. This is why Breadcrumb Trails are optional.

Brad55 wrote:

...There shold be more control over what a person wants on their page by placing options for different things, and I could name a lot because we out put at least 10 projects per month....

You have massive amounts of control. I think you just aren't sure exactly what to change and where to change it.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 moments from now - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcererStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Brad55]

Because you told it to. Oh, you may not realize you told it to, but you did by choosing the options (or by not DE-selecting options) that govern the manner in which your output is created.

Well Captiv8r dont just give me hints or tell me that it can be done and tell me where this button or check mark is hidden.

Adobe understands that. This is why Breadcrumb Trails are optional.

Well if you build a Master page and tell it to have breadcrumb trails (and you want these in your project) but you dont want them on your tutorial pages which was done in Captivate and place in you project as baggage files. These files are baggage they should not have a program write to them just because it is linked in the project. RoboHelp 7 never did this it just placed the files in the folders that they needed to be in.

You have massive amounts of control. I think you just aren't sure exactly what to change and where to change it.

Not as much control as i would like.

Don't get me wrong Adobe has a fair product with RoboHelp just needs some more work in giving the user more control over what is going to be in the published version of their product. Example to change the background color of a See Also button (not the button) the links that pop-up you have to edit the Java script that RoboHelp puts out and if you change it you better make a back up some place else because it will over write it the next time you publish you product, and another one is the About button that is in the top right of you product you can change the button but then after RoboHelp publishes the product you have to palce a picture with the same name to replace the one RoboHelp publishes plus you may have to edit the HTML file.

[Captiv8r]

Hello again

Okay, Breadcrumbs. You can control whether these are added globally to every page or selectively to specific pages.

For Global, you choose whether to include them in the Single Source Layout recipe.

So edit the Single Source Layout and click Next to see the area.

To control them selectively, you insert a Breadcrumbs placeholder into a Master Page. Then create topics based on the Master Page or associate the Master Page with existing topics. In order to apply Breadcrumbs by associating with existing topics you need to ensure the placeholder is added outside the boundaries of the Body placeholder.

The About button is able to be changed via the Skin editor.

Edit the skin, click the About item (1), click the Edit icon (2), choose the image (3).

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 moments from now - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcererStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Brad55]

Ok as far as the About Button I'm using Flash as the Single Source but i will try this one out.

Here is the code from the Captivate 4 projeect that is in a folder under the RoboHelp 8 project that is baggage. This one 40 lines of code.

<!-- Copyright [2008] Adobe Systems Incorporated.  All rights reserved -->
<!-- saved from url=(0013)about:internet -->
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<meta name="build tags" content="FlashHelp_Only">
<title>name_full</title>
<script src="standard.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

<body   bgcolor="#F1F4F5">
<center>
     
<div id="CaptivateContent"> 
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
    var so = new SWFObject("name_full.swf", "Captivate", "801", "601", "8", "#CCCCCC");
  so.addParam("quality", "high");
  so.addParam("name", "Captivate");
  so.addParam("id", "Captivate");
  so.addParam("wmode", "window");
  so.addParam("bgcolor","#F1F4F5");
  so.addParam("menu", "false");
  so.addVariable("variable1", "value1");
  so.setAttribute("redirectUrl", "http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash");
  so.write("CaptivateContent");
</script>
    

<script type="text/javascript">
  document.getElementById('Captivate').focus();
  document.Captivate.focus();
</script>
</center>
</body>
</html>

And here is the code from the file after RoboHelp publishes the project. This one 119 lines of code.

<!-- Copyright [2008] Adobe Systems Incorporated.  All rights reserved -->

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title>name_full</title>
<script src="standard.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">
//<![CDATA[
function reDo() {
  if (innerWidth != origWidth || innerHeight != origHeight)
     location.reload();
}
if ((parseInt(navigator.appVersion) == 4) && (navigator.appName == "Netscape")) {
origWidth = innerWidth;
origHeight = innerHeight;
onresize = reDo;
}
onerror = null;
//]]>
</script>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
div.WebHelpPopupMenu { position:absolute;
left:0px;
top:0px;
z-index:4;
visibility:hidden; }
-->
</style>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2" src="../../whtopic.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2" src="../../whutils.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="../../whver.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="../../whfhost.js"></script>
<script  type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2">//<![CDATA[
    <!--
    var linkedScrollbarStyle = "<link rel='stylesheet' href='../../wf_topics.css'>";
    if( (!isTopicOnly()) &&(parent.gbFHPureHtml == null) )
    {
        document.write(linkedScrollbarStyle);
    }
    //-->
//]]></script>
<meta name="generator" content="Adobe RoboHelp 8">
</head>

<body bgcolor="#F1F4F5"><script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2">//<![CDATA[
<!--
var strUrl = document.location.href;
var bc = 0;
var n = strUrl.toLowerCase().indexOf("bc-");
if(n != -1)
{
document.location.href = strUrl.substring(0, n);
bc = strUrl.substring(n+3);
}

if (window.addTocInfo)
{

  addShowButton();
}

if (window.setRelStartPage)
{
setRelStartPage("../../name_full.htm");

sendTopicLoaded();
var nSync = 1;
if (nSync == 1)
{
  autoSync();
}
sendSyncInfo();
sendAveInfo();
sendBgColorInfo();
}

//-->
//]]></script>

<center>
     
<div id="CaptivateContent"> 
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
    var so = new SWFObject("name_full.swf", "Captivate", "801", "601", "8", "#CCCCCC");
  so.addParam("quality", "high");
  so.addParam("name", "Captivate");
  so.addParam("id", "Captivate");
  so.addParam("wmode", "window");
  so.addParam("bgcolor","#F1F4F5");
  so.addParam("menu", "false");
  so.addVariable("variable1", "value1");
  so.setAttribute("redirectUrl", "http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash");
  so.write("CaptivateContent");
</script>
    

<script type="text/javascript">
  document.getElementById('Captivate').focus();
  document.Captivate.focus();
</script>
</center>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2">//<![CDATA[
//<!--
AddTopicSwf();

highlightSearch();
//-->
//]]></script>
</body>
</html>

This is what i'm talking about in RoboHelp 8, now RoboHelp 7 did not do this it just carried the files over and placed them in the folders that they need to be in. 79 lines of code that is not need and will sometimes break the product.

[Captiv8r]

Hello again

Okay, I've never heard of RoboHelp "breaking" a project with the added code. But I learn new things each day. I do suppose that RoboHelp 8 may be behaving differently than 7 did. I never really considered (or even cared) whether HTML files added to baggage would be modified as the other HTML files are during the WebHelp generation process. This is likely something new.

In case you weren't aware, what happens during the process of generating WebHelp or FlashHelp is this. Each HTML page is read into memory and depending on the settings configured in the Single Source Layout recipe different bits are added into the HTML file. The output file is substantially different than its corresponding source file. Code is added that does different things such as writing in a navigation bar. Javacript to sniff the environment and if it senses the topic is being displayed independently of the frameset other links and things are added in. This is why you see extra lines of code added to the HTML page.

You may believe that the additional code is just wasted space, but the developers added the code to accommodate different browsing environments and to perform the different functions specified in the Single Source Layout recipe you are using.

Can you cite specific examples of things breaking?

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 moments from now - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcererStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Brad55]

"Okay, I've never heard of RoboHelp "breaking" a project with the added code."

Well you have now because when it writes the code to the HTML file it takes forever and a day to load the demos we make up and they are only about 3 to 10 min's long, but once you place the HTML file that Captivate made when you published the demo eveything working fine.

Glad i could help you find new things that RH8 does.

"In case you weren't aware, what happens during the process of generating WebHelp or FlashHelp is this. Each HTML page is read into memory and depending on the settings configured in the Single Source Layout recipe different bits are added into the HTML file. The output file is substantially different than its corresponding source file. Code is added that does different things such as writing in a navigation bar. Javacript to sniff the environment and if it senses the topic is being displayed independently of the frameset other links and things are added in. This is why you see extra lines of code added to the HTML page."

Yes i know this most Windows programs do this they either use the "temp" folder or RAM itself.

"You may believe that the additional code is just wasted space, but the developers added the code to accommodate different browsing environments and to perform the different functions specified in the Single Source Layout recipe you are using."

It is wasted space and code. Thats what the java script does that Captivate puts out when you publish your demo and the code in the HTML file that Captivate point to that file.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I thought Captivate created .swf files that you inserted on your FM (if using TCS2) or RH pages which were then generated into html in your SSL. Have you tried just using that sort of output from Captivate? Maybe RH wouldn't have to add so many lines of code in that case?

[Brad55]

No i have not tried this one but yes Captivate does publish HTML file for your swf files and a java script. We link to the HTML files to keep the demos the size we want them, if you link to just the stright swf file you can resize the page and some thimes that distorts the swf file. Now before any one jumps my case about the resizing of a swf and distortion let me tell you i can do it at any time it does not do it to the whole files just some parts.

Now this may be Captivate doing it but i dont think so, because i can take a project and publish it from Captivate and play it from the HTML file and all is fine then i can play it from the swf file and all is fine then i play it with a java script in front of it to have just the window open and no tool bars and i get lines in the demo.