RH8 - Synonym search function in.chm

[sangeetaaugustine]

Hi there,

I am using RH8 to create a .chm file. Does the synonym search function work in .chm? It does not seem to work for my file. Is there a workaround?

Would really appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks,

Sangeeta

[Peter Grainge]

This feature does not work in CHMs as the search there is controlled by the Microsoft Help Compiler and they gave up working on that years ago.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[sangeetaaugustine]

Thanks Peter.

I just want wanted to check the possibility of changing my .chm file into a webhelp. I understand that ideally webhelp files should be for applications that are accessible on a server or intranet or Internet. The software for which I am creating help files is a desktop application, and will be mostly used as a standalone on a singe PC in client organisations.

Would it be ok for me to use webhelp as RH8 supports many features in webhelp as opposed to .chm. In case I can do so, what are the precautions that I should take?

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Sangeeta

[RoboColum_n_]

Provided your users have an internet conncetion, go right ahead. We do exactly this for a desktop client app but we also ship a CHM as a backup. If the user's internet connection fails, the call to the server based WebHelp Pro help files times out and defaults to the CHM. Although we use WebHelp Pro the same could easily apply to WebHelp. It works a treat.

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The RoboColum(n)

@robocolumn

Colum McAndrew

[Peter Grainge]

Hold on Colum! I think Sangeeta would be well advised to go and talk to the developers first. They have some work to do as well to support such a change and they might point out reasons it is not appropriate in their scenario.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[sangeetaaugustine]

Thanks Column and Peter.

I think I'd have to take this up with my Release Manager.

Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

Regards,

Sangeeta

[RoboColum_n_]

Peter is right as usual and I was jumping the gun a bit. There is no reason why you can't have WebHelp output but as Peter intimated you'll have to call the help in a different way. Also if you use the help in a similar way to I describe you may have to use conditional build tag to exclude certain data (e.g. links are different between output types). In other words it is not as simple as just generating WebHelp output.

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The RoboColum(n)

@robocolumn

Colum McAndrew

[Captiv8r · Accepted solution]

Hi folks

Those folks across the pond are up and about much earlier than I am. So I'm coming to the game a bit late on this.

You should be able to achieve the same behavior of the synonyms in a CHM by using a small workaround. I would also urge anyone that wants to see this work in CHM as well, to really pound on Adobe with the Wish Form to build it into the product.

First, consider what will happen with this. You want the user to be able to search and if they supply a search term that really isn't in the topic proper, still find the topic, no?

So here is where it gets simple and I find myself scratching my head as to why the RH development team doesn't take this approach with CHM. Lord knows I've suggested it a few times!

If you simply insert a hidden DIV tag in a topic and place the term inside the tag, it will be found when searching but not visible anywhere in the topic.

So the question becomes, how does one do this?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

I've documented this process at the link below.

Click here to view

Cheers and happy searching! 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

[RoboColum_n_]

It may be early there but the RoboWizard is on the ball. Having flung himself he's made an excellent one hand diving catch

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The RoboColum(n)

@robocolumn

Colum McAndrew

[sangeetaaugustine]

Hi Captiv8r,

Thanks this code worked indeed. As pampered as I feel here, its a bit of work to do this for each individual topic in my.chm. Therefore it would really be a great help if this problem could be fixed in the.chm version as well.

Also, can I be a little greedy and ask another question? Is there anyway I could exclude topics from my search in the .chm version?

Thanks so much for taking out the time to help. Really appreciate all the great minds around the pond!

Sangeeta

[Captiv8r]

Hello again

First, I should probably offer up a clarification. I am a shape shifter and walk in two worlds. As a result, I'm known by two names. Captiv8r and RoboWizard. (not sure what I'll call myself since becoming involved with PowerPoint, but I digress.)

I'm assuming here that your goal is to hide the topic inside the CHM file so Search can't find it but you can still link to it if you want. Am I right?

If so, that is another feature that the dev team could have easily overcome for CHM. The option is there but it only works in WebHelp, FlashHelp and AIR Help.

The way to accomplish it is by stepping outside of RoboHelp and renaming the topic from a .HTM file extension to .XHTM. When you do this, the topic will show as broken in the project. This is indicated by a red x superimposed on the topic icon. You then "delete" the "missing" topic. (don't worry, it's still there but is now named differently, so RoboHelp is confused.

You then add the .XHTM version to the list of Baggage files. And lastly, amend any links that were formerly pointing to the topic so they now correctly point at the .XHTM version.

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