Can more than one CHM use the same resources?

[Margaret_Becker]

OK, here's the challenge:
I have a large RoboHTML project with 433 small video clips (swf flash files). This project is translated into 10 other languages. What I would like to be able to do is to have the translated .chm files share the video clips instead of distributing 11 copies (433 x 11 = 4763 files). Is there any way that anyone knows that all of the files can access one set of video clips, and display, and play them?

[RoboWizard]

Hi Margaret

Where will the video clips ultimately reside? I would think you could place them all on a server somewhere, then simply create links from the help to the clip. However, I'm guessing it may not be that simple. (I am a simpleton at heart)

Cheers... Rick

[Margaret_Becker]

I wish it were that simple. However, the clips will be installed on the individual's PC along with the Help file. We don't really want people to have to be connected to the internet to view the clips. A lot of people using them will be students on lab computers. I addition, I really like having the image of the first frame displayed, so there is something to attract the user to watch.

Since our application is a 3-D modeling program, each of these video clips is worth about 10,000 words and a lot of hand waving.

[RoboWizard]

Hi again Margaret

Hmmm, I'm still a bit confused about it all, but I can't help but wonder if redirect pages could come to your aid here? If you always knew that the files would be installed in the same location on each PC and in each flavor of language, why couldn't you just link that way? Or create redirect pages that do?

When you say "I really like having the image of the first frame displayed, so there is something to attract the user to watch. ", are you saing the .SWF is embedded as content on the page itself, but is presented in a paused state until the user decides to watch the video?

Cheers... Rick 🙂

[Margaret_Becker]

"are you saing the .SWF is embedded as content on the page itself, but is presented in a paused state until the user decides to watch the video?"

Yep! That's how they are currently, but the installation and packaging team would like to ship only one set.

[RoboWizard]

Hi Margaret

I suppose exactly how you might accomplish this would largely depend on exactly how you are managing to insert the .SWF content. Just in case it will help, I'll outline something I tried.

Within an existing RoboHelp HTML project, I added a new page.
I then inserted a .SWF onto the page by clicking Insert > Multimedia... > Browsing for the desired .SWF, clicking Open and finally OK.
At this point, the .SWF has been inserted into the topic. Unfortunately, this process ALSO copied the .SWF to the project location.
So I now visit TrueCode for the topic, and amend the .SWF filename reference to include an absolute path to the .SWF.
I save the TrueCode.
I then visit the folder where the project is and delete the .SWF. This step prevents it from being included in the resulting .CHM once it has been compiled.
I then compiled and tested. The .SWF loads right up into the topic!

Will this help? Rick

[Margaret_Becker]

This sounds extremely promising. I'll give it a shot in the morning and let you know. Thanks!

[Margaret_Becker]

Yes. This actually works. One problem, though. Is there a way to prevent RoboHTML from dinking with the path when I use the WYSIWYG editor?

[Captiv8r]

Good morning, Margaret

Unless I'm mistaken, WYSIWYG should leave it alone as long as the .SWF cannot be found. What are you seeing that it does? Note that I didn't extensively test to see this particular situation. I just made some quick observations going off my gut instincts with RoboHelp.

Cheers... Rick

[Margaret_Becker]

Ah. Then I should move the swf away from the place where it will reside in the future. I'll give that a try. This looks like it will be my solution. i'll keep you posted. Thanks.

[Margaret_Becker]

Well, ol' RoboHTML (My way or the highway) doesn't respect my wishes and changes the lovely absolute path to a relative path as soon as I switch to the WYSIWYG editor and back to true code. This, of course, makes this solution fail. Why can't it just trust me to know what I want.

[Margaret_Becker]

Um.... In Robo's True Code editor, it shows a relative path, but when I open the HTML with my other favorite editor (EditPlus), the same spot shows the absolute path.... What the heck is going on?

[Captiv8r]

Hi again Margaret

Just a thought here. You could insert these all with perhaps a simplistic path of something like c:\videos\somevideo.swf. Then, leave the videos there and work as normal. Then immediately before compiling or generating, peform a mass search and replace using simething like ReplaceEm or FAR.

ReplaceEm Site
FAR Site

Cheers... Rick

[Margaret_Becker]

By the way. I have solved this problem. If anyone is interested in the method, let me know and I will explain in detail. Basically, I have a JavaScript that sets up the paths for both the RoboHTML preview and the installed product. The video files are installed in a specific folder with the product and all .chm files get the videos from there.

~Margaret Becker