Embedded Help in Docked Pane

[ginafromtampa]

I am using RoboHelp X5 and I want to convert our WebHelp into a single pane that's embedded and docked into our Windows based application. (The app will run on .NET). I am not a developer and not highly technical, and I've read the response to the posting Creating Help w/ Studio "motif" and tried to read the links, but I need more basic information. Here's the link to the original article: ( http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=447&threadid=1035707&highlight_ke...

Does anyone have any experience using RoboHelp to create embedded help in a docked pane for an application that is not Web based? Does anyone have any examples of something they've created and can share a RoboHelp project file? We want the online help (which will be called from the app but reside on our Web server like WebHelp) to look like the help in Microsoft Outlook 2003. Click on the Help menu, and a single help pane with dock to the right, within the application. Outlook resizes to make room for the Help pane. You can close the help pane and reopen it. You can click on a link to the table of contents, and conduct a full-text search, including filtering by different resources. The only thing the help can't do is provide an index, which I'd like to do.

Can someone please help? Flare supports .NET, but I don't really know what that means. I downloaded a trial, but I didn't see how to create the embedded help in a docked pane. I'd like to stick with RoboHelp due to our investment. Thanks!

[ginafromtampa]

I found out yesterday from a RoboHelp competitor that what I need is Microsoft Help 2.0 (MS Help 2.0). I would love to know if anyone has an idea if Microsoft technical writers actually develop their Microsoft Office help using MS Help 2.0.

[maniac9999]

Gina,

I also wanted to find out if I could create single pane help with RoboHelp and Macromedia/Adobe Support told me it wasn't possible with basic RoboHelp Office X5. I also searched the help files of RoboHelp Office X5 and didn't find anything about support for .NET, but did find a few topics that mentioned Visual Studio .NET. I also found a page that lists "RoboHelp Office X5 Pro for .NET" as an upgrade option, with a street price of $999. One idea might be to call Adobe and ask if they can hook you up with a customer who purchased the .NET upgrade and is currently using it so that you can ask them questions to find out if it's worth it. If you don't have an Adobe support contract, you'll probably need to pay a few bucks to get an answer. Sorry I don't have a solution, but I just thought I'd share what I found.

Jim

http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelp/productinfo/overview/office_pro_net.html

[ginafromtampa · Accepted solution]

It turns out that FlashHelp's vertical skins are exactly what I needed.