Is this possible? XML import from RoboHelp into Captivate

[piranetus]

I am looking for a solution to this problem:

My company has a technical writer's group and a graphic designer's / programmer's group.  My bosses would like for the writers to write in a program such as RoboHelp or FrameMaker, and then for the graphics guys to import that text directly into Captivate, with the text placed where it needs to be placed according to xml.  Is this possible?

Currently, we don't even use Captivate to design our E-Learning Courses, we're using custom built software by our programmers.  Those programmers are currently working on being able to extract Arbortext in the same fashion I was wondering about above.  I was wanting to know if such an option already existed with Adobe's products.

Thanks.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

No, it won't be possible. Sure, Captivate offers a File > Import > XML option, but it's not intended for importing data from other applications. It's intended for first using File > *EXPORT* > XML to create an XML file you would then hand off to a translation agency to localize the content inside Captivate.

Perhaps the closest you can come is to import from Microsoft PowerPoint. But then you *STILL* won't have editable text as the PowerPoint import comes in as Flash files.

Cheers... Rick

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[piranetus]

Thanks for the reply Rick.

Do you know of any way that my intention is possible?  Not even necessarily using Captivate, but InDesign or any other software?

[Captiv8r]

Sorry, but I'm unaware of any better way to accomplish what you want. A large part of the issue here is that Captivate and RoboHelp weren't always Adobe products. With each successive iteration of them under Adobe's guidance we do see more and more integration, but it's just not there yet. Even the Framemaker > RoboHelp integration isn't foolproof.

Based on your original note, I think that if I were in your shoes, I'd abandon Captivate and explore using RoboHelp to generate XML data that you would then hand RoboHelp's XML to your programmers for inclusion in whatever they are doing.

I have been facilitating classes on RoboHelp and Captivate since 2005. And in that time period, only once has anyone ever asked me whether RoboHelp works with InDesign. I didn't even know what InDesign WAS at that point and they got a good laugh at me not knowing that since "I worked for Adobe" (which, of course, I don't)

Cheers... Rick

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