navigation button to external webhelp projects

[ltsb-Peter]

I have 6 separate Electronic Guides, each created separately in X5 (webhelp), and which can be individually loaded from a separate menu Interface (created in another X5 Webhelp project) using external HTML links. The 6 Guides, plus Menu interface are being burned to CD Rom for distribution. The menu interface works fine, and provides access to each Guide as required. However, what I would like to also achieve is a situation where, once any one of the 6 guides is opened, a button on the navigation bar will close the Guide concerned, and allow an immediate return to the CD Menu interface.
I have created a button in the skin of each Guide, but cannot create a working link back to the separate CD Menu interface.
Any help / suggestions would be greatly appreciated

[RoboColum_n_]

Try creating a custom button, go into the Action tab and use the "link" option to assign the filename of the CD menu interface.

[ltsb-Peter]

Hi Colum,
Thanks for getting back so quickly. Tried this ( as a test) in one Guide - when creating the link, I get the message 'selected file does not exist - Please enter a valid filename' - presumably because the 'home' page for the CD Menu is in the root of the CD, and the Guide is in a separate folder. I've tried preceeding the filename with // but this produces the same message. I can't stipulate a drive letter, because I don't know what the user's CD Rom Drive letter might be. Any other thoughts?

[MergeThis]

You need to establish which directories will house all of these guides; then, you set relative links. That is, linking to a guide that's two folders up in the CD hierarchy would start with "../../" and linking to a guide that's two folders down would start with "folder/folder/". The drive letter is irrelevant.


Good luck,
Leon

[ltsb-Peter]

Hi Leon,
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, when attempting to create the link, I still get the message 'selected file does not exist - Please enter a valid filename'. I think this is because the project file for each guide is held in totally separate folders on a networked drive, and the 'CD Menu' project is, again, in a totally separate folder on the same drive. Therefore, the link back to the CD Menu, in any particular Guide, cannot find the start-up page for the CD Menu. No matter what I try, I cannot set the link to an external file - bacuse the actual link won't let me.Help!!!!

[MergeThis]

Neglected to mention the obvious: copy all folders to your local machine in the exact structure in which they will appear on the CD. RH will then be very happy, and you will, too!


Good luck,
Leon

[Captiv8r]

Hi all

Hopefully Leon won't mind my offering a possible solution here. You might be able to overcome this issue using a Redirect topic. If you have no clue about redirect topics, hop over to my site and grab a copy of my aging Tips file. I believe I describe how to create them inside.

Sincerely... Rick

[MergeThis]

Rick:

Don't say "aging" around an old person!

Oh, sure, keep pushing people to your wildly expensive...er, moderately priced...er, reasonably priced Tips file. Oh, yeah...it's free, isn't it? Never mind...


Leon

[ltsb-Peter]

Still struggling with this - but I'll keep you informed of progress!

[MergeThis]

I'm going to try this again, so pay attention, now.

If you want RH to generate a proper link path, you need to replicate the same folder structure on your local machine that it will encounter in the output. How else will it know where to go? The alternative is to create all your links in TrueCode and select Save before reverting to WYSIWYG.

This is not just between you and RoboHelp; your developers, release engineers, and product managers all have to agree what the folder structure on that CD will look like. Then, you do your thing.


Good luck,
Leon