Using multiple master pages within one Help System?

[evan3gar]

I have a Help System that is using a Master page which contains a tabbed image map in the Header.  This is what I want people to see when they enter the complete help system thru a menu option.  I would also like to have individual context sensitive help pages for each tab (application is tab driven) in my application which will be activated by a ?, but not show the image map on the individual pages nor the skins.  So I believe I need two Master pages but I am not sure how I would use them to obtain this scenario?

[RoboColum_n_]

If I understand your requirements correctly, they are two fold.

1. A master page containing an image map with links out to specific help topics. This image map is required on numerous (but not all) help topics.
   
   
2. Some help topics accessed by CSH application calls. These topics will not have the image map. They will just have the content.

The ? you mention, sounds like it will be hardcoded in your application and not in your help. If this is the case, you will only need one master page assigned to the topics covered by point 1. The topics covered by point 2 would not have any master page assigned. Of course if there are elements of your master page other than the image map that you need in both sets of topics, then yes you'd need two master pages.

[evan3gar]

The problem that I have is that the Master Page with the Image Map needs to be on every topic so that the tabs will show on each page.  The context sensitive help needs to have the same information in the footers but a different header and it will encompass many of the same topics.   Since I cannot use two master pages on the same topics, I am not sure how to get around this.  Will I need to recompile using the second Master page without the Image Map and have it store the information in a different folder?  ie

Customer Tab - contains three web pages so I do not want to show the Image Map on any of these. The whole Help system needs to have the Image Map on all tabs.  I am not sure if I am making this more complicated than it needs to be.

[RoboColum_n_]

If the topics viewed from your CSH calls require different content in the header, then yes you'll need to have two master pages. One for the CSH called topics and one for everything else.

However your scenario seems to suggest that the CSH topics also require just the footer master page when viewed directly inside the help. As you state, you can't have two master pages against a topic.

Applying a different master page and generating to a separate folder would not work. You'd just end up with content with the image map in one location and another with no image map in another. In essence, what you are trying to achieve won't work. Could you try doing things a different way? How about this:

1. Generate your main help with the master page containing the image map.
   
   
2. Generate the CSH topics to a different location using a master page without the image map. This would mean there was no link between the two sets of files, although you could add one manually.

[evan3gar]

That sounds like exactly what I want to do.  I have created the CSH Map and the additional Master Page but I am not sure how to just generate the CSH topics with the new Master Page without upsetting the original generation with the Image Map Master Page.

[RoboColum_n_]

The things you'd need to do are:

1. Create two Conditional Build Tags: File > New > Conditional Build Tags (e.g. CSH and Main)
   
   
2. Add the two Conditional Build Tag to those topics: From the Topic List pod, select the topics. Right click and select Properties. Click on the Advanced tab and select the tag in the Topic Level tag section. For example, add the CSH tag to the main help file topics and the Main tag to the CSH topics.
   
   
3. In your single source layout define a Conditional Build Expression to exclude the CSH tag. This produces your main help (but not your CSH topics) complete with the image map.
   
   
4. Duplicate that single source layout (right click & Duplicate Layout). Change the properties to use the exclude the Main Conditional Build Expression and write the output to a different directory. You may also want to change the name of the single source layout from "Copy of....".
   
   
5. When you generate your output you can right click in the single source layout pod and click Batch Generate to generate both outputs at the same time.

Let us know how you get on.

[evan3gar]

I was able to generate the two different versions.  One with the working tabs and one without the tabs.  Do I need to have RoboHelp Server to use the Context Sensitive Help?  I have not found anything that states it implicitly but the application programmer seems to think that he needs it to be able to access the Context Sensitive Help.

If I do not need it, how do we use the information from the RoboHelp CSH files to pull individual pages up instead of the help system.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

RoboHelp Server’s not needed for CSH.

See “Calling Webhelp” articles on Peter Grainge’s site grainge.org and on Willam’s site wvanweelden.eu

[Captiv8r]

HI there

No, RoboHelp Server is not needed for Context Sensitive Help (CSH). It just offers some reporting capabilities as well as other features that aren't related to CSH.

Cheers... Rick

[Captiv8r]

LOL, now it's my turn to say... Sorry Jeff! Didn't see you standing there!