Captivate Demos in RoboHelp11

[Gania]

I haven't used RoboHelp for years, but I am evaluating TCS5 for my company. I'd like to ask, is there a way to link a demo into a topic (like "show me") that will only appear if the user wants to view. I can see how to import the demo but it starts as soon as the topic is opened.

Thanks

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Two ways of handling this – include play controls in the Captivate output so that it won’t start auto-playing when the topic is opened (best solution IMHO) or create a separate topic, add the video to it and add a link to the topic container from the main “real” topic so that users can click on it if they want.

[Gania]

Thanks Jeff, the “topic” link sound like just what I’m looking for.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Oh, just thought of a 3rd way – place the video (with play controls) in an expanding hotspot.

[Gania]

Thanks again Jeff! This info is great, I’m going to try both.

[Captiv8r]

Well, actually more than two ways.

Sorry Jeff, but simply ensuring the Captivate has playback controls will do nothing whatsoever to keep it paused. What the Captivate author has to do is to ensure an object such as a Click Box, Text Entry Box, Button, or Smart Shape configured as a button has been placed on the first slide and has been configured to pause playback. Or, in the preferences, configure the project to begin paused. But that's all on the Captivate developer's side.

So you are correct in that if the Captivate is placed in its own topic and the topic is linked to, that would solve the issue.

If you don't want the user to open a completely different topic to watch the demo, you could also insert the Captivate demo into a Dynamic HTML Drop Down. That way it will be hidden until needed. And it won't begin to play until the user clicks the link to reveal the drop down.

Actually, there are a myriad of possibilities with this. It all depends on exactly what Geri is looking for as far as behavior. For example, the Captivate may have been created so large that it simply cannot be used properly if inside the DHTML I spoke about. So maybe it does need to be on its own page. If so, you really don't need to create a topic and insert. You should instead import the HTML page created by Captivate.

And it gets even more fun and confusing with the advent of folks scrambling to move toward HTML 5 as well as Responsive. Mostly what was discussed earlier would apply to SWF output only.

Cheers... Rick

[Gania]

This is great! At least I can tell the business end of this evaluation that I can depend on the Forum for really great help! Thanks Rick!

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

@Rick - I know my SWF demos that I stick into an AIRHelp project only require configuring the prefs to have controls enabled (& I think the default setting is paused); I don’t have to have the first slide show a button at all – Captivate does that for me. There is a bug that is supposed to display the content of the first slide as a background if no default image is specified, but that got broken in TCS4 and hasn’t been fixed as far as I know.

[Captiv8r]

Jeff - Are you the person creating the SWF demos?

Is it possible that you inserting these into Frame, then they flow into RoboHelp? I've never seen any setting in RoboHelp with inserting Captivate where you specify whether it has controls or not. So your report is confusing to me.

Then again, I seem to get confused easily since becoming an old man. LOL

Cheers... Rick

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Yes, I create them – it’s all done inside Captivate and stuck directly in a RH topic; your memory is correct that there’s no tweaking possible in RH ;>)

[Captiv8r]

Ahhh okay. See, when I read the bit about configuring the demos to have the playback controls, I thought you were referring to RoboHelp or maybe Frame. So that confused me.

Had no idea you were a Captivate user as well.

Cheers... Rick

[Gania]

Would the sizing work better if I created my demos with Responsive design? Wouldn’t that automatically adjust the size to the window?

[Captiv8r]

If you are talking about mixing Captivate and RoboHelp and responsive, I personally think that is an invitation to trouble and headaches.

But it's your circus. You can have as many monkeys as you like!

Cheers... Rick

[Gania]

One thing I don’t need is more trouble and headaches. Thanks

[Captiv8r]

Given the choice, if I can stick with Flash SWF output from Captivate, that's the best way to fly.

[Gania]

Thanks guys, you both have been a big help!