TOC book image

[Authorgirl]

I have noticed a couple of rather nice green book images in the RoboHelp gallery. Is there any way of using them in the TOC instead of the standard maroon ones?
Is this to do with skins? I have never used skins before but it looks to me as though I can't use them for HTML help anyway.

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Authorgirl. Alternative TOC icons from the gallery can be applied to HTML Help. If you right click on a book and select Properties. Click on the Advanced tab. Select the required image number in the "Image" field and the display updates. Alternatively you can create a skin and assign a custom image for all opened and closed TOC items. This can then be applied to a CHM file by following Rick Stone's excellent tips 'n tricks file.

[Caleb M Olson]

I feel like I've tried everything to get this to work. The compiled .chm appears fine on my computer, but when it is moved to another computer, the image reverts back to the default.

When the .chm is opened on another computer, an error message displays "cannot locate helpicons.bmp" which is what I named the new icon strip. I don't understand why the custom image strip isn't compiled in the .chm with all other images.

Does anyone have an idea of a resolution? Does anyone know of the location of the default book/topic images so I could just overwrite one I never use with the one I want?

Any responses are greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

[RoboWizard]

Hi Caleb

You might find a file I offer to be useful. No worries, I'm not trying to sell you anything. The file is free of charge. It's called my Tips & Tricks file and you may download it from this link.

Inside it (among many many tips for working with HTML Help) are instructions for making an icon strip work.

Hopefully this was helpful to you... Rick

[Caleb M Olson]

Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately, I've tried all solutions mentioned but get the same result. The custom icons appear on my computer, but not when I move the .chm to another computer. The latest attempt was:

1. Move "iconstrip.bmp" to the same folder as the .chm
2. Open the .hhc file in notepad....my "object tag" is the following:

<object type="text/site properties">
<param name="SiteType" value="toc">
<param name="ImageList" value="C:IconStrip.BMP">
<param name="Image Width" value="16">
<param name="Color Mask" value="0xff00ff">
<param name="Window Styles" value="0x800002">
<param name="ExWindow Styles" value="0x100">
</object>

3. Save the .hhc file.
4. Complile the project.


I'm probably missing something? I haven't directly edited the .hhc before.

Thanks again,
Caleb

[Captiv8r]

Hi again Caleb

I notice you say it fails when you move the .CHM to a different computer. Are you also ensuring the icon strip file is being moved too? Note that it will have to be distributed as a separate file with your .CHM. It isn't pulled inside the .CHM.

This is often part of the issue and one of the reasons almost nobody uses this feature. It's just a PITA!

Just a thought... Rick

[Caleb M Olson]

OK that makes sense. I guess this "feature" probably won't work for me then, because I just want a single file as the result.

Thanks anyway! The only other thing I could think of would be to locate the default "image 42" -- that wrench with the red asterisk icon and overwrite it with my custom icon; however, I can't seem to find where RoboHelp pulls its default TOC images from.

[Captiv8r]

Hi again

Yeah, that one would be tough. This is because RoboHelp has nothing whatsoever to do with the images. Instead, they are embedded in some file in the Windows operating system that the Microsoft HTML Help viewer is using. So even if you were able to locate the file, you would STILL end up having to figure a way to ship the modified file to your user. Then you would see larger issues as you would be asking them to change an operating system file that would not only affect the display of your .CHM file, but ANY .CHM file that was used on their system.

I'm guessing that Pete probably knows exactly which file stores that info.

Cheers... Rick

[Pete_Lees]

Caleb,

Just to add to Rick's reply, there's an alternative solution to this problem described here:

http://helpware.net/FAR/far_faq.htm#CustomIcons

Pete

[Peter Grainge]

Knowing Pete, he probably knows how many files there are before and after it in the same folder!

[Captiv8r]

Yep, the guy has amazed me for years. He's like a virtual walking encyclopedia and I'm totally blown away by his vast knowledge.

[WendyCh]

You guys all blow me away with your vast knowledge. Each one of you- Colum, Rick, Pete, and Peter, has helped me numerous times with my project.
Thanks so much to all of you!
Wendy

[Pete_Lees]

Blimey! Well, I'm very flattered — thanks — but also a little embarrassed, because on this particular subject I'm on shaky ground. I had thought that the TOC icons were stored in the HTML Help executable (%windir%\hh.exe), but Steve Wexler's book "Official Microsoft HTML Help Authoring Kit" says that they are in the HTML Help ActiveX control (%windir%\system32\hhctrl.ocx) — which makes sense when you think about it, because the TOC tree view in the navigation pane is an instance of that control.

Both hh.exe and hhctrl.ocx are protected system components, so I doubt that anyone wanting to hack them would get very far. On the other hand, in the relatively early days of HTML Help, some of the Microsoft MVPs did find a way to change the TOC icons programmatically. In a newsgroup posting, Dave Liske refers to "tracking down the handle of the treeview control and changing the image list via the Win32 API. It's definitely not an easy task but it can be done." But that was eight years ago, before the advent of Windows File Protection and all the additional security features that now surround HTML Help.

Pete