Drop down expanding text

[DD71]

I would like to mimic the drop down expanding text from Windows help files where if you click the plus sign bullet, it would change to a minus symbol when the text expands and back to the plus sign again when you close it.

I can't seem to find where I can change the image for the bullet. Has anyone else attempted this? I am using X5.

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi DD71 and welcome to the RH community.

This link on Peter Griange's site describes a method of achieving this. It uses slightly different images but you can substitute the ones he uses for the ones you want.

[DD71]

I tried it and it works great in design mode but whenever I compile it to a .CHM file, nothing happens.

Is there something I may have missed?

[RoboColum_n_]

Can you define "nothing happens"? Do the images appear, not change? Try it again as if it works in design mode it should work in a CHM.

[DD71]

After compiling the image and the text are displayed and its even highlighted as if its a link but when you click it, nothing happens as if its just static.

I modified the javascript to use my GIF files, added all the snippets to the codes just like the instructions said, and was able to successfully load the image and the javascript to the baggage file.

After reviewing everything, I may have to change the order of the instructions, start by loading the images and the javascript first to the baggage file before doing everything else. I'm sure its something very simple that I'm over looking. I will try it again tonight when I come home.

[Captiv8r]

Hi DD71

It's totally worth double checking that the .JS file actually made it into Baggage. I don't believe you said which version of RoboHelp you were using, but earlier versions had an issue when adding to Baggage. JavaScript files would "appear" to be added just fine. By that, I mean to say the dialogs acted as if it worked and no error messages were posted. But when you looked, the file was never truly added and you had to finagle the files by hand to ensure they were in the project.

Cheers... Rick

[DD71]

RoboHelp HTML X5.0.1, Build 606

It was something very simple that I overlooked.

This version of X5 did have that problem loading baggages. First time I tried it, it wouldn't allow me to add the javascript to the baggage so I instead created a folder called twisty inside baggages and added the twisty javascript inside. So when it worked in design mode, I assumed that the baggage file worked.

This time I created a new test CHM but reversed the order of the instruction. I first loaded the two GIF files to the baggage followed by the twisty script. For some unknown reason, this time I was able to load the twisty script to the baggage without creating a folder for it, just as it is in the instruction. The rest, I just followed what the instruction said and now it works great both in design and compile mode.

[RoboColum_n_]

RHX5 can be a bit flakey when it comes to adding/removing baggage files. To be honest I tend to manually edit the project's rhbag.apj file to ensure that a baggage file is there.

[DD71]

I have another question regarding directories when creating a new project.

I noticed that a newly created project folder is about 4.7 Mb, that's quite substantial considering I haven't even started with any topics. Is there anyway I can just create one project folder and multiple sub folders inside for different projects so that I can share the GIF and javascripts?

[Peter Grainge]

If a question is totally unrelated to the thread, please start a new thread. If someone else has the second problem in the future, how will they find the answer hidden inside this thread?

Are you suggesting creating a project and then sharing that with another project to cut down the size of another project? That cannot be done. You can merge outputs but each source must have its own resources.

There is no way a new project should be the size you quote. Are you creating it by going File | New | Project?

[DD71]

Sorry for posting that second question...

To answer your question, yes that is exactly what I was trying to achieve. Trying to minimize duplicating resources if multiple projects will make use of the same files. And yes I did go through File|New|Project. The !SkinSubFolder! size that it automatically creates is 4.25 MB for all new projects I create which contains several shockwave files. This is no big deal. If this is the only way to create a CHM file in RoboHelp, so be it. I can live with that.

[RoboColum_n_]

If you are created CHM files you do not need the !SkinSubFolder! folder as long as you aren't using a skin inside your CHM file. So you could delete this folder and you'll find the size of your project folder reduce.

[RoboColum_n_]

Let me just quantify my last statement. You can delete the !SkinSubFolder! folder provided you are not using skins in any shape or form (e.g. you could be trying to produce both CHM and webhelp output from the same source files). Just covering all bases