more than one map number per topic?

[judsha]

I have been asked to create context sensitive help with RoboHelp6.
Is it possible to create bookmarks in a topic and have different map numbers open to these different bookmarks in the same topic OR does each map number have to have one unique topic?
Judy

[Pete_Lees]

Hi, Judy, and welcome,

Yes, you can associate multiple map numbers with the same topic.

You first need to insert bookmarks (for example, <a name="BookMarkSample">...</a>) at the places in the topic to which you want to link. Then, in your alias (.ali) file, you can append the bookmarks to the name of the topic file.

For example, suppose that the topic file JudshaDemo.htm contains three bookmarks (Start, Middle, and End), and you want to associate them with the map numbers 1000, 2000, and 3000 respectively. By looking in the map (.h) file, you can determine that these three numbers are mapped to the topic IDs IDH_Start, IDH_Middle, and IDH_End:

#define IDH_Start 1000
#define IDH_Middle 2000
#define IDH_End 3000

Then, in your .ali file, you can find (or add) the lines for these three topic IDs and append the bookmark names to them:

IDH_Start = JudshaDemo.htm#Start
IDH_Middle = JudshaDemo.htm#Middle
IDH_End = JudshaDemo.htm#End

When you compile, you'll probably receive the error message below. This is bogus and can be ignored.

HHC3015: An alias has been created to "filename" but the file does not exist

I'd recommend taking a look at the following articles, which explain how the alias and map settings in HTML Help files work.

http://frogleg.mvps.org/helptechnologies/htmlhelp/hhtutorials.html
http://helpware.net/htmlhelp/how_to_context.htm
http://help-info.de/en/Help_Info_HTMLHelp/hh_context-id.htm

Pete

[judsha]

Hi Pete:
I don't know if I did exactly what you said.
I used the procedures in RoboHelp itself to create the h file with the map files.
1. In the Project tab, I expanded the map file folder I created.
2. When I double clicked on All Map IDs, the Edit Map Files dialog was displayed.
3. I selected a mapID and then selected a topic (bookmark in this case) and then clicked AutoMap.
4. I did this for all the listed MapIDs and topics. I then generated the project.
I gave this h file to the developer along with the compiled HTML help (chm file).

He put them both in the project and used the following function to call them up:
HtmlHelp(NULL, strHelpFile, HH_HELP_CONTEXT, nContentID);
He said nothing happened.

Did I provide him with the right file? Was I supposed to alias the file? If so, how is this done in RoboHelp? What was wrong with what I did? Is his function for calling up the topics correct?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Judy

[judsha]

Hi Pete:
I don't know if I did exactly what you said.
I used the procedures in RoboHelp itself to create the h file with the map files.
1. In the Project tab, I expanded the map file folder I created.
2. When I double clicked on All Map IDs, the Edit Map Files dialog was displayed.
3. I selected a mapID and then selected a topic (bookmark in this case) and then clicked AutoMap.
4. I did this for all the listed MapIDs and topics. I then generated the project.
I gave this h file to the developer along with the compiled HTML help (chm file).

He put them both in the project and used the following function to call them up:
HtmlHelp(NULL, strHelpFile, HH_HELP_CONTEXT, nContentID);
He said nothing happened.

Did I provide him with the right file? Was I supposed to alias the file? If so, how is this done in RoboHelp? What was wrong with what I did? Is his function for calling up the topics correct?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Judy

[Pete_Lees]

Hi, Judy,

I'll answer your questions as best as I can, but I'm hamstrung by the fact that I don't currently have access to RoboHelp to verify the correct procedure. (If anyone else is following this thread and can point Judy in the right direction, that would be appreciated.) It sounds like you're on the right track, though, even if the context help calls don't work at present.

If it helps at all, I've created a sample project with Microsoft's HTML Help Workshop tool and uploaded it to the location below. Comparing this with your own help project may highlight where the problem lies.

http://rapidshare.com/files/131937512/JudshaDemo.zip.html

The command that your developer is using looks like the right one. Translated, it means: use the HTML Help API command HH_HELP_CONTEXT to pass a specific map number (nContentID) to the nominated help file (strHelpFile). I assume that the "nContentID" bit is right and he doesn't mean "nConte xtID"? He would have defined this parameter value elsewhere in his code.

If you think it might help, please zip up and send me your HTML Help project (.hhp) file, map file, and alias file so that I can take a closer look.

Pete