Mike,
I think you are making this more complicated than need be. F1
help should be connected by the software developer such that F1
produces a map number. You can read this number by firing F1 when
RoboHelp's BugHunter is enabled. BugHunter will report that map
number.
To connect to help, you have two files - the .hh (help
header, but can also be just .h) and the .ali file. The format
should be
in hh file: #define MAPID 123456
where MAPID is anything, usually a descriptive map name, and
123456 is the map number you get from F1.
in .ali file: MAPID="topicname.htm#bookmark"
I usually create the .hh and .ali files outside of RoboHelp
but you can do this in RoboHelp.
If BugHunter does not give you a map number, you need to talk
to the developers.
John