Can't link TOC books to custom window

Report · Aug 31, 2009

I am using RoboHelp 7.02.001. I have followed the Help instruction regarding "Link TOC books or pages to custom windows (Microsoft HTML Help projects), but the topics open in the main window rather than in the custom window. Any suggestions.

Report · Sep 02, 2009

Hi,

I don't use HTML help, but the Robo8 help has the following note with this help topic: Note: Microsoft HTML Help doesn’t support links to custom windows from the topic, only links to pop-ups.

Since no one has posted to your question yet, it's probably not clear what exactly is the problem. Can you exactly describe what you want to do, what you did, and what isn't working.

Greet,

Willam

Report · Sep 02, 2009

Thanks William,

In my HTML Help project I have a "main" window which is selected as the default. I want most of the topics to be displayed in this tri-pane window.

I was looking for a way to have a smaller number of topics displayed in a single pane window with only a window caption at the top. Specifically, I want to be able to call them using context sensitive help IDs and have them displayed in the custom window. When I saw the Help topic "Link TOC books or pages to custom windows (Microsoft HTML Help projects)" I thought I had found the answer. Note: In another project I created a separate HTML Help project to accomplish this, but I have to maintain duplicate information and I wanted to avoid that this time.

This help topic instructs you to create a custom window, then double click the TOC folder in the Project Manager pod, and in the Advanced tab "select a custom window for displaying the topic". To me this sounds like when a topic from this TOC folder is selected, the topic should be displayed in the selected custom window. I followed these instructions, but the topic displays in the "main" window, not the custom window.

I also saw the "Note: Microsoft HTML Help does not support links to custom windows from the topic, only links to popups". To me the key words here are "from the topic", which I took to mean that once you are "in" the topic, you can't link to additional text in a custom window, only in a popup. But if you were selecting a topic from a TOC book, it would display in a custom window. If not, what is the purpose of the help topic titled "Link TOC books or pages to custom windows (Microsoft HTML Help projects)".

If I am in error regarding this method please let me know. In any case I would appreciate any help regarding how I can accomplish my goal.

Thanks,

Dick