Modifying the search in a chm

[TechWriter77]

Is it possible to modify the search in a.chm so that only relevant topics to your search keyword show up? I came across this site that makes it possible to improve the webhelp by editing some Jscript code, but I wasn't sure if it was possible in a .chm:

http://www.helpscribe.com/2008/10/improving-webhelp-search-results-in.html

If anyone has any ideas, it'd be greatly appreciated!

[RoboColum_n_]

I can't see how this is possible with a CHM file as it is a single compiled file. The only way to restrict what appears in the search is to not include it in the compile in the first place.

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Read the RoboColum(n).

[RoboWizard]

Hi there

As Colum indicated, there is little you can do to "improve" the search mechanism in a CHM file.

One little known trick, however, is that you may change a topic file name from having a .HTM extension to a .XHTM extension. You will still be able to link to it but the content of the topic won't be found in the search.

I learned that little nugget from Pete Lees. (Tips hat toward Pete)

Cheers... Rick

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[TechWriter77]

Thanks guys for the information. It's much appreciated as always.

Rick, for your suggestion, is there a way to change the default extension of all the .htm files to .xhtm at once?

[TechWriter77]

Sorry, I meant without going into the Topic Properties and manually changing each topic extension.

[RoboWizard]

Hi again

While you could certainly do that I would think it would be simpler to just disable search altogether. Normally folks may want just a few topics to be rendered unsearchable. Perhaps for topics that are only accessed via Context Sensitive calls.

Cheers... Rick

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[TechWriter77]

Hi Rick,

Sorry, I probably didn't explain my problem well. Basically what I want to do is have RH search just the topic names, instead of the content within the topic. For example, if a user searches for "client file" the search should bring up "Creating a Client File" first.

In Windows Explorer, I changed some of the file extensions to .xhtm and that worked out well. RH stopped searching the content within those topics I changed. However, in my actual RH project the topics are marked with red Xs.

If I try to change the file extensions in RH, RH says there's a topic with that name already and asks me to choose a different name. Should I change the file extensions in RH or in Explorer or both?

Thanks again for your help!

[RoboWizard]

Hi again

I would think the search would fail to produce any results if you change the extensions, but if it's getting you what you want I'll leave it alone.

I normally change the extension in Windows Explorer. Naturally this renders the topic as being missing because I sneaked behind RoboHelp's back and pulled the old switcheroo. Then I delete the topic from RoboHelp's Project Manager and amend any links to point to the new .XHTM. After that I add the renamed .XHTM topic to baggage so RoboHelp is aware it should be included. However, as you are building a CHM file, the compiler normally pulls in all referenced files automagickally, so you may not need to take the step of adding to baggage. But if it were me I'd probably do it anyway as a safeguard.

Hopefully this helps... Rick

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[Pete_Lees · Accepted solution]

Hi, TechWriter77,

To be honest, I think the simplest solution is to educate your users to select the "Search titles only" checkbox at the bottom of the Search tab. Or you could instruct them in how to construct quite sophisticated searches by incoporating the information in the following page into your Help file:

http://helpware.net/htmlhelp/hhfindingtext.htm

As Rick says, the workaround of changing the file name extensions of the HTML topic files is a blunt instrument that prevents the compiler from parsing any of the content of those topics for full-text search data — including the topic titles. So, you'd need to find some other solution that enabled you to encrypt the body of the topics (so hiding it from the compiler) but leave the topic titles untouched. Even if this is possible, it seems like a lot of work for little gain. It could be frustrating for users, too, if they're searching for a term that they know is present but which you haven't included in a topic title.

Pete

[TechWriter77]

Thanks Pete and Rick. I am going to take Pete's advice and incorporate that info into my help file.

[Pete_Lees]

If it helps to speed things along, most of that information is available in a customizable Help file called Viewhlp.chm, which you can download from the Microsoft site.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms669985(VS.85).aspx

Pete