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Anonymous

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Context-Sensitive Help -- configuring app side

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I am a senior technical writer working with a developer trying to configure Context Sensitive Help where output RoboHelp files are in FlashHelp format. The software application for the stated help system is for a large federal agency. The interfacing application is a Sharepoint environment using .Net tools/code. Can somebody provide detailed written information as to how to set up the interface on the developer side? I have already configured the RoboHelp side using the Context Sensitive Help feature where the following items are assigned for each context sensitive help instance: Map ID, Map Number, Help Topic (html file). We need to know the format for a string containing the Map ID and Map Number (on the .Net side) that will be sent to the FlashHelp home page (index.html, in this configuration) so the help system will call the help topic associated with the requested Map ID and Map Number. Obviously this is a programmer-level issue, but it’s a straight-forward question that is not clearly addressed in RoboHelp’s online help. So if somebody could supply a written description that can be forwarded to the stated developer, that would be great.

Please note: I'm using RoboHelp 6, an older version, but the stated interface issue is likely unchanged.

Thanks.

David Sharp

Silver Spring, MD
USA

FlashHelp

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

What I know about Sharepoint and OLH is covered in http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/sharepoint/sharepoint.htm

As you are talking about FlashHelp, I am not clear why you have also asked the question in the WebHelp forum. We do ask that questions are not duplicated if only because it leads to split and messy answers. I will add a link in the other thread and then lock it.

UPDATE. I have deleted the other post as I found it had been attached to another thread, the rest of which should remain.

It is also recommended that email addresses are not included in posts, unless you want all sorts of spam offering various services of a personal nature. I can edit your posts and remove that if you wish.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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Anonymous

"As you are talking about FlashHelp, I am not clear why you have also asked the question in the WebHelp forum."

My apologies. A duplicate message was posted to the WebHelp forum by accident. If you have the ability to remove it, feel free to do so.

That stated, I am definitely talking about FlashHelp. I looked at the cited link (below) but did not see anything about .net tools.

http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/sharepoint/sharepoint.htm

The SharePoint article has lots of information, but the programmer I'm dealing with indicated that he needs something much more basic. He seems to think each CSH instance on the app side will send a string to the help system (FlashHelp, that is) when the home page is clicked (our home page file is called "index.htm".) The question is this:

** What is the format we use for the CSH call string when coding in .net, in a Sharepoint environment, using RoboHelp with FlashHelp output files? **

MORE BACKGROUND INFO:

We (the programmer and myself) have jointly defined the Map ID and Map Number for each instance where CSH is needed on the application side. With that information, I used the CSH feature on the RoboHelp source side (the project, that is) and created a mapping file. Each record within the mapping file represents a unique instance of CSH. (In other words, each CSH help icon on the app side is given a unique ID which is entered in the mapping file on the RoboHelp side.) Within each mapping file record (still on the RoboHelp source side), I (the writer) assign a help topic to the associated Map ID and Map Number that we already defined. As a last step in preparing the help file with CSH, I compile the RoboHelp project and select the output format as FlashHelp. In basic terms, everything works great, but there's one problem. The programmer has no idea how to call the desired help topics other than to create hot links to each topic file that I associated with the Map ID and Map Number. By creating hot links, he is bypassing the CSH feature provided by RoboHelp. Long story short -- We're making CSH work, but we're not adhering RoboHelp best practices. We could make it work with hot links without using RoboHelp's CSH feature at all. So it seems pretty sloppy to me, but we may have to go that route because nobody seems to know how to configure CSH properly on the app side for the stated environment (.net and Sharepoint, that is).

I'm not a programmer, but it seems like we may need somebody with knowledge of .net to provide guidance for this problem.

Thanks.

Dave Sharp

PS. Feel free to remove my e-mail from the original message if you think it is not needed.

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Dave

I removed your email address. It's not a question of need but of whether you want spam.

A key point of my article is that if you want CSH, you have to follow the link I have provided and it ain't easy. It's also way to technical for me.

There are various ways of calling help from an application and those are set out on my site under Calling WebHelp. They should work for FlashHelp too. From Sharepoint though it's a whole different ball game and the best I can do is suggest you follow the link at the end of the article.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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