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Adi5688
Adi5688
Participant
February 4, 2015
Question

Create a dynamic link in webhelp to open another document from local computer

  • February 4, 2015
  • 1 reply
  • 603 views

Hello,

Our current project requires us to create dynamic links in webhelp (created using Robohelp 11) and link it to other documents in local computer. The webhelp will work as primary help for the application, where, it also serves as reference to other content available in the application folder through links.

Appreciate any help on how to create dynamic links in robohelp and link them to other documents in the application installation folder.

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

RoboColum_n_
RoboColum_n_
Legend
February 4, 2015

So your WebHelp output is installed with the application on the end user's PC? Or it is installed on an appliction server or somewhere else? Also do you have control over where the other documents are installed on the local computer? For example, can you always say that the files you want to reference will be in the C:\Program Files\My Application folder?

Adi5688
Adi5688Author
Participant
February 4, 2015

Thank you for the quick response.

The webhelp output will be available online with an option to save a local copy. The other documents will always be in the application installation folder, but this folder will not be the same location in all computers, and will change based on client system settings. Under these circumstances can my requirement be achieved?

Also, we are in discussion with dev. team to provide us with a common reference point for other documents. The results are not favorable as of now.

Any suggestions.

RoboColum_n_
RoboColum_n_
Legend
February 5, 2015

The bottom line is that if the location of the application installation folder changes, you can't link to it. You can just say something like, "Look at Document X located in your application installation folder (e.g. c:\application installation folder)".

If you manage to get agreement on the location, you are not totally out of the woods. With the online help, it would also be impossible to link directly to a locally held file. For example, if I have a server here that hosts my help but I want to link to a file held on your laptop, how would I start to identify the path. Also potentially that path would be different to someone else at another client. Again it might be better to use the solution described in the first paragraph.

If you do manage to agree the location of the local version, you can link to the files, but you'll have to use conditional build tags to ensure the correct link is used in the correct deliverable.

In the longer term it may be a better solution to host the files in the same location as the online content. That way you can link to them easily. You can do the same with the offline content and link to them also.

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