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LarryTX
Inspiring
July 23, 2009
Question

Embedding a WMV video in WebHelp

  • July 23, 2009
  • 2 replies
  • 2591 views

I'm trying to embed a WMV video in a WebHelp project using RoboHelp 8. I can insert the video through Insert > Multimedia/Demo just fine, and it plays correctly. However it doesn't have the critically necessary controls for the media player. I did find the article entitled Creating and Customizing Online Documentation with RoboHelp, but like most RoboHelp documentation, it is so old (version X5!) and narrowly focused, that it is virtually worthless. It relies on TrueCode which, as nearly as i can tell, it long gone in RoboHelp 8. I've tried changing the <param name="ShowControls" value="0"  /> line in the HTML to a value of 1, but, true to form, RoboHelp 8 just promptly changes it back to 0. No matter how much I fight with it, I can't make RoboHelp leave the value at 1. (There are so many other circumstances where RoboHelp will not leave things the way I put them. Is there any way to get rid of this behavior?)

Is there any way to make RoboHelp show the media player controls? I can't imagine why it wouldn't default to showing the controls since the media player is absolutely worthless without the controls. Or, do I have to completely forego using video within RoboHelp projects? If I do, I can gurantee you that i will forego RoboHelp altogether.

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    2 replies

    E
    EVH32
    Participant
    September 16, 2009

    I had the exact same problem.  I just had to add the WMV to my baggage files.

    Read here:  http://forums.adobe.com/thread/206525

    Hope this solves your problem.  Very frustrating, no doubt.

    Willam van Weelden
    Willam van Weelden
    Inspiring
    September 11, 2009

    Hi,

    1. If you output WebHelp, use a search and replace in your output to change all <param name="ShowControls" value="0"  /> in <param name="ShowControls" value="1"  />.

    2. You can try using the <embed> tag instead of the <object> tag. The embed element is not valid xhmtl and not all browsers may/will support it.

    Greet,

    Willam

    L
    LarryTXAuthor
    Inspiring
    September 11, 2009

    That's exactly what I've had to do, and that's the unfortunate thing about RoboHelp. Adobe has acquired it and put out a "new" version without correcting any of the very serious failings of RoboHelp. This is just one example of where RoboHelp insists on changing user-entered code. It also trashes CSS tha isn't entered through its CSS editor (which by the way, produces invalid CSS). It rewrites code entered through its HTML editor in a huge variety of ways. I only hope Adobe will pay attention and fix this serious flaw. Other WYSIWYG editors, such as Dreamweaver don't do this. If Adobe won't correct this, they will kill RoboHelp. Changing code like this might have been necessary back in the days of very unsophisticated user/developers, but those days are long gone. Most folks intelligent enough to work with RoboHelp, nowadays, are intelligent enough to write HTML and CSS.

    Again, what I want to know is how to force RoboHelp to leave my code changes alone without having to go into and alter the output everytime.

    Willam van Weelden
    Willam van Weelden
    Inspiring
    September 11, 2009

    Hi,

    I see, you've also wondered how to stop Robo from interfering with your css. I'm afraid that I can't tell you more than you already know.

    Assigning a third party editor to the specific topics probably is your best guess. You can also report this behaviour as a bug/feature request, whichever you find appropriate

    Greet,

    Willam

    PS. I just wonder how many people consider this behavior as a pain, I expect that most people don't worry about any of this. I can live with Robo's setbacks because it does a wonderful job at doing what it was meant for, although some better html and css support would be nice. That's why I use the feature request

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