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A
Anonymous
May 14, 2009
Question

Have to click "Show" to view TOC

  • May 14, 2009
  • 2 replies
  • 987 views

Hi! I've created a WebHelp project with Map IDs related to specific topics. When I compile the help, the "Select Output Folder and Start File" is !SSL!/WebHelp/index.htm. In the Content pane, I have the "Default Topic" as index.htm. I've also assigned a Map ID to the index.htm topic so that when you click the help button on the home page, the index.htm topic displays. However after compiling the help and having the software developer map the IDs, when I select the Help button on the home page, the topic displays but you have to select "Show" to display the TOC pane. How do I get the TOC pane to display when first opening a help topic?

Thanks.

Bill

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2 replies

A
Anonymous
May 15, 2009

The start page should be different than your default topic.  The start page shouldn't even be an existing topic file name.  It's really a shell for showing any topic along with the toolbar and nav pane.  The default view if you link to your start page is to show the toolbar and nav pane with whatever your default topic is.  It also allows you to open any topic with the toolbar and nav pane using a CSH API or a direct link (constructed as "startpage.htm#topicname.htm") as Kutra explained.

I usually use something similar to my project name for the start page file name.

Ben

GryphonMountain.net

Captiv8r
Captiv8r
Legend
May 15, 2009

Hi all

Ben is spot on with stating that you wouldn't want to name the start page using the same name as a topic. I will normally advise that index.htm is a really good name to use for a start page.

However, the start page is much more than a simple shell. There is so much that happens with the start page. It's quite an orchestra of events.

It launches and sniffs the browser to see if it can determne which browser is being used. If it can figure this out it then adjusts things so they work better with the specified browser. After that, it begins splitting the browser space into different frameset regions and making places to insert the main toolbar, navigation frame and whatnot. It then splits the navigation frame up. It loads HTML pages into each frame and the last action is to present the default topic to the user.

Cheers... Rick

A
Anonymous
May 14, 2009

If I understand correctly, index.htm is your Default Topic, correct? What is your Start Page that you have specified in the SSL output dialog? To display the TOC et all, you have to access the Start Page and not the default topic directly. The default topic is what is displayed in the right frame with the TOC in the left frame and the Start Page is the frame set. So, if your Start Page is start.htm, you should have linked that to your map ID.

Now, if you want to go to any other page (second.htm, for example) and still have the TOC exposed and synchronized, you can use the synatax start.htm#second.htm. To go to index.htm, you would use start.htm#index.htm.

This works for us in WebHelp, but I am guessing it should be the same when used with MapIDs.

Good luck,

K

A
Anonymous
May 15, 2009

I do have to correct one thing Kutra said—using the startpage.htm#topic.htm construction doesn't apply to using map IDs because these are two different ways of achieving context-sensitive help.  You can either link directly with that hash mark construction, or you use the help call described for whatever type of application you're calling the help from.  For example, for websites or web apps, you would use a JavaScript function like this for the help link on each page:

RH_ShowHelp(0, "path/to/startpage.htm", HH_HELP_CONTEXT, 1);

...where 1 is instead whatever map ID you assigned to the specific topic you want to call.  There should be info in the RH help on which call to use with which API.

Ben

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