No .rhc file to call in WebHelp

Forum|Forum|19 years ago
December 13, 2006
2 replies
1630 views

In WebHelp Pro we called the .rhc file but now that we're using WebHelp how do we "call" for context sensitivity?
BACKGROUND: I built a OLH system using WebHelp PRO consisting of 1 master project and 15 sub-projects. I placed only a Welcome topic and global links out to the other topics -- then a link back into the master.....Looked and worked great, HOWEVER, the Glossary, Index and Search capability was not global.... You had to enter a specific project to only view it's Index, etc.

So, I phoned customer support. They said I'd need to change everything (single source layouts) to WebHelp instead of Webhelp Pro, then, merge everything together.
I didn't realize you could'nt merge projects if they were in PRO format.

I rebuilt the structure by removing all the links and merging all the projects into one.
Now, it looks and works great with full global search, glossary, index capability -- however, my programmer is lost because there's no longer .rhc files for him to "call"......to gain context sensivity.....

Usually, we'd go to the SSL!>WebHelp PRO folder to locate it.....
Now, when we go to the SSL! > WebHelp folder it's totally empty.

Help! what do we do at this point to call a topic?
When the user clicks on a specified icon for Workflow diagrams, it should call the Workflow topic.

Customer support is closed, I hope you can help -- this has to pass Quality Assurance tomorrow morning! Chris

WebHelp

This topic has been closed for replies.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I am not going to attempt to work my way through this thread which appeared overnight! From what I have gleaned you are doing something the way someone else set it up and perhaps not fully understanding its intricacies?

If you want to see how I merge webhelp and how that can be called, then take a look at the topics on my site about merged webhelp and calling webhelp. There's a demo you can work through. Maybe getting your mind around that will help you figure what is happening with your projects.

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MergeThis

Inspiring

What are your developers writing the application in? Have you checked the RH help for tips on calling the help?

Here's the model we follow (xyz would be your product acronym):

SOURCE FILES (edit on local machine)
C:\xyzmerge
C:\xyzmerge\xyzportal (master project with redirect to xyz_start child project)
C:\xyzmerge\projects\xyz_start (opening page(s) child project)
C:\xyzmerge\projects\[all child projects]

OUTPUT FILES (generate to local machine, publish to server [Window 4 of Generate Wizard])
C:\xyzgenerate
C:\xyzgenerate\index.htm (start page selected in Window 1 of Generate Wizard)
C:\xyzgenerate\mergedProjects\xyz_start (all output files with childname_start.htm as start page)
C:\xyzgenerate\mergedProjects\[all child projects] (all output files with childname_start.htm as start page)

(Note that we don't generate to the default !SSL!/Webhelp folders. We backup our source by copying to the server, so there's no point in also copying the output files, too - storage and bandwidth issues, you know.)

When your developers call the help, they'll either call index.htm for the generic help call (in whatever folder it will appear as part of the application), and each form or control will be calling its mapped topic through index.htm. We provide a "form_path.txt" file in the same root folder that maps the project folders, with entries such as:

AcctMainFrm, mergedProjects\xyz_windows

(The topic related to that form assumes its name [AcctMainFrm.htm])

Read Peter's excellent merged project tutorial and maintain a good structure; you'll be OK.

Above all, just dump everything that's gone before in this project; start fresh!

Good luck,
Leon

RoboWizard

Inspiring

Hi Chris and welcome to our community

Interesting that support would advise that WebHelp Pro wasn't capable of merging. As I understand it, this is the strong point of WebHelp Pro. It's all merged at the server.

You said: You had to enter a specific project to only view it's Index and this makes me think that you actually were wanting to view only the index for a specific project. This seems to contradict what WebHelp Pro is all about. It should present you with a single index of all terms for all projects. However, I'm thinking you may need to ensure that at least a single term is defined in your master. Maybe you haven't done that? I also believe that in the Configuration Manager for the RoboEngine, you are able to turn this automatic merging off and on.

Perhaps the following links will help:
John Daigle's Developer Center article
Peter Grainge's site
My Site

Cheers... Rick

A

Anonymous

Thanks Rick for the expeditious reply.
The background info I shared was stating Try#1 how WHEN I set things up with LINKS ONLY -- it left me in a bad position to where I could NOT use Search throughout all......and was forced to search or use index within one project at a time...(as you stated, THIS IS NO GOOD).....which is why I phoned support to find out to correct this problem and moved on with Try #2.....(to use WebHelp and merge all together).

Once I changed to WebHelp and merged it all together -- I am (now) able to search through out ALL project contents and it works perfectly. 8-)

The only problem I'm left with is --- there's no .rhc. file within any of the projects to be able to call them and provide context sensitivity to the user.

You mentioned RoboEngine: I did rec'v a disk to load that -- but our team was in a hurry and none of use knew anything about it -- so, we elected not to use it. It sounded like it was going to take a lot of "set up" to connect it with our system.
Perhaps this is why Support told me yesterday that I could not use WebHelp PRO AND merge all my projects together --- unless I were to change everything to WebHelp only.

Do you know anything about the rhc file? and how I can "call" a topic using WebHelp? Are you saying there's no way to "call" a topic if you use Webhelp?

If you are saying I should not be using WebHelp, then,
Can you elaborate on how the RoboEngine is supposed to help me...and if it's an easy "over-night" option for me to go to at this point -- to get my project ready for tomorrow's Q/A review.....

Currently, I have a MASTER folder sitting on a web server. The MASTER folder holds 16 project folders. 1 is the project's master and the other 15 are the sub-projects.
I develop my help on my hard drive then copy/paste the MASTER folder over to the server and replace the outdated content. Hope that helps give you an idea of what I'm facing.....and how things are set up....

Captiv8r

Legend

Hi Chris

Okay, if you never installed RoboEngine, then it would make perfect sense that support said to go the WebHelp route as opposed to WebHelp Pro. WebHelp Pro output is only used with RoboEngine. I have attempted to explain this at this link.

Sorry, but I'm unfamiiar with a "RHC" file, what it would do or how it would be used. I never claim to know it all, but I've never heard of it. I did a brief search of the help file that ships with RoboHelp and am not finding any references to it.

I attempted to provide links in my prior post that explain or try to help explain the process as I know it to be. I do notice that you mentioned your !SSL!/WebHelp folder is empty? Have you generated WebHelp yet? If not, this would explain why. If you have, you need to examine the settngs for your WebHelp layout in order to see where your files are ending up.

Cheers... Rick

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