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Participating Frequently
March 3, 2009
Question

Special characters in topic file names? (escape characters)

  • March 3, 2009
  • 1 reply
  • 547 views
I'm updating context-sensitive webhelp for a custom web-based application. The developers coded the software so that page-level topics open when F12 is pushed. The software calls the help .htm files by creating a name based on the title of the application page. For example, if the page is titled "Edit Doc - One", the software calls "edit_doc_-_one.htm" when the user hits F12.

The problem is that some of the new application screen titles have slashes in them. For example, a page might be called "Edit Doc - One/Two", in which case, the application calls a help file named "edit_doc_-_one/two". But Robohelp (I'm using version X5) doesn't allow slashes in its topic file names, so I can't create a topic that will be called for that page.

We tried using "%2F" and "/" (URL and HTML escape characters for the slash) but Robohelp won't allow "%" or ";" in the file names either.

Is there an escape character that can be used to represent a slash in a RH X5 htm file name? (Any other suggestions on how to solve this problem--without retitling the pages--would also be appreciated.)

Glenn
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1 reply

Peter Grainge
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 3, 2009
No filename will allow slashes and your developers will be aware of that. Explain the issue to them and they should be able to agree a solution. Obviously the easiest is they will not use slashes but otherwise if they do, when calling the help they can amend their call, advise you of a substitute character they will use etc.

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Participating Frequently
March 3, 2009
Thanks for the quick response.