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wascy
Known Participant
June 15, 2020
Answered

TextPopup best practice and behaviour

  • June 15, 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 590 views

In RoboHelp 2019, in a project that's been imported from RH Classic, there are a number of TextPopups with a hyperlink pointing to:

 

 

Javascript:hhctrl.TextPopup('Popup message','Arial,8',50,50,00000000,0xc0ffff)

 

 

These require the inclusion of an object in the HTML at the start of the body:

 

 

<object border="0" classid="clsid:ADB880A6-D8FF-11CF-9377-00AA003B7A11" height="0" hspace="0" id="hhctrl" type="application/x-oleobject" vspace="0" width="0"></object>

 

 

In the RoboHelp UI, this object renders as a sort of missing flash link:


...but it all looks and works OK in published CHM.

Is this the correct approach for TextPopups on hyperlink, or has it been introduced from the RH Classic conversion?

I can replicate the behaviour on new pages easily enough by duplicating a page or pasting the relevant HTML, but it feels as though I'm probably missing some better approach.

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Amebr

While you're planning your move, consider expanding text as a replacement. It's the closest I can think of to the text-only popups. Although you'll have to make that change manually unless you can figure out how to write a script to convert the text-popup code (using ExtendScript in Classic, or javascript/jquery based in New UI.)  

4 replies

A
Community Expert
AmebrCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
June 17, 2020

While you're planning your move, consider expanding text as a replacement. It's the closest I can think of to the text-only popups. Although you'll have to make that change manually unless you can figure out how to write a script to convert the text-popup code (using ExtendScript in Classic, or javascript/jquery based in New UI.)  

A
Community Expert
AmebrCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 16, 2020

Oh I missed the biit about CHM files. They'll probably be fine as long as you're using chm, for however long that's distributed by Microsoft.

 

Given New UI still supports CHM output, it might be worth submitting a bug report. You can report issues here: https://tracker.adobe.com/ 

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wascyAuthor
Known Participant
June 16, 2020

Thanks, I'll try and report it. Although we're going to move on from them, still maybe worth doing.

W
wascyAuthor
Known Participant
June 15, 2020

Thanks Amebr

The popups work OK in a CHM file but you're right, they don't work in Chrome, IE, Edge or Chromium Edge Beta and I couldn't find any way of adding them in the new UI either.

If the community feeling is that these are old school we can stop using them!

 

A
Community Expert
AmebrCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 15, 2020

Wow, I haven't heard of text popups in years. 🙂

 

HHCTRL.ocx is an IE "thing" so I suspect its years are numbered - I don't know if it exists in Edge, and even if it does, I can't imagine MS would port it to the new Chromium-based Edge.

 

(BTW I did a little check and the popup didn't seem to work in the output when generated from New UI, only from Classic.)

 

I couldn't find any way of entering them in New UI so I suspect you'll need to find another way of presenting the information. Unless Peter knows a hidden location for it. 🙂

 

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