Developer cannot get CSH to work

[ToilingInObscurity]

My developer cannot get context-sensitive help (CSH) to work, and he is asking me for advice. I have no clue. For RH 2022.5.28, is there documentation for developers on how to implement CSH? While RH 2015 has this type of documentation, as far as I can tell, RH 2022 does not. I’ve shared the RH 2015 documentation, and I’ve shared the latest RoboHelp_CSH.js file, but he has not been able to make it work.

Here’s an update:

• I upgraded a help system from RH 2015 to RH 2022
• CSH works fine in the 2015 version of the help, but not the 2022 version
• I did not touch the map files, but they appear to be fine because I verified them via URL: path/index.htm?rhmapno=123
• Although the developer has shown me what he has tried so far, I don’t know enough about his work to understand what he has shown me

Does anyone have any advice? I realize that you all are writers and not developers, so I completely understand if you nothing to share.

[Peter Grainge]

Point your developer to this.

https://www.grainge.org/RoboHelp_Tour/rh2022/outputs/calling_csh_help.htm

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Amebr]

Note that on Peter's site, the section title "CHMs" includes a link to installed information for the CSH API. The folders in this directory provide the APIs for using CSH with several types of programming languages e.g. VB, C++, Javascript.

Given you have upgraded from an older version of RH, perhaps there was a change in the CSH files they were originaly given. In which case you'd  need to send them the updated files - they should be able to tell you what they are currently using.

[ToilingInObscurity]

Peter and Amebr,

Thank you for your replies. Despite working with the information you provided, the developer and I still cannot get context-sensitive help (CSH) to work. The issue, as the developer explains, is that the help topic needs to open as a popup instead of replacing the current page.

On my own computer, I have tried calling the help system in several different ways, but the help will not open as a popup. Please see the following URLs:

• http://serverName/welcome.htm?rhmapno=30006
• http:// serverName/welcome.htm#t=summary_invoice_history_list_page.htm
• http://serverName/welcome.htm?rhmapno=30006&rhmapfs=false

While all of these URLs open the same page, none of them open the page as a popup. I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you!

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

What do you mean by "popup"? A new tab or new window in your browser?

[ToilingInObscurity]

Sorry, I’ll try again. A popup is a new browser window that does not display the navigation pane (TOC/index/search). When the user clicks the help icon on the application page, instead of launching the help topic in a popup, the browser tries to replace the application page with the help topic, which is not permitted. The result is that nothing happens. I hope that’s clearer.           

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Ah, so your application is a web app & runs in a browser already. You need to have the CSH link launching with the:
target="_blank
attribute set to get it launch in a new tab.

[ToilingInObscurity]

Thank you for your rely. Clearly, you understand the issue well and have come up with a logical solution. However, the developer has texted that this solution doesn't work for him. I cannot get details because he is on a client call. After I talk to him, I'll give you a fuller update. Thank you!

[Peter Grainge]

Is this what you want?

Note the link.

Double click and set this.

It opens like this.

I suspect it is not what you want, rather that just the second topic opens like through a call the developer makes and without the topic behind. 

If so, I think you are out of luck. Popups were overused on many websites and lost favour. There may be a way but it is something the developer would have to cook up, it's not built into RoboHelp to the best of my knowledge. 

The nearest might be this.

That is responsive help called in a different way. It is not truly popup but it does give just the topic. However, the Click Here top right let's the user access the full help.

Also responsive is not the best choice as frameless has more customisation options and is where Adobe will focus future development.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[ToilingInObscurity]

Wow, you’ve gone the extra mile trying to address my issue! Thank you!

Maybe it would clarify things if I mentioned that the RoboHelp 2015 version of the help is currently deployed, and we are just trying to get the upgraded help (RH 2022) to provide the same result.

RH 2015 Behavior

1) Web-based application calls the CSH topic with the following URL:

https://webServer/welcome.htm#<id=30006>>newwnd=false

2) The correct help page launches in a new (popup) window.

RH 2022 Behavior

1) Web-based application calls the CSH topic with the following URL:

https://webServer/welcome.htm?rhmapno=30006

2) The browser tries to open the help topic using the same window as the web page for the application. It is trying to replace the application page with the help topic.  

The result is nothing because the application will not permit this operation.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

You sure that the application page is actually launching the help using that https://webServer/welcome.htm?rhmapno=30006 syntax? And is welcome.htm the index page of the help?

[ToilingInObscurity]

yes and yes

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

What happens if you right-click the link in the application to launch in a new tab or window? Does it behave?

[Peter Grainge]

Note the link when you call the help normally and the link in the image. I have removed part of the URL.

________________________________________________________
My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Peter Grainge]

Good luck. 🙂

Web things change over 10 years. That was my point, popups became unpopular.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Amebr]

I believe your developer needs to define a custom window name and the height and width of of that window, then specify the custom window name in their help call.

So they might define CSHPopup as the window name and define it as 800px wide and 600 px high. then the help call would specify that window name.

Something like this ShowHelp('help/path/index.htm', CSHPopup, 1001)

But exactly how it's done depends on what language the developer is using for the application.