Image_map Issues - Help!

Report · Apr 23, 2009

Hi,

I have a delimna with my image maps. I'm using Robohelp Html v7 to create an online help

system for an GUI application. In my topic I have an image. I'm using the image map tool to

create popup boxes for each button on my image. In some of those popup boxes I reference

another topic which also has an image that have popup boxes associated with its various

buttons on the image. Now, when I test the topics individually by clicking on a button on the

image a popup associated with that button displays just fine. However, when I test it

altogether I'm running into some issues.

Here are the steps:

1. I open the topic

2. I press a button on the image contained on that topic - a popup is displayed

referencing another topic (2nd topic).

3. I press a button on the image in the 2nd topic, the popup associated with

the 2nd topic does not display. Not only that, the 2nd topic popup goes

away as well.

4. At this point, I'm back at my original topic. So, I press the same button. This

time not only does the 2nd topic re-display in a popup but the popup associated

with the button I pressed in step 3 from 2nd topic is now displayed.

Is this a known bug in Robohelp? If so, is there a work-around? If not, can you

suggest other options I can try?

Report · Apr 24, 2009

I believe the issue here is that popups, regardless of whether they are created from an image map or not, are not designed to work in this manner. A popup window has no visible method of closing it. It is closed simply by clicking anywhere on the window. Therefore by having a popup containing an image map on which you have to click to display a third topic is closing the original popup. The only way around this I can think of is to use hyperlinks inside the popup.

Read the RoboColum(n) for mutterings on RoboHelp, Technical Communication Suite and technical communication.

Report · Apr 28, 2009

Thanks. Your answer resolved my issue. For those topics with popups, in the hyperlink I defined them to popup in the same frame.