Map IDs not working

[appellj]

I have TCS 2.5 and am linking Framemaker files to my RoboHelp project. In my Framemaker files, I have TopicAlias markers set up with strings like a_add_new_records. These are the strings that are used in our company's product to call the context-sensitive help. (Previously, we were using WebWorks to create our online help, and we have now converted to RoboHelp.) In my RoboHelp project settings, I configured the context-sensitive help marker to TopicAlias. As I understand it, this should pull the strings from the TopicAlias markers and use those as the map IDs so that the context-sensitive help will still work.

However, when I open the mapping file (viewing <All Map Files> or <Project Map File>), the Map IDs are there, but they are mapping to a Map #, and what we've discovered is that when the developer calls the Map ID, the correct help topic does not display (it shows the default topic instead), but if he calls the Map #, it does work.

Here is the JavaScript function we developed to call the help (our app is web-based):

function contextHelp(helpURL, helpContextId) {

      // Added window name 'helpWindow' so that only 1 instance is created per user

      if(null != helpContextId) {

            RH_ShowHelp(0, helpURL + ">helpWindow", HH_HELP_CONTEXT, helpContextId);

      } else {

            RH_ShowHelp(0, helpURL + ">helpWindow", HH_DISPLAY_TOC, 0);

      }

}

Is there some way to change the function so that we can call the Map ID instead of the Map #? Why is there both a Map ID and a Map # mapped to the topic? I tried just copying and pasting the Map IDs to the Map #s to work around this problem, but RoboHelp won't allow it.

Thanks,
Jackie

[Mayank_Agrawal · Accepted solution]

This can be achieved by directly calling the URL of help system along with the MapID string in the following format. RH_ShowHelp() function need not be called.

"<URL_TO_MAIN_PAGE_OF_HELP>#<str=MAPID"

e.g.

<A HREF="WebHelp/WebHelp_Example.htm#<str=Setup">Click Here to Test</a>

where "Setup" is a Map ID.

Mayank

[Willam van Weelden]

Hi,

For an overview over the options of calling webhelp, check out Peter's site: http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/calling_webhelp/calling_webhelp.htm

Greet,

Willam

[appellj]

Thank you both for the info! That was exactly what I needed.

Cheers,
Jackie