"droptext" and RH2022

[Irene259097522u8r]

I upgraded from Rh9 to RH2019 and I am generating Microsoft HTML Help.

With Rh2019 I can click on a small image and get a larger, different image to appear but this doesn't work in RH2022.  Any help anyone can give me will be much appreciated.

Below is the extract from the HTMl file and two pictures.

First picture is of what the help looks like before clicking on camera image. 2nd os of what is looks like when it worked.

<li class="p">
      <p>Select <span style="font-weight: bold;">Configure</span> &gt;  <span style="font-weight: bold;">Calculations</span> &gt; <span style="font-weight: bold;">Event Activated</span> from the main menu. <a class="dropspot" data-rhwidget="DropSpot" href="#"><img alt="" border="0" height="13" src="assets/images/Images/CAMERA ICON.JPG" style="border: none;" width="16" /></a></p>
      <div class="droptext" data-targetname="POPUP205435206">
        <p><img alt="" border="0" height="388" src="assets/images/Images/EventCalculatedCalcsList.jpg" style="border: none;" width="360" /></p>
      </div>
    </li>

[Peter Grainge]

You say you upgraded from RoboHelp 9 to RoboHelp 2019, then you talk about RoboHelp 2022.

Do you mean 9 to 2019 Classic or 2019 New UI? I am wondering if it is the upgrade to the New UI that has broken things.

________________________________________________________

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

[Irene259097522u8r]

Sorry for not being clearer. I imported projects from RH9 to RH2019 and then imported them into RH2022. This was on advice from Adobe to not do it all in one big jump. So I think i am taljing Classic. Not an expert in these things, as you may realise. when editing the htm file in Rh, I cannot seem to see anthing associated with the camera image that I can edit, yet the source code clearly has 'stuff' in it associated with the camera icon.

[Irene259097522u8r]

I have spotted that the chm file from RH2022 has _rhdefault.css rather than the intended file C2000.CSS.

It's very odd because the Styles that are in C2000.CSS are there when editing the htm file.

I wonder if this could be the root of the problem ?

[Peter Grainge]

It is important to know which version of 2019 you used for the upgrade from 9. 2019 Classic will have looked very much like 9 whereas 2019 New UI looks like 2022.

If you went to 2019 Classic, the next step should have been to either 2019 New UI or 2022 New UI and using the Upgrade RH Classic project. That option is important.

How to link images is described in RH2022 Images, Videos and Captivate (grainge.org) on my site but that does not seem to work with using an image for a dropdown. Indeed, at a glance it looks like you cannot use images as the hotspot.

I am checking that out with Adobe.

________________________________________________________

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

[Irene259097522u8r]

Thank you. The RH2019 I used looked rather different from RH9. With RH2022 I have been using the Upgrade RH Classic project option.

[Irene259097522u8r]

I am wondering how long in your experience it will take to get an answer from Adobbe about linking images using an image for a dropdown. Could you give me any idea how long you thing it will be ?

I am very concerned that the feature will turn out to be no longer supported.

That said. I can see several differences between a .chm file that worked and the one generated in RH2022, which doesn't work. One difference is the name of the css file. See attached picture.

[Peter Grainge]

If you upgraded from 9 to 2019 New UI, that was not the best route. For most people it would have been fine but you were upgrading from a very old version. The better route would have been 9 to 2019 Classic, then to the New UI. Is it too late to try that?

I don't think it is a CSS issue, especially if everything else is OK. As I have posted it looks like a break in being able to use images for dropdowns. I have referred that to Adobe and will post back when I know more.

Right now it looks like dropdowns are text only. That surprised me a lot as it was a common practice.

________________________________________________________

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

[Irene259097522u8r]

THank you. I t was so many months ago that I can't remember exactly what I did. I still have the files from the conversion to RH2019 and the chm's generated fine, with the drop-down stuff working.

I don't really want to go back and re-work all the 38 project files I have.

I do hope the feature has not been dropped because it is used widely in all of the projects. 

[Peter Grainge]

At this point I doubt even they know as they will need to look into the code to see what changes are needed and then prioritise. What has surprised me most about this issue is that no one else has reported it since the new UI was introduced in RoboHelp 2019 New UI. That will not help prioritisation.

If it were me, I wouldn't be expecting a quick fix. The nearest thing I can thing of is linking an image to a popup. Not as neat I know.

________________________________________________________

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

[Irene259097522u8r]

Thanks for your prompt reply. Interesting that nobody else has reported it. Just to know whether the feature has been dropped or hasn't been dropped and needs to be fixed would be really good.

I don't really want to go through all the htm files in 38 help projects, changing them, without sufficient justification.

[Peter Grainge]

Again that will depend on what is involved. I have asked if they can give any idea and will let you know. I suspect they will not be able to at this point but let's see.

________________________________________________________

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

[Irene259097522u8r]

THanks again.

[Amebr]

I would say the camera image is a dropdown hotspot.

Try creating a fresh one so you can see what the new code looks like, and hopefully you can figure out what needs to be done to fix the existing examples.

While Peter's site says to select text, it should work if you select the image instead.

https://www.grainge.org/RoboHelp_Tour/rh2022/authoring/dropdowns.htm

[Peter Grainge]

@Amebr You've it the nail on the head about creating new dropspots. It should be possible via the dropdown properties but there is no option there to point to an image. What you have to do is select an image and then hit the dropdown icon. I think that explains why no one has reported this as it hasn't been a problem for them.

What we are down to then is why it is for @Irene259097522u8r . As you suggest, creating a new one and seeing the difference in the code should identify that.

@Irene259097522u8r come back if you can't figure how to fix it when you have seen the difference.

________________________________________________________

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

[Irene259097522u8r]

Thanks for the update. I have been away for a while on a lovely holiday and just back today, so I'm now catching up with everything. I will look into this but, based on what has been written, it doesn't look like good news in terms of the work that will be needed to get over the problem.

[Irene259097522u8r]

My investigations so far show that I can make clicking on the camera image work as I need it to (show an image) by modifying the code to include data-target="name" where there is data-rhwidget="Dropspot" and then make data-targetname equal to whatever name was used in data-target. See example below. Unfortunately, there are over 400 occurrences of using the feature. Here's the example:                                          <li class="p">
<p>Select <span style="font-weight: bold;">Configure</span> &gt;  <span style="font-weight: bold;">Calculations</span> &gt; <span style="font-weight: bold;">Time Activated</span> from the main menu. <a class="dropspot" data-rhwidget="DropSpot" data-target="drop-down" href="#"><img alt="" border="0" height="13" src="assets/images/Images/CAMERA ICON.JPG" style="border: none;" width="16" /></a></p>
<div class="droptext" data-targetname="drop-down">
<p><img alt="" border="0" height="389" src="assets/images/Images/TimeActivatedCalcsList.jpg" style="border: none;" width="360" /></p>
</div>
</li>

[Peter Grainge]

A bit of care is needed using images for the dropdown hotspot in the new UI. Having created a new dropdown that way I found

• Click on the image and you will be shown Image Properties.
• You have to click next to the image to see the dropdown properties.
• That gives the impression you can have text as well. Add some and the image gets deleted.

So you can have text or an image but not both.

________________________________________________________

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

[Peter Grainge]

Is that quicker than what I suggested. It works as long as you don't try to add text as well. Do you use text in the hotspot as well? 

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

[Irene259097522u8r]

I think you were suggesting that I looked at code differences between what works and what doesn't work and that was the way I found that data-target was in the code when it worked. Thanks for that guidance. To start with, I just couldn't see how to 'do' a drop-down image at all. It's not exactly obvious!

With RH2022 I can insert my camera icon image, select it and then select "create drop-down text". A box with the dotted outline appears with the text "Type your dropdown text here" in it and I can then insert an image into that box,along with text. Granted the words don't encourage you to think that you can put an image there, but you can!

The example is a picture of what happens when you insert the image at the beginning of the "Type your dropdown text here" sentence, but I also tried it with the image after the text and that worked as well.

[Peter Grainge]

Please use the photo icon to insert images within the post. Seeing an image inline with the text makes it easier for anyone answering or viewing the post. I have edited your post to add it. That image is from Classic so I'm not seeing how it helps with the 2022 version.

The suggestion to edit the code was before I found a way to use an image in 2022. What I am getting at is if you use the method I described, an image can be a hotspot. What I did here was insert the image using the toolbar camera icon and with the image selected I clicked the dropspot icon on the toolbar.

That shows the image path in the source field and the area to add the dropdown content. That will give you a working dropdown.

If you then click next to the iamge you will see this dialog.

In the fields I have highlighted you would normally add whatever text you want. At the moment if you enter anything it will break the dropdown. It's an image or text for the dropdown at the moment. I thought you wanted an image only so that would save the coding that was originally suggested.

Adobe have been made aware of the issues but I don't know when it will be fixed.

________________________________________________________

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

[Irene259097522u8r]

Thank you. Sorry about not putting the image into the post in the most readable way.

I am using RH2022 to produce Microsoft HTML help, so the image I put in was from that generated help.

Whatever way I take to fix the current issue, I have to alter more than 400 instances where the camera icon is used to show an image when the camera icon is clicked. A different picture is associated with every such instance and often the camera icon is used multiple times within one file. This means a lot of work, but I do know that I can make it work, which is good news, as opposed to having a problem that we can't see how to get over.

I fully understand that you don't know when the issue you have reported will be fixed.

From my point of view, the issue is that clicking on the camera icon no longer shows the image it should show and this appears to be down to a "data-target" attribute. not being present in the htm file.

I hope that I have clearly explained what I am doing, but I'm sure you will question me further if something is not clear.

[Peter Grainge]

With you now. No worries over the image.

If it helps, I think you will be looking at months rather than days or weeks for the fix.

________________________________________________________

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

[Irene259097522u8r]

Fairly obviously, we can't wait for a fix for the problem so I will need to progress the work. It will take a while! Thanks for bearing with me through this one.

[Peter Grainge]

Email me the code before and after for one dropdown. I am wondering if regular expressions can help here. I rather doubt it but it's worth a try.

See the Contact page on my site and use the email address there.

________________________________________________________

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