RH2019 Automated selection of dynamic filters according to Display Device?

[sebastiank51798139]

Hello!

I'm developing a Responsive HTML5 Help page with RoboHelp 2019 on Windows 10 for a smartphone/tablet app. In this app there is a button "Handbook" with which you can get help. This is context-sensitive and opens the corresponding help page depending on which app area the button is clicked.

The special feature of this app is that depending on whether it is launched in portrait or landscape mode, the user interface and handling is different. I want to build up the help accordingly in a dual way. My development department can detect within the app whether it is running in portrait or landscape format, i.e. by clicking on the manual button the information portrait or landscape would be sent along.

My question now is: Can I insert a condition set within RoboHelp that, depending on whether the help is called by portrait or landscape, displays the correct content?

In other words, is there a way to automate variable views of content and screenshots at the development level without the help user having to select a check box (portrait or landscape)?

Thank you very much!

[Peter Grainge]

The help simply adapts to whichever way the device is held so the issue here is that your app changes according to how the user chooses to hold the device

There's no way in RoboHelp to change the help according to how the device is held. You get whatever is opened.

You say how the app displays is down to how it is launched. That sounds as if once launched, it is in that mode and will not change if the user then changes how they are holding it.

It sounds like you need two outputs and then the app calls whichever is appropriate to how the user launched it, which you say your developers can detect.

If the app does change as the user rotates the screen then your developers would need to figure out a way of changing which help file is shown.

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See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

A friend has suggested on possibility.

You can apply filters to responsive help and you can open the help with a filter applied. Perhaps your developers could call the help in that way?

Item 5 at http://www.grainge.org/pages/snippets/snippets.htm#html5  is how you call help with a filter applied.

It would mean that a user could change the filter though.

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See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

[sebastiank51798139]

Thank you very much for the extensive answer and help!! Much appreciated!

After another meeting with my developers, we found exactly the URL-snippet you describe in the link you shared ("path\index.htm\?filter=filtername") and are going to build the help-buttons inside the app around those.

So for example, if a user opens the help in the settings area of the app in landscape mode the URL that is going to be opened is: "...path\settings.htm\?filter=pageorientation:landscape"

This is also possible with multiple filters (separated with comma ","): "...\?filter=filtername1:filtercontent1.1,filtername2:filtercontent2.2,..."

Hope this is helpful for people with a similar problem!