robohelp rh2022 replace broken links to external chm's in bulk

[Olivier Toebosch]

Hello, i've upgraded RH2019 a merged project to RH2022 with chm output.

I've succeeded in transforming this with output to html5 (with many thx to the youtube of Matt Sullivan)

So now it is a merged html5 project

all local links work, but not the one linking a topic from an external chm

the link now is nameprojectt.chm://topicname.htm and should become rhpj:nameproject/contents/topicname.htm

I could in every subproject look in reports/external references.

I'm hoping it would be possible by editing one or more files in the project directory with a search and replace (eventually external to RH) so this would happen efficiently.

Any ideas?

best regards

Olivier

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

So you've got a merged Responsive HTML5 parent project with child-HTML5 projects - where does a CHM file come into any of this? I'm confused. 

[Olivier Toebosch]

Hello Jeff, nowhere. links in actual htm topic point to projectname.chm::/topicname. 

which of course is not the purpose.

to be honest I'm not sure I did get rid of the chm files in the assets directory.  But it won't make a difference. the link is not mended in that case

br

Olivier

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Umm, ok, but "projectname.chm::/topicname" doesn't exist anymore if you went to HTML5 output. That would be a different URL now in whatever is calling the topic.

[Olivier Toebosch]

Hello Jeff, like I said in my original mail. I look to replace 'projectName.chm::/topicname in bulk by rhpj:nameproject/contents/topicname.htm. In that case I don't have to open every project and mend manually based on the reports every link.

So the question is, in which files do I have to launch this search and replace command (with the macrofeature of  notepad++ or a excell formule in stringhandling for example). The links are surely in content directory in the htm files. But are they also stored somewhere else?

Best regards

Olivier

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I'm confused - what does "all local links work, but not the one linking a topic from an external chm" mean? Do you have a separate CHM that needs to link to the new HTML5 topics? 

[Peter Grainge]

I think there is something chm outputs or Gems about external links.

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

[Peter Grainge]

I think you are making a mistake going for HTML5 rather than frameless. Customisation is very limited in HTML5 but extensive in frameless. If you later come back saying you want to customise things in HTML5, the likely answer will be you can't or it's very difficult.

Also going forward Adobe will be focussing development on frameless outputs so I recommend considering frameless templates for your project. Other than bug fixes, it is unlikely there will be any changes to HTML5 outputs. The calls for frameless outputs are different using URLs so you need to discuss that with your developers if you use context sensitive help.

You have to upgrade each project in the merge and then create a new TOC with links the child project in rhpj format. The topic will be the default topic in the child project.

This is all described in the merge topics on my site.

________________________________________________________

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

[Olivier Toebosch]

OK Peter, go from html5 to frameless won't be a challenge. It demands more graphic input. to be decided. I've seen it mentionned in several places (on your site also).  We are in poc phase...hence all my annoying questions 🙂