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Link .CHM to .CHM using FrameMaker/Robohelp

New Here ,
Mar 27, 2017 Mar 27, 2017

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I'm using the Adobe Technical Communication Suite 5. I've got two FrameMaker 12 books, each linked to its own RoboHelp HTML 11 project, and I'm generating two separate .CHM files.

I'm trying to figure out how to create a hyperlink from one .CHM file to a specific topic in the other .CHM file. The two .CHM files are going to be in the same directory, but customers have the option of installing both .CHM files in any directory they choose, so I need to use a relative path name.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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LEGEND ,
Mar 27, 2017 Mar 27, 2017

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Are you hoping for a solution that is handled in Frame that sails on into Robohelp? Or are you open to using RoboHelp to create the links?

Cheers... Rick

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New Here ,
Mar 27, 2017 Mar 27, 2017

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Hi, Rick,

Thanks for your reply.

I was hoping to add something in FrameMaker (a hypertext marker of some kind maybe?) that would get converted to a working link in RoboHelp.

Any ideas?

Jill

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LEGEND ,
Mar 27, 2017 Mar 27, 2017

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Sorry, no ideas for thing done in frame. I have zero clues as to how it really works. I only know RoboHelp.

Perhaps it will help to outline what I would do in RoboHelp to accomplish the goal and it will spawn a thought of what you might do to achieve it in frame.

In RoboHelp, you would use an HTML Help Shortcut control. The program to open would be HH.exe. And the parameters should read ms.its:Helpfile.chm::/TopicName.htm.

Of course, you would replace Helpfile.chm with the actual file name of the desired CHM file and the bit reading /TopicName.htm is the path and file name of the topic inside the CHM you are opening. If that topic is inside one or more levels of folders, you will need to factor that in. So perhaps it's in Folder1, then it should read: ms.its:Helpfile.chm::/Folder1/TopicName.htm

kcpl5.png

Given that you will be in frame, I'd be super surprised if this is remotely possible to mark up so it just flows into RoboHelp. So I'm thinking this will be a total RoboHelp thing.

Cheers... Rick

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New Here ,
Mar 28, 2017 Mar 28, 2017

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Thank you again, Rick, for your response. I don't know whether I'll be able to adapt your RoboHelp solution to FrameMaker, but I'll give it a try.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 28, 2017 Mar 28, 2017

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You could try the Hyperlink marker to see if it's preserved in the RH conversion, but I suspect that you'll have to code it in RH.

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LEGEND ,
Mar 28, 2017 Mar 28, 2017

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LOL, I'm not sure what a "Hyperlink Marker" is, but I'd be very doubtful it could serve to provide all the code needed to program that control RoboHelp inserts. It looks like this.

kcpl5.png

Cheers... Rick

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Community Expert ,
Mar 28, 2017 Mar 28, 2017

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I've never used it, but you can build up command strings like your "hh.exe parameters" line there inside FM markers.

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LEGEND ,
Mar 28, 2017 Mar 28, 2017

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If you wanted to test it to see how it would end up in RoboHelp, you could use something very simple such as calc.exe. (would open the Windows Calculator from a CHM file)

In that case, the code would look like this: (pasting text and not an image here)

<!--Metadata type="DesignerControl" startspan

<object classid="clsid:D5F92943-15DB-11d1-8EED-00DC929131C8" id="Shortcut"

  border="0" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;

  margin-right: 0px;" align="bottom">

<param name="_Version" value="65536"  />

<param name="_ExtentX" value="1651"  />

<param name="_ExtentY" value="635"  />

<param name="_StockProps" value="13"  />

<param name="ForeColor" value="0"  />

<param name="BackColor" value="15790320"  />

<param name="UseButton" value="-1"  />

<param name="UseText" value="0"  />

<param name="ControlLabel" value="Shortcut"  />

<param name="UseIcon" value="0"  />

<param name="Items" value=",calc.exe,$$**$$"  />

<param name="Image" value=""  />

<param name="FontInfo" value="Arial,8,0,,"  />

<param name="_CURRENTFILEPATH" value="C:\Rick\2017\willtest\NewProject\Third_Topic.htm"

  />

<param name="_ID" value="Shortcut"  />

<param name="Items" value=",calc.exe,$$**$$"  />

<param name="Window" value=""  />

</object>-->

<object

  classid="clsid:ADB880A6-D8FF-11CF-9377-00AA003B7A11"

  id="Shortcut"  type="application/x-oleobject">

  <param  name="Command"  value="Shortcut" />

  <param  name="Button"  value="Text:Shortcut" />

  <param  name="Font"  value="Arial,8,0,," />

  <param  name="Item1"  value=",calc.exe," />

</object>

And you might even get away with the much shorter version:

<object

  classid="clsid:ADB880A6-D8FF-11CF-9377-00AA003B7A11"

  id="Shortcut"  type="application/x-oleobject">

  <param  name="Command"  value="Shortcut" />

  <param  name="Button"  value="Text:Shortcut" />

  <param  name="Font"  value="Arial,8,0,," />

  <param  name="Item1"  value=",calc.exe," />

</object>

Cheers... Rick

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New Here ,
Mar 28, 2017 Mar 28, 2017

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I tried fiddling around with putting the "hh.exe" command line into FrameMaker's Message Client hypertext marker, but it doesn't seem be preserved in RoboHelp.

I did have a little luck with the Message URL marker, but I needed to specify a full path name to get the .CHM file to open. However, since I don't know the folder in which customers will choose to install the help files, I can't use a full path.

Also, since Robohelp breaks each FrameMaker file into several topics (a heading starts a new topic), I don't know how to reference a specific topic within the .CHM.

Any further suggestions of things to try would be greatly appreciated.

Jill

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Community Expert ,
Mar 29, 2017 Mar 29, 2017

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Like Rick, I don't work with FrameMaker but I am pretty sure exe files will get stripped by RoboHelp.

As to creating links, maybe create two simple projects in RoboHelp and create some links there to see the format. Whether you can make that survive the Fm to Rh voyage is another matter.

We are all assuming the source has to be Fm.


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring information

@petergrainge

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

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New Here ,
Mar 31, 2017 Mar 31, 2017

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Thanks for your response. Sorry that I didn't respond sooner. I got caught up in another urgent project for a couple of days.

Yes, I need a solution in FrameMaker. If I try to do something in RoboHelp, it will get blown away every time I make an update to the FrameMaker files.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 31, 2017 Mar 31, 2017

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I think you're going to have to add this to your list of post-processing tasks - I don't think it's going to be supported in FM.

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New Here ,
Mar 31, 2017 Mar 31, 2017

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I think you may be right. I'm going to try posing the question to the folks at the FrameMaker forum, though. It's a long shot, but maybe someone over there can help.

Thanks for trying.

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