Converting from legacy CHM to more up to date Help

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Techno
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Converting from legacy CHM to more up to date Help

Post by Techno »

This may well be the dumbest question of the decade, so apologies if that's the case.

Since Flare was released way back, we have been generating CHM files, accessed from virtually anywhere within the application software. E.g. when focused on a menu item, pressing F1 will bring up the relevant Help topic for that item. Needless to say many other features such as Variables, Conditional Text, etc., are used since there are Windows and Mac version of the software.

We need to look towards a more up to date Target, but our research in to what and how, is like looking into a bush.

Can anyone please point us to where there is a very simple explanation of how to convert an existing project into an appropriate up to date format, which hopefully retains the original functionality.
George Bell
Techno-Vision Systems Ltd., U.K.
ChoccieMuffin
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Re: Converting from legacy CHM to more up to date Help

Post by ChoccieMuffin »

Hey George, it's not a dumb question, and you'll be happy to know that there is also a good answer! Up to a year or so ago I was where you are. We're a tiny way forward on the path you're looking at.

We still have 50+ CHMs generated nightly from our Flare projects, but I have one new project that is using HTML5 as an output, and the software engineers are fine with working with my outputs.

There are several things you might want to do to get started - I'll walk you through what I've done, others may have other suggestions.

Start with your most complicated Flare project that generates a CHM. That might sound counter-intuitive (shouldn't you start with the simplest?), but by using your most complex project you stand a chance of spotting the things you'll need to work on, which can help you identify the amount of work you're going to need to do.

Go to the Flare site and take a look at the various templates that are available as a starting point. https://www.madcapsoftware.com/download ... templates/ takes you to the main page, scroll down and spend a while looking at what you get with the various options. (I've gone for a side nav, but that's because the menu structure of what I have is best suited to that template, you might find that top nav is more suitable for your current material.)

Download the template you like the general look of, and read the guide that's in there. It'll walk you through how to produce your first HTML5 output from what you've got.

You're going to need to mess about with skins, masterpages, adding tweaks to your stylesheet, but it shouldn't take too long before you're able to generate a HTML5 output.

Good luck, and enjoy the process!
Started as a newbie with Flare 6.1, now using Flare 2023.
Report bugs at http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx.
Request features at https://www.madcapsoftware.com/feedback ... quest.aspx
Psider
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Re: Converting from legacy CHM to more up to date Help

Post by Psider »

Also, if you use context sensitive help calls, I think the developers will need to make a change to the application.

https://help.madcapsoftware.com/flare20 ... SH/CSH.htm
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