CHM Basics

[Sean]

Hi,

Where do I set the output CHM filename? Such as, MyHelp42.chm?

Also, where do I set what appears in the CHM title?

Don't assume I know where stuff is. For example, if you say it's in the Caption field of the Skin editor General tab, I will spend an hour looking and never actually find such a place in Project explorer. So, please provide a larger context to where controls are.

Thanks for your help,

Sean

[SteveS]

<gentle reminder> This is a peer support forum, Sean. There are no Madcap support people who regular peruse the site. Most of the answers come from people in their own time. </gentle reminder>

That having been said, If you open the target properties (double click the chm target, its the one with the yellow question mark) form the targets on the project organiser frame, and click the general tab you will see a field for Output File half way down the dialog box. You can enter the chm name here, you don't need to add the file extension.

chum.png

This works in Flare 11, I'm not sure what version you are using.

[SteveS]

These posts describe how to change the title:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13448
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5920
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9859

The link in the final topic no longer resolves, but if you search Flare's inbuilt help for "caption output window" the topic should come up near the top of the search results.

[Sean]

<gentle reminder> This is a peer support forum, Sean. There are no Madcap support people who regular peruse the site. Most of the answers come from people in their own time. </gentle reminder>

Oh, I knew that. What did I do wrong? Asking too many questions? Sorry if so. Will try to back off, but no guarantees

If the problem is this, "Don't assume I know where stuff is. For example, if you say it's in the Caption field of the Skin editor General tab, I will spend an hour looking and never actually find such a place in Project explorer. So, please provide a larger context to where controls are," then please understand that shows I searched in these forums for an answer before posting. The answer I found did not help me because it told me about a change to make but did not tell me where to make the change. Make sense?

I also tried searching the help, but apparently did not guess the correct search terms, and I certainly would have never thought to include the word "caption" in my search string, so thanks for that heads up.

I did watch several Flare videos, and they are well done. I did not see CHMs or these topics covered, though I appreciate CHMs have been dead for a while, it's what I have to work with.

Cheers!

[RamonS]

FYI...CHMs are not dead, still the recommended help format for Windows desktop apps....even on Win 10. Main reason: Microsoft didn't bother to publish any of their new help formats unless you operate within the confinements of VisualStudio. Soooo....CHMs are alive and .... ummm, alive.

[Sean]

The second link helped me fix the title. Here's the steps, although I was unable to find the basic tab mentioned in step 3.

Thanks for all the help.
I finally got it working. I've now the following checklist to make it work.
1. Fill in the caption field on the Skin -> basic tab
2. Select OS language in targets->Microsoft HTML Help
3. Select the skin with the correct caption field in Targets->Microsoft HTML help->Basic

And make sure that your changes have been saved.

R. de Vries

[Sean]

I forgot how to set the CHM filename and had to come back. I kept clicking the button next to output file and never thought to just type. Glad I asked this before.

[SteveS]

Glad we could give the same answers

You know, its quite funny. I write training material for a living. Content reuse is a given. Sometimes I look for something and when I find it I think its exactly what I need, I didn't know that...

...then realise i wrote it so I did know that! Must be my alcohol abuse.