Posting WebHelp on a website

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jblackwood
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Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by jblackwood »

I want to be able to have a link on our client website that launches our Help. I guess similar to what MadCap's Support site has with the Help for Flare except instead of selecteing a choice from a drop-down, I want the client to just click a link. Can I do this? What needs to be done for it to work? Thanks!

Jeff
LTinker68
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by LTinker68 »

Search Flare's help for "context sensitive help" or CSH. There's a simple method using JavaScript that you can use.
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Lisa
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RamonS
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by RamonS »

If it is really just to be a link I'd use the much simpler URL method, which is described as "Method 2" here:
http://www.madcapsoftware.com/support/w ... lopers.htm
jblackwood
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by jblackwood »

Thanks for the response! I need to digest all that info. Upon first read I'm not sure that's exactly what I'm looking for, but I'll talk with our developers. Thanks again!

Jeff
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by LTinker68 »

I meant to say a simple method using a URL, but for some reason had JavaScript on my mind.
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Lisa
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jblackwood
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by jblackwood »

In the Flare Help topic titled "Connecting WebHelp - Developers," it says to use the information if you are producing WebHelp and want to incorporate context-sensitive Help into the software. My question is simple. Can the information for connecting the WebHelp to the application still be used if we are not using context-sensitive Help?I'm assuming it can but just want ot make sure before I push further with this.

Thanks!
Jeff
LTinker68
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by LTinker68 »

Sure. But if you're making a URL call to a specific page then you still need to use the _CSH.htm file as part of the call. If you're just loading the help without calling any specific page then you can just use a normal URL, so long as your website is set to look for default.htm as the default page (some servers are set to look for index.htm before default.htm or even default.html).
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Lisa
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jblackwood
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by jblackwood »

The developer should be able to set the website to look for default.htm, right?

Thanks!
Jeff
RamonS
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by RamonS »

What do you mean with "look for"? The developer should know exactly where the file is since the installer puts it in the designated space.
jblackwood
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by jblackwood »

I took that from Lisa's last reply above. I'm new to this aspect of it so I don't know much.

Jeff
RamonS
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by RamonS »

Ah, the developer should be able to make the correct call no problem.
jblackwood
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by jblackwood »

Thanks! When I started this thread I talked about having the WebHelp accessible from a website similar to what MadCap does. Does all of this still apply if I want the call to Help in my application to be a URL, so when the user accesses Help the application uses the URL and brings up the website?

Jeff
Last edited by jblackwood on Tue Sep 30, 2008 1:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
RamonS
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by RamonS »

Yes, in fact, that is the only way I know of that will work. You do want to craft the help call so that it opens up in a new window, otherwise the help replaces the web app in the browser. That is also a task the developer should know how to do.
jblackwood
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by jblackwood »

Thanks for the direction!

Jeff
LTinker68
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by LTinker68 »

jblackwood wrote:The developer should be able to set the website to look for default.htm, right?
If they're calling the help without requesting a specific page, then you use default.htm. If they're making a CSH (or page-specific call) then they use default_CSH.htm.

For example, this link takes you to MadCap's knowledgebase with the default ("startup") topic visible --> http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/default.htm

This link calls the help with a specific topic loaded when using a map ID to identify the topic --> http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/default_CSH.htm#CSH1005F

This link calls the help with a specific topic loaded when using the file name to identify the topic --> http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/default_CS ... stions.htm

Note in the last two examples that the URL changes from default_CSH.htm to default_Left.htm when it loads the page. This is part of the process to call a specific topic, so make sure you keep all three files on the server (default.htm, default_CSH.htm, default_Left.htm).

If you're going to call specific topics by filename, then I recommend you not have any spaces in the filenames -- browsers will substitute %20 for the space, but some servers/browsers don't like that or handle it well, so it's better to have filenames without any spaces in them.
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Lisa
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Warning! Loose nut behind the keyboard.
jblackwood
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by jblackwood »

Great info!

Thanks!
Jeff
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Re: Posting WebHelp on a website

Post by Richard Ferrell »

Flare V4 now has the options to remove spaces in files names, In Your Target on the Advance tab you have the Option to Replace Reserved characters with Underscores in file names.
Richard Ferrell

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