image map link source, targeting a TOC item

[danielg]

I've already searched the forums, but can't seem to find anything about linking from a 'hot spot' (image map) on a graphic that will target/open a TOC folder item. Nuts I know, but it would be very slick for my technical support end users to click a spot on a product graphic in our parts catalog that visibly opens a TOC folder, revealing many product specification sheets (.pdf files) from which the end user can choose.
I've explored bookmark and style-creation/insertion potential, and so far it's definitely not even close to being potentially feasible via normal Flare means. Anyone attempt this yet..? I'm certainly not daunted by using the internal text editor; thanks for any info you can share!
,

=dg=

[LTinker68]

I don't think I'm following. You can add an image map to an image and point a hotspot to a topic in the project. Are you saying you're not able to do that, or are you asking how to do that, or is there something else you're trying to do that I'm just not getting?

[danielg]

I don't think I'm following. You can add an image map to an image and point a hotspot to a topic in the project. Are you saying you're not able to do that, or are you asking how to do that, or is there something else you're trying to do that I'm just not getting?

Hey there, Lisa. Yes, it's not quite 100% clear for you yet; by "TOC folder item", I'm meaning the link target is to be a table of contents folder. This object contains 100+ links to .pdf files of proprietary drawings pertaining to product, how it's assembled with which parts, etc.

As we all know, the TOC (table of contents) is generated at build time, which is a slight added twist to this plot. If successful, ultimately the end user can click an image-mapped link source (a labeled hot spot in a high-level assembly drawing) to open the folder collection of specification files at the link target, in the table of contents navigation panel.

I sure hope it's a little clearer now. E.g., you can peek http://service.foxracingshox.com, go to Dealers & Consumers and navigate to "2010, 2011 Parts Catalog" in the table of contents, and then go to "2011 Fork Parts > 2011 32 mm Forks > 2011 32 mm ALPS Parts", for an example. The blue image-mapped labels launch either .htm or .pdf files. Imagine instead that by clicking one of those, the result is a table of contents folder that visibly opens, revealing 100+ specification sheets' links from which the user can now choose.

Cheers & thanks, =dg=

[LTinker68]

... by "TOC folder item", I'm meaning the link target is to be a table of contents folder.

Ok, I get the concept, but I'm still not clear on how you have your project set up. Are you navigating from a topic to your main TOC but you want it opened to a specific folder or book that shows a list of PDFs and such? Or are you navigating from a topic to a TOC in a different project/output?

[danielg]

... by "TOC folder item", I'm meaning the link target is to be a table of contents folder.

Ok, I get the concept, but I'm still not clear on how you have your project set up. Are you navigating from a topic to your main TOC but you want it opened to a specific folder or book that shows a list of PDFs and such? Or are you navigating from a topic to a TOC in a different project/output?

I'm linking from a topic that contains a .gif that contains the link source, the mapped hot spot. This link source points to a folder object inside the main TOC, (the TOC folder containing multiple TOC links pointing out to .pdf files within the same project); activating the link from the hot spot hopefully will open that TOC folder, revealing the TOC file links contained therein.
Not to complicate this all further ( ), this single project's build output is subsequently sucked into the main build of the service site itself. In other words, the parts catalog is a stand-alone project, the output of which is merged with the main service site. This is last point really inconsequential or moot; what I'm after will be contained within the sub-project.

[LTinker68]

All you need to do when you create the hotspot is point it to the first topic under the book, assuming that you want the whole book to expand at that point; otherwise, if it's associated with the book, then it will jump to the book topic but not expand the book itself. That topic would have to be a normal topic, though, not one of the PDFs, so you might want an intro topic that explains what the book contains, or create a pseudo-mini-TOC where you create links to all of the PDFs in the topic. You might want to do that, though, if there are a lot of PDFs since it would make for a long topic and you'd have to remember to create a link every time you added a new PDF or removed one.

Oh, and you'd have to enable the option to have the TOC sync to the navigation so that when the user clicked the first hyperlink, the TOC pane would change accordingly to show the current topic.