MadCap Software Forums

I wasnt sure if I should post this question here or in the Flare thread, but here goes. I want to customize the way my flash output appears when the user clicks a link to see it. Currently, the output will run in the user's browser at whatever the size the user last had the browser. I want my output to run in the users browser at the size I specify (which will be the same size as the flash movie so there is no white space around the edges of the movie), and without any of the Internet Explorer toolbars and menus (or whatever browser they use).

The way my users access my movies is from both the TOC and links within topics in my Flare WebHelp output.

So, where do I add the custom Javascript to make this happen. I can't see any place in Mimic where I can set my movie to always open a certain way. And, when I create links in Flare, I didn't see a location there where I could add this script.

I did receive some script advice from MadCap support, but it doesn't seem to answer my questions about where to put the script, and it doesn't use a help file topic as the example - instead it uses calling a google page. Maybe this is easily translated, but I'm a bit confused. Here is the script I received:

Below is an example of the sort of Javascript you might use to open a movie at the desired size. This sample opens Google at 400x400, and suppresses the web browser toolbar and menus.

<a href="#" OnClick="javascript:newwindow=window.open('http://www.google.com','name','height=400,width=400,resizable=false,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');" >Link Text</a>

Neal Pozner
Senior Technical Support Analyst
MadCap Software
npozner@madcapsoftware.com

Can anyone help me figure out how to make this work from a link in Flare or at the movie level itself? Say for example that my compiled movie is called Test.htm - then how would that work?

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers

UPDATE:

The suggestion that Neal gave you was correct. He basically gave you a line of code that allows you to have a hyperlink that opens a new window in a 400 by 400 size. The javascript is already included in that line of source code that he showed you. So, below is the line of code:

<a href="#" OnClick="javascript:newwindow=window.open('http://www.google.com','name','height=400,width=400,resizable=false,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');" >Link Text</a>

It is basically an <a> tag (hyperlink tag) that uses Javascript to open a new window. So, what you should do is, in Flare, create a hyperlink in the topic where you want the movie link to be. Go ahead and open the topic file up in a text editor, and replace the above code with the hyperlink that Flare creates. If you want to have a hyperlink that opens a Topic.htm, just change the "http://www.google.com" to the location of your flash htm file. For example:

<a href="#" OnClick="javascript:newwindow=window.open('YourFlashFile.htm','name','height=400,width=400,resizable=false,scrollbars=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no');" >Link Text</a>

Kevin Lin

FINAL UPDATE

Hello,

If the movie is an entry in your TOC, then you won't be able to make it a popup movie. There's no easy way to make it so that when a user clicks on a TOC entry, a popup window opens. If you have the movie linking to a TOC, then the movie will just be played in the main pane in your WebHelp. You won't be able to make it popup into a certain size...


Kevin Lin

Not even when adding the script into the onLoad event? That would show the topic in the topic pane and as soon as the topic page is loaded in the frame the script gets executed, which then should show the pop-up. Not that I ever tried that....

I'm going to jump onto this post now to see if anybody knows what I can do to fix my problem that relate to this. I need to do the same thing talked about in this post. I've done everything mentioned. Now for my problem...when I view my WebHelp output my video pops up beautifully in a separate window that's the size I specified without the internet buttons, etc; however, the video also opens in the regular Help frame at the same time. The end result is dueling videos. Is there a way for me to fix this?