hyperlinking between .chm projects

[alaltenburg]

Hello all,

I am very new to Flare. I have each chapter set up as it's own project. I am trying to hyperlink between them and struggling. Both .chm files are located in the same folder. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. According to the help instructions in flare, this is how I set the hyperlink up.

Open Chapter 2. Click on word I want to hyperlink. Then it comes up and I type in Chapter1.chm/windows menus.htm

so then I click on the hyperlink and it comes up with a new window but nothing appears. Is there more I need to do?

Thanks!

[KevinDAmery]

Hi, and welcome to the forums.

The syntax that you've posted for your link is incomplete. For a full description of what you need, read the Knowledge Base article here:

http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/Content/Fl ... _a_CHM.htm

Short version, what you need is

mk:@MSITStore:Chapter1.chm::[folder name]/windows menus.htm

Make sure you replace [folder name] with the name of the folder that contains the windows menus.htm file.

[alaltenburg]

Thank you Kevin for the quick response.

I tried what you said, and I'm closing, but am still missing something.

Here is what I typed in:

mk:@MSITStore:Chapter_1_Introduction.chm::Windows Menus/Windows Menus.htm

It saves with no errors, but when I open chapter 2 and click on the link, literally NOTHING happens, not even an error. Here is where the two files are saved. Would this make a difference? I am having issues saving to the exact same folder, when I try that, then the last one I save just overrides the first instead of saving next to each other in the same folder.

Chapter 2
C:\Users\andrea.altenburg\Documents\My Projects\ANDREA-CHAPTER 2\Output\Andrea.Altenburg\MyHtmlHelp
Chapter 1
C:\Users\andrea.altenburg\Documents\My Projects\ANDREA-CHAPTER 1\Output\Andrea.Altenburg\MyHtmlHelp

[KevinDAmery]

Three things:

1) is the name of the chapter 1 chm "Chapter_1_Introduction.chm"? The name has to be exactly correct.

2) In order for this to work, the chm files both have to be in the same folder. You may have to copy them to a safe location after the fact, since as you mention Flare has a habit of deleting everything in the target folder before doing a build.

3) The folder it is looking for is the folder where the source topic file is, NOT where the chm file is. (I had a hard time wrapping my head around this at first, and I still don't think it's intuitive but that's how it works.) So you would need to put the path in your Content folder to the topic you want to load.

Also, I notice you have spaces in your names. Windows technically supports this, but not very well: spaces often cause things to work incorrectly. I would replace the spaces in your file and folder names with underscores. It's a pain to do, I know, but in the long run things will run more smoothly if you do it.

[alaltenburg]

Ok. I checked, and the files are called Chapter_1_Introduction.chm and Chapter_2_Administration.chm

I build the primary and then transferred them both to a folder on my desktop since the second overrides the first.

Chapter 2
C:\Users\andrea.altenburg\Desktop\MSC Manual
Chapter 1
C:\Users\andrea.altenburg\Desktop\MSC Manual

I renamed the folders in chapter 1 so there are no spaces. so the external link is now
mk:@MSITStore:Chapter_1_Introduction.chm::windowsmenus/windowsmenus.htm

So then after they are both generated, I open chapter 2 and click on the link. This time it changes to a page no found screen. So at least it's doing something now, but do you know what else I am missing?

[KevinDAmery]

Double check the location matches what's in your project. Specifically, when you renamed the folder and filename to

windowsmenus/windowsmenus.htm

did you also change the folder name and filename on disk? Or was it only in the link code?

[alaltenburg]

I double checked and I am typing everything exactly.....here is how chapter 1 is laid out.

File Name
Chapter_1_Introduction.chm

Content
Chapter_1_Introduction
windowsmenus
windowsmenus.htm

so which way do I enter the hyperlink?

mk:@MSITStore:chapter_1_Introduction.chm::content::Chapter_1_Introduction::windowsmenus/windowsmenus.htm
OR
mk:@MSITStore:Chapter_1_Introduction.chm::windowsmenus/windowsmenus.htm

[KevinDAmery]

Sorry, it's not clear to me what the folder names are in your example. Is it this?

/Content/Chapter_1_Introduction.htm
/Content/windowsmenus/windowsmenus.htm

If so, you would want the second example you gave afaik.

[alaltenburg]

Content/Chapter_1_Introduction/windowsmenus/windowsmenus.htm

That is how the folders break down, but the page is still not coming up, so I'm lost at this point. I am typing it exactly.

[Richard Ferrell]

Are both CHM in the same folder location?

[alaltenburg]

after I build, it shows up in a folder and I move them all to the same folder on my desktop since flare clears the folder it builds to.
Is there a better way to have them in the same folder?

[Pete Lees]

Hi, Andrea,

You might try this to ensure that you're specifying exactly the right target for the hyperlink:

1. Open the help file to which you want to create a link.
2. Browse to the required topic.
3. Right-click the topic pane, and then choose Properties from the context menu.
4. In the Properties dialog box, select the contents of the Address (URL) field, and then press Ctrl+C to copy them to the Clipboard. Then close the dialog box.

What you've just copied is very nearly what you need to specify as the target for the hyperlink; you just need to trim it to remove the Windows folder path information. For example, suppose that the copied address is this:

mk:@MSITStore:C:\WINDOWS\Help\iexplore.chm::/iegetsrt.htm

You'd take out the path information, leaving just this:

mk:@MSITStore:iexplore.chm::/iegetsrt.htm

Provided that the source and target help files are in the same folder, the hyperlink should work.

Pete

[alaltenburg]

Hello Pete,

Ok, I opened up the help file and here is the URL of chapter 1

mk:@MSITStore:C:\Users\andrea.altenburg\Desktop\MSCManual\Chapter_1_Introduction.chm::/Chapter_1_Introduction/windowsmenus/windowsmenus.htm

so I copied it into the hyperlink and now it looks like this

mk:@MSITStore:Chapter_1_Introduction.chm::/Chapter_1_Introduction/windowsmenus/windowsmenus.htm

So then I click on it and it still says it cannot be displayed. Am I missing a character?

Thanks,
Andrea

[Richard Ferrell]

If you are still having issues, you may want to open a support ticket by using the following form.

https://www.madcapsoftware.com/support/contact.aspx

[alaltenburg]

Thanks for the help. I put in a support request and just waiting on a response. Right now, I have the hyperlink working, but this is what I have in the external link field

mk:@MSITStore:C:\Users\andrea.altenburg\Desktop\MSCManual\Chapter_1_Introduction.chm::/Chapter_1_Introduction/windowsmenus.htm

I know it won't work when it's off my C drive, but this is the only way I can get it to work now. As soon as I delete the bold, it doesn't work.

[booey]

If you have both chm files in the same folder all you need for the link text is chmfilename.chm::/topicfilename.html. Select Website in Link to option in the "Insert Hyperlin" dialog box.

[wijnand]

you need to do the following:

RBRSADM.chm::/introduction/hello.htm

Basically what you do is the following:

NAME.CHM::/folder location in flare if you are not sure how flare stores it then you need to take a look at your output folder in flare -> Username -> Temporary -> Name of target -> Content you will see the HHP file and also the "structure" your help file is maintaining. Just follow the folder structure you find there. So if you see

project.hhp
Introduction folder
Installation folder

and you want installation.htm which recides in insallation folder you just do this:

NAME.CHM::/installation folder/installation.htm

just be sure to have it on the same level as the CHM

[i-tietz]

Hi there,
I'm having the same problem right now. We contribute a single help file to a system of help files. Since the other helps have a different look we want to avoid to link to one of their topics and open it in our help window - that could leave the user puzzled. We would prefer to open those topics in their own window ...
I tried links with "New Window", but that doesn't seem to work, because it always opens an IE window with an error message instead of another help file.

Would it help to know the name of the other help window? Does javascript help? Can the link path be passed on to the application and the application calls the correct help topic in the other help in its own help window?
Any other solutions?

I am very thankful for help.

[wijnand]

I am a bit puzzeled in the explanation,

Are these CHM files? are they all in the same location are you opening the CHM files from the network?

[i-tietz]

Are these CHM files?

Yes - since this the HTML Help Forum ...

are they all in the same location are you opening the CHM files from the network?

Everything would be fine if I just wanted link to the other topic and see it opening in the same window ... that is the part that works. The only thing I cannot get to work is the topic opening in another help window ...

[Pete Lees]

Hi, i-tietz,

You can use a Shortcut control to open a second HTML Help file. When adding the control to a topic, you specify hh.exe as the name of the program that you want to call, and you specify the file names of the target .chm file and target topic file as additional parameters that you want to send to hh.exe. So, a typical Shortcut control would look like this:

Code: Select all

<object id="hhctrl1" classid="clsid:adb880a6-d8ff-11cf-9377-00aa003b7a11">
    <param name="Command" value="ShortCut" />
    <param name="Button" value="Text:Click Here" />
    <param name="Item1" value=",hh.exe,ms-its:TargetHelpFile.chm::/TargetTopic.htm" />
</object>

Alternatively, you can use a Related Topics control to open the second help file. Here's an example:

Code: Select all

<object id="hhctrl2" classid="clsid:adb880a6-d8ff-11cf-9377-00aa003b7a11">
    <param name="Command" value="Related Topics" />
    <param name="Button" value="Text:Click Here" />
    <param name="Window" value="TargetWindow" />
    <param name="Item1" value="This Text Not Seen;TargetHelpFile.chm::/TargetTopic.htm" />
</object>

The window type that you specify with the Window parameter is defined in the target help file and not the source help file.

Pete

[KevinDAmery]

I'm not sure how you'd go about using this in Flare: Flare doesn't expose this functionality that I'm aware of. (Although it really should... sounds like a good feature request.) You might be able to get it to work by using the insert script functions and adding Pete's code that way (making sure that the chm and topic file names match your files, of course).

[i-tietz]

You can use a Shortcut control to open a second HTML Help file. When adding the control to a topic, you specify hh.exe as the name of the program that you want to call, and you specify the file names of the target .chm file and target topic file as additional parameters that you want to send to hh.exe.

Pete, feel yourself hugged ... THIS WORKS - even under Vista!

Inge

[Sharpras]

From .chm to .chm with Flare Ver 5?

I want my link to the second .chm to be button with MyImage.bmp. Anyone know how?

The code for the Shortcut control is different from that stated above by Pete (i-tietz). My Flare 5 SC Control code is:

Code: Select all

<MadCap:shortcut path="HH.EXE" parameters="SecondChmName.chm::/TargetTopic.htm" class="shortcut_3" />

Thanks for any suggestions—
Roger

[i-tietz]

That's the code in the XML editor and not in the topic in the chm file ...