Glossary tab?

[Andrew Heard]

In my RH-generated chm, the glossary could be attached to a tab, with the contents displayed in the navigation panel - this is very neat.

WithGlossary.png

WithoutGlossary.png

Is it possible to attach a Glossary tab to a chm generated in Flare?

[GregStenhouse]

The Robohelp glossary tab I think is created using a special DLL file (that your app must install and register), along with Javascript within the CHM. This is not available within Flare.

You can select the glossary "feature" in the skin, this adds the glossary to the TOC 1st level in HTML help.

Cheers
Greg

[Andrew Heard]

Thanks Greg - I thought as much - was hoping some senior propellor head had a workaround.

[LTinker68]

Thanks Greg - I thought as much - was hoping some senior propellor head had a workaround.

Build WebHelp instead of HTML Help.

[Andrew Heard]

I'll look again into WebHelp, but

a) we are context-sensitive
b) many of our implementations are in remote areas with little or no network access
c) the developers baulked at the idea of a multitude of htm files on the pc (about 1600 active pages)

How about DotNet Help?

[SteveS]

Hi Andrew,

Web help can be context sensitive.

You don't need internet access - just install it locally (with MOTW if you install on each user's machine)

As for the number of files - they are compressed and hidden in a chm, but shouldn't be an issue with most installations.

HTH

[LTinker68]

How about DotNet Help?

DotNet Help has about the same number of files as WebHelp, but it's not displayed in a web browser but rather in a help viewer application, which you'd have to install along with the help. The DotNet Help skin can't be modified yet either, so you're stuck with the default appearance.

Why do the developers care if there are a lot of files? Do you complain if they have a lot of screens? Which help to use should be determined based on the end user's needs, which help gives them the most features and ease-of-use, which help is more cross-browser and cross-platform compatible (more of a concern if your program can run on different operating systems), and so on.

[SteveS]

...Why do the developers care if there are a lot of files? Do you complain if they have a lot of screens? ...

Ask them how many dlls they're going to include

[Andrew Heard]

Right.

When I have some time I'll get them to do a test build with WebHelp.

And report back.

[chargo]

The original question related to Flare v4.2. Are in Flare v5 any differences regarding "Glossary in a tab" support?

[alaltenburg]

There does not seem to be differences between 4.2 and 5.0 with regard to the glossary. Madcap does not have a workaround for including a tab. Instead, the glossary is included at the bottom of the TOC topics.

Andrea

[i-tietz]

How about DotNet Help?

The DotNet Help skin can't be modified yet either, so you're stuck with the default appearance.

I'm not sure about that - I think I have seen an SDK for that purpose at the knowledge base somewhere ...

Why do the developers care if there are a lot of files? Do you complain if they have a lot of screens? Which help to use should be determined based on the end user's needs, which help gives them the most features and ease-of-use, which help is more cross-browser and cross-platform compatible (more of a concern if your program can run on different operating systems), and so on.

E.g. it takes longer to copy 1 GB in 1.000 files than in 1 file ... performance is the problem ... probably the performance at reading the help or at installing the software is what makes them moan.

The big bonus of having separate files: Help is easy to update - just copy a few HTML files ... maybe the team leader finds that appealing ...