Using CSH on a hosted server?

[joanTravis]

First, I’m a newbie and feeling really dense on the topic of CSH on a hosted help system. I have read the appropriate help topics and searched the forum, but still have some questions:

We’re using WebHelp and hosting the help system on a web site instead of incorporating it in the application.
The programmer, after I gave him the appropriate pages, is asking for the URLs to the CSH topics.
From what I’ve read so far, we should not link directly to the topic.htm but to the identifier I associated with the help topic as specified in the alias file.

However, if the developer insists on using URLs, would I specify all the directories in my path? Say, I have a topic located in myproject/content/common/myCSHtopic, would the URL to myCSHtopic be:

MyOutputFolder/MyOutputFile_CSH.htm/content/common/#MyCSHtopic.htm

If I convinced him that an alias file is the way to go, what would be the URL to the main help system, if it was hosted on a server?
MyOutputFolder/MyOutputFile_CSH.htm#MyStartUpTopic.htm

Then, as long as I specified my identifiers in the alias/header files, the correct topic would display as long as the developer associated my identifier with the application's window or button?

Related question: Do I need to specify a skin even if I’m using the same skin for all my topics?

[doc_guy]

The only difference between using a local webhelp and a hosted webhelp is that for the hosted webhelp you want to use fully qualified URLs. When locating a local webhelp, you'd use a relative URL.

So if I'm deploying my help system with my product installation, my help link might be:

/help/MyProject/content/index_CSH.htm#123

Where if I'm deploying my help on a hosted server, my help link might be:

http://www.example.com/help/MyProject/c ... SH.htm#123

Yes. You want to use the aliases because you want to open the topic in the frameset. If you link directly to the topics you won't get the frameset with all its features. You'll just get the topic page by itself. By using the CSH call/alias file, you get the full frameset.

If you need to convince your developer, tell him that it will be less maintenance in the long run for him if you use the alias call. If you have to restructure your help system, and they have linked directly to your topics, they will have to change every help call in the system. However, if you have to restructure your help system, but you've used alias calls in the application, you just provide them with the compiled help system, which will include the updated alias file. All the links to help still work, and the developer doesn't need to do anything at all.

[doc_guy]

As for your last question, the skin is an optional parameter. You only supply it if you want it to be different from your default skin. So the answer is no.

[joanTravis]

Wow. I didn't expect such an immediate response. Thank you!

So just to be sure I've got this in my very thick skull:

As Iong as I give the developers the URL to my start up topic, give them the folder I published, (and they've associated the appropriate IDs with their windows/buttons/and so on), it should just work?

Can't wait to test it out!

[doc_guy]

Yep. It should just work.

The main page that you call when you open the help system is something like default.htm. (I think I changed mine to index.html, which you can do in the target settings.)

So when you want to open the whole help system from the default page, you go to http://_whatever_/default.htm.

When you want to hope a specific topic using context sensitive help, you have to use the _CSH version of your default topic. In this case, you would go to http://_wherever_/default_CSH.htm#alias (in my case, I go to http://example.com/help/index_CSH.html#alias ).

So when loading the main frameset, you open the default.htm page. When you open a CSH reference, you use default_CSH.htm#alias.

Is that clear?

[joanTravis]

I think so. I assume that "alias" is the topic's identifier recorded in my alias file. For example, if I have a "mybutton" identifier, (that's associated with "mybutton.hm"), the URL would be http://_myURL.com/myhelp/default_CSH.htm#mybutton.

On a somewhat related note, what is the best practice for accommodating locale? We were thinking of creating a subdirectory under our myhelp project, so the link would be: http://_myURL.com/myhelp/en/default.htm. Is there a better way?

[RamonS]

Nope, that is the way how most folks do it. It keeps the base URL, which has the language moniker attached based on current user settings, and the remaining part of the call is also identical across all languages....which means, don't translate the file names or aliases.