RE: PDF access from compiled context sensitive html help

["Tatro, Mike" <mike.tatro@xxxxxxx>]

Thomas-

I tried many times to pull this off (embed a PDF inside a .chm file) and
have never been able to do it. 

I use RoboHELP to do the actual compiling. *.chm files are known to be very
buggy, so much so that RoboHELP has created a workaround called "baggage
files." Baggage files are specific include elements that are intended to be
embedded during the compile. However, even including the PDF as a baggage
file does not successfully embed the PDF inside the .chm file (clicking the
PDF URLS returns an internal path error). 

I've also tried using external relative URLs (e.g., ../dir/file.pdf). I
don't get a path error but... the PDF viewer gets invoked but just hangs
trying to open the file. Even spawning a new browser window doesn't help.

I'd be most interested in knowing any possible workarounds for these bugs.

FWIW, Microsoft has release version 2.0 of HTML Help. RoboHELP is supposed
to be supporting this in their next release. However, I don't know if this
particular bug has been fixed. Several other high profile bugs have not been
fixed (e.g., invoking field-level context-sensitive help inside a *.chm; MS
still uses WinHELP for their CSH).

Warmest Regards,
Michael L. Tatro
Documentation Manager/Webmaster
VSI - An Esker Company
Voice	(949) 462-2247
Fax	(949) 462-3347
Email	tatro@vsi.com
www.vsi.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thomas Michanek [mailto:thomas.michanek@iar.se]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2001 6:56 AM
> To: 'Andersen, Verner'; 'FrameMaker discussion list (omsys)'
> Subject: RE: PDF access from compiled context sensitive html help
> 
> 
> > We contemplate to give the user access to the pdf file of 
> the whole manual
> > from the online help by having a pdf icon or a small book 
> icon in all the
> > headers of the online help.
> 
> But is the online help contents identical to the PDF manuals?
> Is there a one-to-one correspondence between topics and sections?
> 
> Another alternative is to make the PDF manuals available as
> menu items in the Help menu, together with the menu items
> concerning online help. This is a fairly straightforward
> solution that should be evident to the user. By selecting
> the name of a manual, its PDF version is opened in Acrobat.
> 
> 
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Thomas Michanek, Technical Writer
> IAR Systems AB, Sweden: http://www.iar.com
> mailto:Thomas.Michanek@iar.se
> Tel: +46 18 167800, Fax: +46 18 167838
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> 
> 
> 
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