RoboHELP HTML Edition

Problems printing chm files

Setting the Background color

Converting Winhelp to HTML Help

Converting FrameMaker Files and importing into RoboHTML
Tells you how to preserve styles when you convert to RoboHTML

Specifying a style sheet for many topics at one time

Characters to avoid in map files in RoboHTML

Problems printing chm files

Printing a .chm file from RoboHelp HTML 6.0 makes the left margin gradually increase at the heading levels so that the final printed pages have narrow colums of text on the far right side of the page.

It is caused by the last style applied to a topic. If this style contains indenting, the formatting is carried to the next page and the text is gradually pushed to the right.

To fix it, make the last style in each topic a non-indented style. 

Setting the background color in the style sheet

You can have custom background colors or a graphic in a topic. I use it in the first topic and show the client's company logo. This is easy to do and looks really professional.

1. Click the Project tab in RoboHelp HTML.
2. Select the Style Sheet folder.
3. Double-click the style sheet you want to edit. The Edit Style dialog appears.
4. From the Style Type list, select Document.
5. Click Edit.The Edit Document Style dialog appears.
6. Select the Background tab. You can set the color, or a background image, as well as other options.

Converting Winhelp to HTML Help

You can use the single source option in RoboHELP Explorer to create HTML Help from your existing winhelp file. However, your computer may stop responding. There is a better way to get there.

See the next tip for more help on converting to RoboHTML.

1. Open RoboHTML.
2. Click Create a New Project and click OK.
3. Click the Import tab and click OK.
4. Browse the location of your winhelp file and click Next.
5. Follow the rest of the wizard instructions.

Converting FrameMaker Files and importing into RoboHELP HTML Edition

UPDATE: In RH 2000, the following information has changed. It seems to work in the following way. I have run some tests and can tell you that it now sort of works in 2000. Heading 1s convert. Bulleted lists and custom indents convert. However, the CNT file does not seem to come over and has to be rebuilt in RHTML. And Heading 2s do not convert to Heading 2s. They are marked normal, which means, if your design is like mine, that all your procedural topics names that were dark blue are now all bold normal black.

It seems that converting from FrameMaker to HTML and then importing into RoboHELP HTML Edition should be the way to move from FrameMaker files to HTML Help files. Unfortunately, Frame does not create good HTML and the clean up is time consuming. Saving as RTF brings the entire file into RoboHTML as one file. Opening the compiled help in RoboHELP HTML Edition does not preserve the styles so you must retag the text with the correct tags. Not good if you are converting hundreds of pages. And what is the point in not having the styles?

Blue Sky says that it isn´t possible to import/decompile a help file and convert it into HTML Help and retain the styles in 7.0. It is possible, but only in 6.0. This does not work if you are using 7.0 or later. There is not solution to importing a winhelp file into RoboHTML and preserving styles in 7.0 or later.

1. Save your FrameMaker files as RTF files.
2. Create a new project in RoboHELP Classic 6.0. Set the target as 3.x only. This is a very important step and if you do not set the target as 3.x, the styles are not preserved.
3. Import the RTF files, specifying that topics are created from your headings.
4. Build the help file.
5. Start RoboHELP HTML Edition. Create a new HTML Help by opening the help file you created. The styles are maintained and now you can use a style sheet.

Specifying a style sheet for many topics at one time

In version 7.0, you can attach a style sheet to several topics at one time, saving lots of hand tagging time.

1. In RoboHELP HTML Edition 7.0, click the Topics tab on the bottom right of the screen.
2. Click the first topic to attach the style sheet to.
3. Shift+click the last topic.
4. On the toolbar, click the Properties icon.
5. Select or browse the style sheet to apply.
6. Click Apply and then OK.

Characters to avoid in map files RoboHTML

Don't use \, /, /* or */ in header (map ID) files. The will corrupt your HTML file.

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Last modified Wednesday, 09 May, 2001.

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