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Subject:Multiple configurations in RoboHelp From:"D. Joan Leib" <pisces -at- CHANNEL1 -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 23 Aug 1999 18:09:09 -0400
Hi,
I searched the archives and found one reference to a similar situation,
but it was several years old and referenced RoboHelp 4. I am hoping that
there's a better option in RoboHelp 6.0, which I'm running.
The situation is that my company sells an app to large corporations, which
then distribute it to their users. We also provide the corporation with a
tool that allows them to customize the app, choosing which features they
do and don't allow their end-users. (We also have some features that cost
extra.) Some of the options are multi-leveled, e.g. if you give the user
Feature A, you then have the choice to also give Feature Aa or Feature Ab,
etc.
The problem, as you can probably guess, is how to code the online help so
that a) each user can access help for the feature(s) that s/he does have,
and b) no user can access help for a feature that s/he doesn't have. One
solution that I've heard mentioned is to code help for all features but
make it context-sensitive (i.e. F1) only, so that it isn't included in the
TOC or the index. (But wouldn't it still show up on the Find tab?) This is
suboptimal because the whole point of a TOC or an index is to allow the
user to find the help when s/he needs it!
The solution that someone posted here a long while back was to create a
separate .hpj for each feature and link them together via a central .cnt
file. I presume that this would work although I am not sure I completely
understand it. I am sort of a WinHelp novice, having been thrown into it
in one of those "well, no one in the company knows how to do it, so let's
dump it on the least senior person" situations. I did get sent to a
RoboHelp seminar last year, but it was an introductory course and
naturally didn't address anything too complex.
Anyway, if anyone had any suggestions, I would be extremely grateful. But
please don't say "upgrade to RoboHelp 7," because I don't think my manager
will go for that.
TIA,
-joan
..D. Joan Leib -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- -dot- pisces -at- channel1 -dot- com -dot- -dot-
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