Linking web pages to help topics
To use the context-sensitive help examples you must enable scripting and allow popups in your browser.
Imagine that this is a page on your web-based application. It's got lots of really nice features. Generally, you've put useful prompts on the page, but sometimes you need to provide much information. With context-sensitive help the users click a link to obtain a help topic that is directly related to the web page.
Your application is browser-based and it is probably designed for cross-platform use. Therefore, you need cross-platform help. Here we provide two cross-platform help samples: WebHelp and FlashHelp. They were created using Macromedia's (now Adobe, www.adobe.com) RoboHelp authoring tool.
Demonstration
You may need to wait a few seconds for the help to open after you click a link.
This is a normal web link to the WebHelp file (opens in a new window). It is not context-sensitive.
This is a normal web link to the FlashHelp file (opens in a new window). It is not context-sensitive.
Context-sensitive WebHelp. This is a link to Basic topic 1 and here is a link to Advanced topic 1 in the WebHelp demonstration help.
Context-sensitive FlashHelp. This is a link to Basic topic 1 and here is a link to Advanced topic 1 in the FlashHelp demonstration help.
For the context-sensitive help, only one browser window should open, no matter which links you click.
Calling a specific help page
Macromedia provides a JavaScript file called RoboHelp_CSH.js which must be referenced (or included) in each calling page. This defines a function RH_ShowHelp which has the following syntax:
RH_ShowHelp(hParent, a_pszHelpFile, uCommand, dwData)
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| hParent | Always use zero. |
| a_pszHelpFile | The path to the starting page of the help project. To ensure that the help opens correctly, specify the name of the window using the parameter WindowName (in our examples, the name of the window is Mainwindow). The name is defined in the help project. |
| uCommand | Use HH_HELP_CONTEXT to open the topic associated with the map ID that is sent in the dwData parameter. |
| dwData | The map ID of the topic to be displayed. Map IDs are defined in the help project. They can be supplied either by the software developers or by the help author. |
This is the code that is used to call the WebHelp Basic topic 1:
<A HREF='javascript:RH_ShowHelp(0, "context-WebHelp/start.htm>Mainwindow", HH_HELP_CONTEXT, 10)'>Basic topic 1</A>
The API shares the same parameters, regardless of the output type, which can be WebHelp, WebHelp Pro, or FlashHelp.
Download the WebHelp files: 
context-WebHelp.zip, 436 KB
Download the FlashHelp files: context-FlashHelp.zip, 687 KB
See also 
Comparison of online help formats
RSS feed