Adobe RoboHelp 6 HTML: Understanding and Using “User Defined Variables”

RoboHelp 6 now comes with the ability to create and use variables. What are variables and how can they help you? Variables can contain information that occurs frequently in your project, such as a product name, company name or copyright notice.

After creating the variable, you can insert it into any RoboHelp project or onto a template by dragging and dropping.

Let’s say you want to have your company name appear throughout the project. You could accomplish the task the old-fashioned way by typing the company name over and over again. Or you can create a variable called CompanyName, whose definition is your actual company name. After creating the variable, it’s a simple matter of dragging the CompanyName variable into any topic.

Now here’s the cool part. Assume your company name now appears throughout your project, and now you want to change it. Without the variable, you would have to use RoboHelp’s Multi-File Find and Replace tool to update the company name. Thanks to variables, all you actually need to do is update the definition of the CompanyName variable and you will change the displayed company name project-wide in just a few seconds. Sweet!

Create a User Defined Variable

  • On the Project pane, right-click the User defined Variables folder and select New Variable
  • Type a name into the Variable Name area
  • Type a value into the Variable Value area
  • Click OK

Insert and Edit a User Defined Variable

  • Drag the variable from the User defined Variables folder into any topic(s) in your project.

    When you drag the variable into a topic, the Variable Value appears. Should you update the variable at any time, it will update all instances of itself throughout the project.

  • On the Project pane, open the User defined Variables folder
  • Double-click the variable to open it for editing
  • Change the Variable Value
  • Click OK

Captivate: Go Skinless and Bloatless

Liberate Your Projects: Go Skinless

As I’ve mentioned in previous editions of this newsletter, Adobe Captivate 2 creates at least four output files when you publish your projects (1 HTML, 2 SWFs and 1 JavaScript).

I recently had a student who wanted to eliminate the second SWF. While it’s possible to eliminate the second skin entirely, there isn’t an obvious way to do so.

Here’s how:

  1. Choose Project > Skin
  2. Select the Borders tab
  3. Remove the check mark from Show Borders
  4. Click OK

When you publish your next SWF, you’ll end up with three files instead of four: 1 HTML, 1 SWF and 1 JavaScript.

Gas-X’s Got Nothing on this Bloat-Relief Technique

I found myself working recently in a Captivate project that seemed to get larger and larger, even as I deleted assets. For instance, a 95-slide project was a bloated 41mb. After deleting several slides and several audio clips, the file-size actually increased to 45mb. Huh?

After displaying the Library and using the Select Unused Items tool, and then deleting the unused items, my file size dropped a "whopping" 1mb. So here I am, staring at a 44mb file. What to do?

Follow these steps and you should see a significant reduction in your project’s file size:

  • Start a second session of Captivate
  • Open the bloated version of the project in one session of Captivate
  • Create a new, blank project in the other session (ensure the new project is the width and height of the bloated project)
  • Finally, copy and paste the slides from the bloated project and into the new project.

    Bam! During a recent test I saw my 44mb file drop down to 3mb.

    Oh what a relief it is!