Author: IconLogic

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CGI Scripts Not Posting?

If you are using my Dreamweaver (older than Dreamweaver 8) and RoboHelp books, you have probably noticed the forms you learn to create during the book no longer post when you test them. Sadly, you receive the "Page Cannot Be Displayed" error, even if you typed everything perfectly.

The instructions in the book, while correct, link to a CGI script on our server. The script has worked for years, and still does. It sends the form results back to you in the form of an e-mail.

But for security reasons, many Internet hosts, including ours, now prohibit the use of CGI scripts for a page unless the page is on the same server as the script. Since the form you created is not posted on our server, and therefore could present a security risk, you will be unable to properly test the form.

The Workaround: Use the following link in the Action area of the Properties panel:

http://www.iconlogic.com/formtest.htm

While your form will not process any data, you will no longer receive the error message.

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Default Word Styles

The following is thanks to Mike Jarvis and John WU at the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA):

___________________________________

If you intend to import Word documents into FrameMaker, QuarkXPress, PageMaker or InDesign, its best to create a template in your desktop application with style sheet names that match those found in Word by default.

During a recent class, John asked me if there was a list of default styles use in Word. Great question. I had no idea. Mike found the following list via google searches:

Normal
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3
Heading 4
Heading 5
Heading 6
Heading 7
Heading 8
Heading 9
Index 1
Index 2
Index 3
Index 4
Index 5
Index 6
Index 7
Index 8
Index 9
TOC 1
TOC 2
TOC 3
TOC 4
TOC 5
TOC 6
TOC 7
TOC 8
TOC 9
Normal Indent
Footnote Text
Annotation Text
Header
Footer
Index Heading
Caption
Table of Figures
Envelope Address
Envelope Return
Footnote Reference
Annotation Reference
Line Number
Page Number
Endnote Reference
Endnote Text
Table of Authorities
Macro Text
TOA Heading
List
List 2
List 3
List 4
List 5
List Bullet
List Bullet 2
List Bullet 3
List Bullet 4
List Bullet 5
List Number
List Number 2
List Number 3
List Number 4
List Number 5
Title
Closing
Signature
Default Paragraph Font
Body Text
Body Text Indent
List Continue
List Continue 2
List Continue 3
List Continue 4
List Continue 5
Message Header
Subtitle
Salutation
Date
Body Text First Indent
Body Text First Indent 2
Note Heading
Body Text 2
Body Text 3
Body Text Indent 2
Body Text Indent 3
Block Text
Hyperlink
Followed Hyperlink
Strong
Emphasis
Document Map
Plain Text

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Captivate Errata Sheet Posted

I posted an errata sheet for my "Essentials of Macromedia Captivate" book today at http://www.iconlogic.com/Captivate.htm.

The main thing covered in the errata sheet is updates to the LMS lessons beginning on page 169. The software you use to upload SCOs changed so I updated the book and screen shots in the book to reflect the changes.

The PDF has notes detailing the changes.

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Two Handy FrameMaker Plugins

I recently finished a custom FrameMaker training class where two issues were addressed:

  1. FrameMaker’s annoying habit of NOT letting you use the scroll wheel on your mouse.
  2. Importing tables from Word is a train-wreck. There aren’t "header rows" and there’s a ton of custom formatting you have to remove.

There are two plug-ins you can get (one costs, one is free) that will solve these two problems:

First, the ability to use the Scroll Wheel: There is a free utility available at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2060/freewheel.html. Freewheel provides mouse wheel support for applications that do not directly support the IntelliPoint mouse wheel. It runs on Windows 9x or Windows NT as a tray icon, which you can hide if you dislike clutter in your tray.

Now for the table trouble: There is a $60 utility called TableCleaner. Go to http://www.frameexpert.com/plugins/tablecleaner/ for the download. TableCleaner is a plugin that gives you more control over FrameMaker tables. Some commands work on selected cells and tables, while other can change all of the tables in a document at once. This plugin was especially designed to help format tables imported from Word.

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Macromedia Captivate Labs Posted and Available Now

I know it’s long overdue, but I recently posted some challenge labs to the site. The labs support my "Essentials of Macromedia Captivate" book.

If you’d like to try the challenge labs, go to iconlogic.com, click the Learning Center link, then the Captivate and RoboDemo link. Once there, click the projects link. This will take you directly to my Learning Management System (LMS). You can also go directly to the LMS by clicking here. There is no charge to access the Lab movies.

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Help! Help Does Not Work in RoboHelp

I recently received this email about RoboHelp’s not-so-helpful help system:

________________________

"Does Macromedia purposely disable the Help menu in RoboHelp? I’ve clicked on "Contents and Index" and the varied context sensitive items in the "Help" menu. I tried pushing F1… zilch. With both methods I see the hour-glass icon quickly flicker a couple times and then nothing happens.
_________________________

Here’s how to resolve this problem:

To fix the problem in RoboHelp, choose Tools > Options. On the General tab, select Use Offline Help (insert a Check Mark). Then click OK.

By default, RoboHelp’s Help system is hooked to the Web. When you use the Help menu to request Help, RoboHelp goes online and looks for http://help.robohelp.com for the help system. Since a Web connection is needed, it could take a long time for the Help system to appear, depending on your connection speed. If there’s any trouble with the connection, the Help system will not appear at all.

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Controlling Playback Control “Hints”

I was asked how to control the "hints" or "tool tips" that appear on some Captivate and RoboDemo playback controls.

Assuming you have Captivate installed on your computer, go to the following folder:

C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Captivate\Gallery\PlaybackControls

You’ll notice that some toolbar images have the names like Captivate-exitbuttonup.bmp. For those toolbar buttons that sport "Tool Tips" or "Hints" there is a companion image such as Captivate-exitbuttonhint.bmp.

If you want to get rid of the "hint," rename the "hint" image (such as the Captivate-exitbuttonhint.bmp image mentioned above).

If you want to create your own "Hint" for any of the existing Playback Control sets, create an image for those buttons that don’t have hint images and name them using the names of the button you are giving the hint for (a button called KevinOver.bmp should get a "hint" image called KevinOverhint.bmp.)

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Helpful Links for Captivate and RoboDemo Developers

I was recently asked to recommend some helpful Web sites for Captivate and RoboDemo developers. Here’s a short list:

Help Community: http://www.helpcommunity.ehelp.com/

Free Sounds: http://www.grsites.com/sounds/

RoboDemo Tips & Tricks: http://www.pcabcs.com/robo/tips/start.htm

More RoboDemo & Captivate Tips & Tricks: http://www.raisingaimee.co.uk/

Background images: http://www.backgroundcity.com/

Since PowerPoint slides can be imported into Captivate and the slides used as a Captivate backgrounds, check out these free PowerPoint template sites:

http://www.soniacoleman.com/templates.htm

http://www.brainybetty.com/

http://www.websiteestates.com/education/templatesindex.html

Customized Playback Controls and Captions: http://www.pcabcs.com/robo/tips/start.htm

As with all free things on the Web, caveat emptor, or buyer beware…

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Controlling the “Powered by RoboHelp” Logo

This question comes from Bil. Alvernaz:

"Is there any way to get rid of or replace the "Powered by RoboHelp" (i.e., what you click in the upper right hand corner of the screen to get contact information)."

Yes Bil. The Powered By logo image is named wht_logo1.gif in your top level WebHelp folder, If you know what you are doing, you could modify this graphic to be anything you want, such as your companies logo. Maybe even a 1 pixel by 1 pixel transparent gif that would not be seen.

The HTML file that is displayed when the Powered By logo is clicked is called whskin_banner.htm and is located in top level WebHelp folder. You could also modify this file to have your companies logo and text. Again this is a hack of the WebHelp source files and this must be done at your own risk.

To customize the logo:

On the Toolbar tab, under Main, double-click Logo

The Logo dialog opens

In Image, type a file name or click  to browse for an image file .GIF or .JPG)

When you’ve located the image, click Open. The image is copied to your skins folder

In Author, enter the name of the company or author

Click OK to return to the Skin Editor

Removing the Powered by RoboHelp logo

Users click a logo (either your own or RoboHelp’s default) in the upper-right side of the toolbar to display an "About" box describing the project’s author or company, the version of RoboHelp, and the output format version.

The file that controls the popup that appears when the logo is clicked is called whskin_banner.htm.   

You can find this file in your WebHelp folder and can open and edit the content in notepad.

Look for this text as follows:

  <td valign="top">

  <p>Author:&nbsp;eHelp Corporation</p>

  <p>Powered by:&nbsp;WebHelp 5.00

  <br>Generated by:&nbsp;RoboHelp 2002</p>

  <p><a class="tail" href="http://www.ehelp.com/webhelp1"     target="_blank">www.ehelp.com</a></p>

You can get rid of the button entirely in the following manner.

Open up your WebHelp folder and look for the file whskin_tbar.htm 

Open the file in notepad

Remove this line of text:

addButton("banner",BTN_IMG,"eHelp Corporation","","","","",0,0,"","","","","","");

Warning:  If you edit these files, you will need to store them outside of the WebHelp folder or they will be overwritten the next time you generate WebHelp.