The Logical Blog by IconLogic

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.)

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...

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)."

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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.

Question about which "RoboHelp for Word" Book to Use

The following question comes from E. Proeva:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have RoboHelp Office which includes RoboHelp for Word X4 and RoboHelp HTML X3. I already have your Essentials for RoboHelp HTML X3, but I need a manual for RoboHelp for Word X4. Could you please tell me which book of your Essentials series would cover the RoboHelp for Word X4 version best.

Thanks
E. Proeva

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It was my intention to update my RoboHelp Classic 9 book to RoboHelp for Word X3, X4 and then X5. However, based on diminished support and sales of RoboHelp for Word (based on information from Macromedia), we focused our resources instead on RoboHelp HTML. We have books for every version of RoboHelp HTML including X5, which is the most recent version available from Macromedia

RoboHelp for Word did not change much until release X5 so you could certainly have used my Classic 9 book on version 2002, X3 and possibly X4. And if memory serves, X3 and X4 didn't have many changes over 2002. I have had a few customers purchase the Classic 9 book and use it as a starting-point to learning the newer versions of the software. Please keep in mind that if you choose that path, tools, commands and screen shots shown in my book may not match the software. In that case, you'd be on your own to learn what's changed. Everybody learns differently, but I've heard that most people are able to push forward in spite of the differences between what's shown in the book and what is seen on the screen.