Getting started with Context-Sensitive Help

[Scott Prentice]

Hi Heather...

Since you're working with DITA source files, you might want to post this 
question to the framemaker-dita and/or dita-fmx-users Yahoo groups. 
Might get other opinions from people in a similar situation.

With TCS4, your option is is basically to continue using RoboHelp. I'm 
not sure if RH can be set up to use attribute values as the CSH 
identifiers, which would be the "proper" DITA way to embed these IDs in 
the source content, but I believe that it uses markers (someone with 
more expertise with RH could confirm this). You can use the 
fm-data-marker element with DITA-FMx to add elements that are stored as 
DITA data elements, but become an FM marker when opened in Frame. You'd 
add the markers (as fm-data-marker elements) with your context IDs, and 
when you generate the Help, it should allow you to reference those IDs 
using context-based Help calls.

You could go through a similar process using WebWorks ePublisher, as 
well as other Help publishing tools. Typically, you'd embed the marker 
into the topics, and publish through the standard process for that tool.

You could also use the DITA OpenToolkit, but you'd need to develop the 
conversion process and transformation from your Help IDs into the 
generated Help.

You may want to work backwards from your product to Help, to determine 
what CSH actually means for you. Are you just clicking a button in a 
dialog and getting Help on that dialog, or do you have other contextual 
situations where you want Help. It's not necessarily the same thing for 
everyone.

I create the context sensitive Help for DITA-FMx using the DITA-OT, but 
I just set up the software to link directly to the HTML topics in the 
CHM file. Since I'm both the writer and developer, I have easy access to 
these things and don't need the extra layer of indirection that is 
typically provided by adding "Help IDs" to topics. There are many ways 
to achieve the same thing.

Cheers,

...scott

Scott Prentice
Leximation, Inc.
www.leximation.com
+1.415.485.1892

On 9/21/12 8:21 AM, Heather Thomas wrote:
> First, a bit of context: our team has TCS4 with the DITA-FMx plugin. 
> Currently, we author in Structured FM, produce the PDF User Guide from 
> FM, and then we link the FM files into RoboHelp to produce WebHelp.
> I've been tasked with exploring our options for implementing 
> Context-Sensitive Help. I have found various references to CSH in the 
> Adobe documentation which I am in the process of going through. 
> However, since I can't be the first person to have attempted this, I'm 
> hoping that some of you might have some experience in this area that 
> you would be willing to share.
> We obviously prefer a method in which the initial setup is done once 
> and then only minor maintenance is required whenever topics are added 
> or changed. Ideally the xml files would contain all of the CSH info, 
> but I don't know if that is possible.
> Since we are not opposed to looking outside of TCS4, if you have 
> experience with Context-Sensitive Help using other tools, I'd be happy 
> to hear about those too.
> Thank you,
> Heather
> PS - Although this is my first post, I've been reading this forum for 
> many months and appreciate everything I have learned here. This is a 
> fantastic group!
>
>

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