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! > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.frameusers.com/pipermail/framers/attachments/20120921/19d3efa0/attachment.html>