Can RoboHelp X5 generate this?

[Jakov]

Hi, I am evaluating Help Authoring Tools for my company. So far I have been
evaluated (and still evaluating)

RoboHelp X5 for Word
Authorit 4.0
WebWorks Publisher 8.0
The intention is to convert some large word documents into help files.

So far most of my time I spent on RoboHelp because I found it was very
popular.
Every help has a topic tree which consists of Books and Pages. A Book
contains multiple books and pages.

The structure of words documents goes like this :

2. Main Chapter >BOOK<
some main chapter information..
....
2.1. Sub Chapter 1. > PAGE<
subchapter text...
....
2.2. Sub Chapter 2. >BOOK<
some sub chapter 2 information...
.....
2.2.1. Sub Sub Chapter 3 >PAGE<
....text.....
2.2.2. Sub Sub Chapter 4 >BOOK<
....text.....

This is a structure which is held in most of our documents, all chapters are
marked with varius .doc styles( 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 have same, 2.1 and 2.2).
And documents are really big. Especially som tehnical documentation.
Ideal situation is this :
Let say I want 2.2 Chapter on a single help page.
The page should look like this : (FAMOUS PAGE :) ) aka as FPAGE ...

2.2. Sub Chapter 2. >BOOK<
some sub chapter 2 information...
.....
2.2.1. Sub Sub Chapter 3 >PAGE<
....text.....
2.2.2. Sub Sub Chapter 4 >BOOK<
....text.....
2.2.2.1. Sub Sub Sub Ch...
text.....
text......
2.2.2.2..."ands so on".

The look of my tree structure(in WinHelp) should look like this..

BOOK< 2.2. Sub Chapter 2

|
|----> >PAGE< 2.2.1. Sub Sub Chapter 3
|
|----> >BOOK< 2.2.2. . Sub Sub Chapter 4
|
|-----> >BOOK< 2.2.2.1.
|-----> >PAGE< 2.2.2.2
|-----> >BOOK< 2.2.2.3

The behavior which I intend to achive : when I click on >BOOK< 2.2. that
content is highlighted on FPAGE.
When I click on >BOOK< 2.2.2.1. that content is highlighted on FPAGE.

So far I concluded that in RoboHelp Office X5 I cant assign some topic to
Book node. The question is it possible
to link some Book node with some topic content, I found that Book nodes in
RoboHelp cannot be linked.
And related to above can I hold all those topics on single page. RoboHelp
automatically creates new Word section
for every topic.

Is there a workaround for this problem.

WebWorks Publisher works this way, very well. The minus is that it is not
fully integrated with MS Word(it uses only import from MS Word).
AuthorIT has its own editor, but there is a problem with complex graphics
import.
So far it seems that RoboHelp offers best integration with MS Word.
It would be ok if It can act as described before

Any help appreciated(Sorry about loooong post)

Jakov

[Pete Lees]

Jakov,

is it possible to link some Book node with some topic content, I
found that Book nodes in RoboHelp cannot be linked.

I don't use RoboHelp, but, on the assumption that you're outputting to
compiled HTML Help (.chm), I'd be surprised if this is true. You may
want to double-check this by posting your question to the RoboHelp
forum at:

http://www.helpcommunity.ehelp.com/forums/wbpx.dll/~robohelp

And related to above can I hold all those topics on single page. RoboHelp
automatically creates new Word section for every topic.

The instructions on the following page may help you to fix this:

http://www.wwwinnovations.com/resources/tips/rhtml_word_import.html

--
Pete (Microsoft Help MVP)