Displaying Merged Navigation in HTML Help Child Outputs

You can merge HTML Help so that the navigation (table of contents, index, search) for each CHM file is displayed, regardless of which CHM file you open (parent or child). This can be done in a couple of ways, depending on whether you have access to all of the Flare projects or to the CHM files only.

How to Display Merged Navigation in HTML Help—Access to All Flare Projects

  1. Open the target to be used as the parent CHM.
  2. On the Advanced tab of the Target Editor, select Display merged navigation in HTML Help.
  3. Click Save the active file. to save your work.
  4. Follow the steps for merging based on HTML Help targets. See Runtime Merging Flare Projects Using Targets.

  5. Generate the parent HTML Help target.

    The parent CHM file and all child CHM files are located in the same output folder, and when you open any of those CHM files, you can see the navigation for any of the other outputs.

How to Display Merged Navigation in HTML Help—Access to CHM Files Only

Use this method if you do not have access to all of the Flare projects, but you do know the names of the other CHM files that will be created. This method is more of a manual setup and is useful if you are part of a team where different authors have access to different Flare projects that need to be merged. This method also lets you add or remove child CHM files without needing to recompile the parent project.

  1. The author for each project (parent and child) places a simple TXT file named merge.txt in the same folder where the Flare project file (.flprj) is located. This TXT file can be created with Notepad and should simply list the names of all CHM files to be included in the merged output (one on each line), with the name of the parent CHM appearing first.

    Example  

    MyParent.chm

    MyFirstChild.chm

    MySecondChild.chm

    MyThirdChild.chm

  2. The author for each child project generates his output and provides the author of the parent project with the CHM file(s).
  3. The author for the parent project brings the child CHM files into the parent project and follows the steps for merging based on CHM files. See Runtime Merging Output From HTML Help Projects (CHM Files).

  4. The author for the parent project generates the main HTML Help target.

    The parent CHM file and all child CHM files are located in the same output folder, and when you open any of those CHM files, you can see the navigation for any of the other outputs.