Web Toolbars in HTML Help Output

If you incorporate MadCap Feedback into your Flare project and generate Microsoft HTML Help output, a web toolbar is automatically added to the top of each topic in the CHM file. However, this toolbar is not only for MadCap Feedback. Even if you are not using Feedback in your project, you can add the web toolbar to your Microsoft HTML Help output. See Adding a Web Toolbar to HTML Help Output.

In addition to submitting topic ratings and comments, the default buttons in the web toolbar let users expand or collapse Dynamic HTML effects (e.g., drop-down text, expanding text), search, go to the next or previous topic, and more. You can change the buttons included in the web toolbar, removing ones you do not want and adding others.

For more about web toolbars versus topic toolbars, see Toolbars.

How to Specify Custom Toolbar Settings for HTML Help Output

After adding the web toolbar for Microsoft HTML Help output, complete the following steps.

  1. Open a Standard skin.
  2. Select the WebHelp Toolbar tab.
  3. Select options to include specific features (buttons) in the toolbar. Items that will be included in the toolbar are displayed in the Selected section on the right. Items that will not be included in the toolbar are displayed in the Available section on the left. You can use the right arrow button to move items from the Available section to the Selected section.

    Following are descriptions of the various items.

    Back

    Lets users open the topic that was viewed previously.

    Collapse All

    Lets users collapse all elements such as togglers, drop-down effects, and expanding text effects in a topic (if they are expanded).

    Current Topic Index

    Lets users see the display for the current topic in the sequence. This is typically used in conjunction with the "Next Topic" and "Previous Topic" buttons when the topic in question exists in a browse sequence. Flare finds the current topic in a browse sequence and display its position in relation to the rest of the topics in that sequence. (The root node is used to determine the count; in other words, if there are "child" topics in the sequence structure under the current topic, they will be included in the count.)

    Edit User Profile

    Lets users edit their Pulse or Feedback registration profile settings.

    Expand All

    Lets users expand all elements such as togglers, drop-down effects, and expanding text effects in a topic (if they are not yet expanded).

    Forward

    Lets users open the next topic in a previously viewed sequence.

    Home

    Lets users open a designated home page (such as your company's website)

    Next Topic

    Lets users open the next topic in the output. If you are using a browse sequence, Flare attempts to find the current topic in a browse sequence and navigate to the next topic from there. If you are using HTML5 Side Navigation, Top Navigation, or skinless output, or if you are not using a browse sequence, Flare looks at the position of the current topic in your table of contents (TOC) and opens the next topic after it.

    Previous Topic

    Lets users open the previous topic in the output. If you are using a browse sequence, Flare attempts to find the current topic in a browse sequence and navigate to the previous topic from there. If you are using HTML5 Side Navigation, Top Navigation, or skinless output, or if you are not using a browse sequence, Flare looks at the position of the current topic in your table of contents (TOC) and opens the previous topic before it.

    Print

    Lets users open the Print dialog so that they can send the open topic to the printer.

    Quick Search

    Lets users initiate a search in the active topic for the word or phrase that has been typed in the field next to the button.

    Refresh

    Lets users update the content of the topic being viewed.

    Remove Highlight

    After a user performs a quick search in a topic, the search text found in the topic is highlighted. This button lets users turn the highlights off.

    Stop

    Lets users prevent a page from downloading file information.

    Topic Ratings

    Lets users submit ratings for a topic (if you have incorporated your output with MadCap Pulse or Feedback).

  4. (Optional) You can use the buttons at the bottom of the tab to perform additional tasks.

    Option

    Description

    Opens the New Toolbar Button dialog, which lets you add a custom button to the toolbar. After creating the custom button, select it and click to move it to the Selected section.

    Unless you specify otherwise, in the output the new button will display the text for the name you gave it. However, you can change this by editing the control type for the new button. To do this, you can select the Styles tab in the Skin Editor, expand the Toolbar Item node, select one of the styles listed above, expand the Type property group, and from the Control Type field select Button. To choose an image for the button, expand the General property group on the Styles tab and select image files in the Icon fields.

    If you want to provide a command for the custom button (e.g., so that clicking the button opens a website), you can select the Styles tab in the Skin Editor, expand the Toolbar Item node, select one of the styles listed above, expand the Type property group, and enter a command in the OnClick field. For example, the following command opens the MadCap Software website when a user clicks the button:

    Copy
    window.open("http://www.madcapsoftware.com");

    Alternatively, you can use the JavaScript area on the WebHelp Toolbar tab to enter a command for the button. See the next step.

    Removes the selected custom button from the Available section.

    Moves the selected item up in the order in the Selected section. In the output, buttons are displayed left to right according to the order in which they appear on this tab, with the item at the top being the first button shown on the left in the output.

    Moves the selected item down in the order in the Selected section.

    Use delete to empty contents.

    Removes the selected item(s) from the Selected section.

    Adds a separator to the Selected section. A separator is the divider between the toolbar buttons and the navigation pane.

    Resets the toolbar to the default settings.

  5. (Optional) If you want to include custom JavaScript in the toolbar, click Edit in the area to the right. This opens the Toolbar JavaScript dialog, which you can use to enter or load custom JavaScript for the toolbar.

    For example, the following command opens the MadCap Software website when a user clicks the button:

    Copy
    function MyFunction()
    {
    window.open("http://www.madcapsoftware.com");
    }
  6. Click Save the active file. to save your work.

Note You can also specify which buttons should be included in the navigation toolbar at the top of the CHM window. See Specifying Buttons for HTML Help Output.

Note You can also add a web toolbar that is displayed within topic content. This can be done with the help of a topic toolbar proxy. See Inserting and Editing a Topic Toolbar Proxy.

What's Next?

Make sure that you associate the skin with the target. See Associating Skins With Targets.