Creating and using a Context-sensitive Help map file

You apply CSH markers to specify context specific help location in your FrameMaker document. Next, you need to create a Help map file (with a .h extension). Your application developers use the map file to hook the specific parts of the application (for example, dialog boxes or menu items) to the corresponding help topics.

  1. Add the CSH markers in the FrameMaker source.

  2. Create a text file in any text editor and name the file as:

    <source book or document name>.h

  3. Place the map file in the FrameMaker source folder.

  4. For each CSH marker that you apply in your document, you need to create one line item in the map file as follows:

    #define <map ID> <map number>
    map ID

    Name that you specify for the CSH marker

    map number

    Unique numeric identifier that will be provided by the application developers. However, as a placeholder, you can provide any random number.

    For reference, the FrameMaker publish procedure also creates a sample map file:

    1. Run the publish procedure for your document.

    2. In Windows Explorer, go to the output folder.

      If your source content has CSH markers defined, a <source book or document name>.h file is created at the same folder level as the output folder.

      Example: For the output of a book named framemaker-publisher.book, the map file is framemaker-publisher.h.

    You can use this .h file as a reference to create your map file.

    You need to create your map file in the same format as this .h file.

    Important: The <source book or document name>.h file is created at the same level as the output folder and not inside the output folder.
  5. After you have added all the CSH markers to your map file, provide the map file to the product development team.

    The product development team can use the unique identifiers that you have included in the file. Alternatively, the product team can change the identifiers, as required, and return the updated file.

  6. Copy the updated map file to the FrameMaker source folder.

    Ensure that the name of the file is <source book or document name>.h.

  7. Run the publish procedure.

    The CSH markers are now included as anchors in the published output. You can now test the product context-sensitive Help functionality.

To implement context-sensitive Help in an application, you need to include the CSH markers in the documentation as described above. In addition, your product team will also need to add functionality in the application. For a detailed description on how to include context-sensitive Help functionality in an application, see Context-sensitive Help information for developers in the Using RoboHelp guide.