Add New Toolbar Button

[hylandwriter1]

I've found the articles on how to edit an fla/swf file for color/size/action,
but I don't see how to ADD a new button to the toolbar of a Flash Skin.

I want to add a ZoomSearch button, so I:
1 - copied the existing search.fla button in the template directory and
renamed it zoomsearch.fla.
2 - I open zoomsearch.fla in Adobe Flash and published the corresponding
zoomsearch.swf file.
3 - I opened the fhs file in Notepad and added the following section:
<toolbaritem mode="BtnWithIcon Mode" type="built-in-zoomsearch" id="5">
<name>ZoomSearch</name>
<wf>
<swf>skin_button_tb_zoomsearch.swf</swf>
<navcomponent>ZoomSearch</navcomponent>
</wf>
<text>::??DefaultWebSkinText??::</text>
</toolbaritem>

I republish the project, but the skin doesan't show the new button. Can
someone please give me a hint as to what I'm doing wrong?

[Peter Grainge]

Did you tick the checkbox for the new button in the second page of the wizard?

[Ben Minson]

This probably wouldn't solve the problem, but before publishing the new Flash
button movie, did you somehow change the action so that it's not hte same as
the old search button?

I'm not surprised that adding an entry doesn't automatically make a button
appear. One time I was experimenting, and removing an entry (the "powered by"
button) didn't make that button disappear.

I do know that the toolbar frame is actually assembled using JavaScript. My
guess is that you would have to tweak some of the supporting JavaScript files
that are created when you generate a FlashHelp output. If you have a
JavaScript expert on hand, he/she could probably track down where the button
display is assembled and help you put together some code that would tell the
toolbar frame to display another button (along with the changes you've already
made to the .fhs file).

--Ben

[hylandwriter1]

The new button doesn't appear as an option on the wizard. I fear (as Ben indicates) that JavaScript or an Action Script is involved.

[Ben Minson]

I should have added "do you have access to a Flash developer?" It would
probably take a lot of time for a Flash developer and a JavaScript expert to
figure out what all goes on to get a Flash skin to render. I think there is a
lot of hardcoding for FlashHelp to work the way it is out of the box and no
easy way to change it.

Peter, do you happen to know if anyone who was involved in building FlashHelp
is still on the RH team? It would be great to have some documentation on it
that explains how the movies and JavaScript work together to render the skin.

[Peter Grainge]

Sorry I don't.

[hylandwriter1]

Thanks for confirming that it wasn't just a simple fix. I actually opened the
.js files in Notepad to take a look!!! I will keep searching for some kind of
help. ZoomSearch is great and I really would like to incorporate it. In the
meantime....I'm learning flash!

[RoboWizard]

Hi all

Does the article linked below help you ferret anything out?
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/robohelp/articles/flashhelp_skins.html

Cheers... Rick :smile;

[hylandwriter1]

Unfortunately, no. It only says how to swap buttons from template to template,
change attributes like height/spacing/color. None of the documentation that I
can find or Adobe can point me to tells one how to add a "custom" (ZoomSearch)
button.
If anyone knows of a developer that can help......

[hylandwriter1]

Uncle. I give up on trying to add a ZoomSearch button to a flash skin. What
next? I am now attempting to integrate ZoomSearch with WebHelp. I have a
question about Step 4 on Merging Webhelp
(http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/merging_webhelp/merging_method_rh7.htm#S
tep_4).

I have created my "Project" and the child project (each in their own
subfolder) under the Project folder. What project/topic am I opening and
highlighting text in? and what "File" is the required file I am supposed to be
linking to?

[Peter Grainge]

That step is about creating a link from a topic in one project to a topic in
another project, nothing to do with searching.

The text you highlight is the text that will be the link and the file you
browse to is the target topic.

[hylandwriter1]

Yes. I'm not trying to implement Zoom Search. Just trying to set up merged
webhelp and step 4 has me a bit confused. I have "introductory" topics that
need to appear at the very top-level of the merged child projects. It looks
like I will not need the "target" topic that the user is never supposed to see.
This is not exactly like the demo, so I will have to adjust.

[Peter Grainge]

Are you using merged help to keep the size of each project down or because you
want to supply users with different pieces of the help?

Step 4 is IF you want a link from a topic in one project to a topic in another
project. If you don't want such a link, don't create one. Why would you target
a topic you don't want the user to see? Indeed, why would the help contain such
a topic?

[hylandwriter1]

Both. I need to keep the size down and I also will be publishing different
books for different user groups.

I have already set up this project to produce merged flash (i.e.,
MergedProject folder that contains output of each child, etc.). It work to
produce merged flash output. I now just want to produce merged webhelp for
this existing project. I think I'm just publishing the child projects to the
wrong output folders.

[Peter Grainge]

Perhaps this is where you are getting it wrong.

Do I still need to create a "blank" page in the parent that serves as the
redirect to each child project?

You only create one redirect in the parent. That goes to a topic in Child One
which will be an output that all users get, the common stuff. You point that to
the topic that you want the user to see when they open the help, regardless of
which other children they may have.

[hylandwriter1]

I just followed the same setup for output that I created for my merged flash output and it is fine.

[Peter Grainge]

Not sure if that means you have four redirects or not.

If that is what you are doing and it works for what you want from the merge,
then that's OK.

When you get to set up ZoomSearch later, you will need to run that for each
configuration of the output.