Creating Jumps to Secondary Windows

After you have defined a secondary window for your Help file, you will probably want to create hot spots with the topics that access the secondary window. In most cases, you can create a hot spot that causes a jump:

nFrom the main Help window to a secondary window.

nFrom the secondary window back to the main window.

nTo a secondary window in a different Help file.

Creating Standard Jumps to Secondary Windows

You create jumps to topics in secondary windows the same way you create standard jumps. The difference is that you must include the name of the secondary window in the hot spot information, as shown here:

context-string>window-name

Context-string is the context string for the topic you are jumping to, and window-name is the name of the secondary window where you want the topic to appear.

To create a jump to a secondary window

1.1.Follow the steps to create a standard jump hot spot.

2.2.Insert a right angle bracket (>) immediately after the last character of the context string.

3.3.Type the name of the secondary window where you want the topic to appear.

Note The angle bracket and window name must be formatted as hidden text.

Figure 9.x shows a correctly formatted hot spot for a secondary window jump.

Note:

As with other hot spots, you can change the basic appearance of a hot spot that references a secondary window. Because the secondary window information is completely contained within the hidden text, the procedures are exactly the same as those for regular jump hot spots. Refer to the “Changing the Standard Appearance of Jump Hot Spots”section in Chapter 8, “Creating Links and Hot Spots,” for details.

Creating Jumps to the Main Help Window

Generally, if you create one or more secondary windows, you will also need to create hot spots in secondary window topics that jump back to the main window. To do that, you use the same jump format and specify “main” as the window-name, as in this example:

context-string>main

The window name “main” is reserved for the main Help window and must be used when specifying jumps to the main window.

To create a jump from a secondary window to the main Help window

1..Follow the steps to create a standard jump hot spot.

2.2.Insert a right angle bracket (>) immediately after the last character of the context string.

3.3.Type main as the window-name.

Note The angle bracket and main must be formatted as hidden text.

Figure 9.x shows a correctly formatted jump hot spot for the main window.

To help you coordinate the links in your Help file so that the correct topics are displayed in the appropriate window, the following table presents a complete summary of the possible links you can create between the main Help window and a secondary window.

Creating Interfile Jumps to Secondary Windows

If the destination topic is in another Help file, you can also include the name of the Help file before the window-name, as shown here:

context-string[@filename]>window-name

The filename is the name of the Help file that contains the topic you want to display in the secondary window.

To create an interfile jump to a secondary window

1.1.Follow the steps to create a standard jump hot spot.

2.2.Insert an at sign (@) immediately after the last character of the context string.

3.3.Type the name of the file that contains the context string assigned to the topic that is the target of the interfile jump.

Note The at sign and Help filename must be formatted as hidden text.

4.4.Insert a right angle bracket (>) immediately after the last character of the Help filename.

5.5.Type the name of the secondary window where you want the topic to appear.

Note The angle bracket and window name must be formatted as hidden text.

Figure 9.x shows a correctly formatted interfile jump hot spot in a topic file.