Microsoft lost a lawsuit, so they had to change the way that Internet Explorer handles items in <object> tags. That means Flash content. Before RoboHelp 6 I think it was, both the toolbar and the left pane suffered from Microsoft’s solution: When you hover over a Flash movie, it is outlined in gray, and a tooltip appears, announcing, “Click to activate and use this control.” An extra click was required before using the toolbar and the left pane. (In RH 6 and 7, only the nav pane gets this message.)

Very annoying.

Since not only did it annoy me to have to click a couple of extra times, I try to avoid stirring up irritation in my users if I can help it. Microsoft’s workaround is to use a JavaScript document.write function in an include file to write the >object< code into the page. But the way FlashHelp is set up, it’s not that simple.

Here’s how to make it work.

  1. In your FlashHelp output files, open wf_navpane.htm in a text editor, such as Notepad.
  2. Open a new, blank text file in the text editor. Type in the following code:


    function insertLeft() {

    }

  3. Save your text file as a .js (select “All files” in the Save as type dropdown, and include the “.js” file extension in the name that you give the file). Save the file in the same directory as wf_navpane.htm.
  4. In wf_navpane.htm, insert the following line beneath the line that references whver.js, given that you named your text file “myfile.js”:


    <script language="javascript1.2" src="myfile.js"></script>

  5. In wf_navpane.htm, highlight all the code between:


    ///////////////////////////////
    //
    // Insert the "Master" SWF
    //
    ///////////////////////////////

    ..and:

    </script>
    </body>
    </html>

  6. Cut the highlighted code (Ctrl + X or right-click < Cut), and in its place, enter:


    insertLeft();

  7. Paste the code from wf_navpane.htm into your .js file between the curly brackets. The last thing before the end bracket should be:


    document.write(strObject);

  8. Save both wf_navpane.htm and your .js file.
  9. Open up your FlashHelp system and move your mouse to the left pane. There should be no “Click to activate” message.

Note that every time you generate your output, wf_navpane.htm will be overwritten. Keep your altered version elsewhere so you can drop it in with the output files when needed.

If you’re using RH X5, this same fix applies to wf_master.htm. Cut out the code that contains the <object> tags and put them in your .js file in a function called something like “insertMaster().” Then put a reference to your .js file and an “insertMaster” function call in wf_master.htm like you did in wf_navpane.htm.

Related entries (auto-generated):

Tech Tip: Checking WebHelp/FlashHelp Output Files in to Subversion

FlashHelp Tech Tip: Fixing the “Flash Player has stopped a potentially unsafe operation” Problem

Why I’m Thinking about Dropping the FlashHelp Format

Changing a Topic File Name in RoboHelp and Subversion

Deleting a Topic from RoboHelp and Subversion