ALink Search
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This option is available from the "Insert | HtmlHelp Control" menu and is a HtmlHelp specific option. ALinks, also known as Associative Links, are jumps to other pages in your CHM file. They can be hidden ALinks or keywords. Generally you'll only use keywords. ALinks are seen commonly in help systems as See Also buttons or Related Topics buttons.


There are two parts to ALinks, the ALink Names and the ALink Search.


ALink Tutorial

  1. Assume you have two Topics called "Welcome" and "Links". We will add an ALink Name to the "Links" Topic and an ALink Search from the "Welcome" Topic. So first go to the target Topic, "Links"
  2. Select "Insert HtmlHelp Control | ALink Name"
  3. Type in your unique ALink name, for example, "LinkToMe" and click [OK]. You will see a Tag image appear in the editor. You can edit this by double-clicking on it. That's all there is to adding an ALink Name.
  4. Now we add the ALink Search. Go to the "Welcome" Topic, position your cursor at the end of the page and select "Insert | HtmlHelp Control | ALink Search".
  5. In "Display Options" select "As a Button". In "Button Options" select "Caption" and type in "See Also" in the Caption field.
  6. In "ALink Names" click the [Add] button and type in the unique ALink Name you added earlier, i.e. "LinkToMe" and click [OK]
  7. Click [OK] and compile to test. You can double-click the inserted control to edit it. Each of the other options is explained in detail below.


Display Options

Hidden

Hides this option. Useful if you are referring to this control from code

As a Button

Creates a clickable button with caption


Button Options

Caption

If you chose a display option of a Button then the caption you type below will appear on your button

Bitmap

Use the ellipsis button below to choose a bitmap to represent this control. The bitmap must be in your HtmlHelp folder, not your images folder, and must be shipped along with your CHM file

Icon

As with the Image option, you can use the ellipsis button below to choose an icon to represent this control. The icon must be in your HtmlHelp folder, not your images folder, and must be shipped along with your CHM file


ALink Names

Add

Click this to add a new ALink Name to the list. Ideally you should already have created the ALink Names.

Edit

Select an existing entry in the list and click this button to edit it.

Delete

Select an existing entry in the list and click this button to delete it.

.CHM File

This is optional. ALinks in merged projects do not need their CHM files specified, but it makes it faster if you do.