8.8.1 Creating WinHelp topics

To create topics, in the configuration file assign property Topic to the FrameMaker paragraph format of the heading (or other paragraph) that starts material to be included in a topic:

[HelpStyles]

; style = key list, where list members are separated by spaces only

Heading_format=Topic

You can start a topic within a table only if you eliminate table structure for all tables in your document:

[Tables]

StripTables=Yes

See §8.5.3 Converting table rows to topics and table cells to pop-ups.

The format to which you assign property Topic becomes the title of the topic in WinHelp; see §8.8.3 Configuring topic titles for WinHelp.

You can create three kinds of WinHelp topics with Mif2Go:

Normal topics	Usually begins with a heading in your document and continues to the next heading; appears in a full window when you jump to it.
Sliding topics	Occurs in the middle of a normal topic in FrameMaker, but has to look like a separate topic in WinHelp; often a table or figure.
Pop-up topics	Appears in a small window over the current normal topic when selected; use for definitions or glossary entries.

Normal topics

A normal topic has properties such as the following:

[HelpStyles]

Heading 1=Topic Browse Key Contents

See §8.8.2 Assigning properties to formats for topics and hotspots for information about these and other topic properties.

Sliding topics

A sliding topic has property Slide in addition to Topic and any other properties. For example:

[HelpStyles]

TableTitle=Topic Slide Browse Key Contents

Sliding topics are meant for embedded glossary terms, tables, or figures, where you want to lift something out of the middle of another topic and make that something a topic itself. A sliding topic does not end the previous topic (unless it too was a sliding topic), but just suspends the previous topic. A sliding topic ends at the next sliding topic, normal topic, or paragraph with a format to which you have assigned property Resume. For example:

[HelpStyles]

Body=Resume

If the previous topic was a normal topic, that topic continues. This lets you handle tables, figures, or “lifts” within normal topics separately, without breaking the flow of the normal topic. If a sliding topic includes Browse, it appears in the browse sequence immediately after the enclosing normal topic.

Pop-up topics

A pop-up topic is a single paragraph, usually not a heading. For example:

[HelpStyles]

Description=Topic Scroll NoXScroll NoTitle

A topic designated for use as a pop-up cannot have a non-scrolling region, or it will pop up looking empty. Pop-up topics do not have titles; however, if you do not want pop-up topic text to appear in full-text search, you must assign property NoTitle.

See also §8.9.2 Configuring pop-up topics.

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