Extend Oxygen WebHelp Transtype?

[sevforeman]

I thought I posted this earlier, but didn't get a confirmation and I don't see my post on the forum. Forgive me if this is a repeat.

Is is possible to customize and/or add Ant targets to the Oxygen WebHelp transformation type? For example, I would like to add a target with a custom .xsl that writes a context-sensitive help alias file used by my company's application.

Regards,
Severin

[sorin_ristache]

Hello,

We have already added this facility in the DITA WebHelp transformation for the upcoming Oxygen version. If you want to try it I can send you by email a download link for an Oxygen beta build that includes its implementation.

The WebHelp transformation offers two options for connecting the WebHelp pages generated from your product documentation with your application:

• a file called context-help-map.xml generated automatically in the output directory of the DITA WebHelp transformation that includes a mapping like:
  

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   <appContext helpID="resourceId-value" path="path/to/topic.html"/>

  for each resourceid element in a DITA XML topic or id attribute on the root element of a DITA XML topic,
• a data-id attribute on each HTML a element from the left-side Content panel of the WebHelp pages; as the value of the data-id attribute is the same information: the value of the resourceid element or the id attribute of the root element of a DITA XML topic:
  

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  <a href="path/to/topic.html" data-id="resourceId-value">

The first option enables custom server-side processing of the context-help-map.xml file, on the server that hosts the WebHelp pages, since the context-help-map.xml file is generated automatically in the same directory with (and can be deployed on the server together with) the WebHelp pages.

The second option offers client-side contextual help by opening the WebHelp pages directly to a specific WebHelp topic in a web browser, with a URL like:

http://your.server.com/path/to/WebHelp/ ... ceId-value

The client-side part in the second option comes built-in to the WebHelp pages, your application just opens in a web browser a URL with the contextId parameter, as in the above example.

Please let me know if you want to try the built-in facility for context-sensitive help in your application, and I will send you an Oxygen beta build that includes it.

[jayaram]

What is the expected release date for Oxygen with this functionality?

Thanks,
Jayaram

[sorin_ristache]

Hello,

This functionality will be included in Oxygen 17.0 which will be released in the first half of this year, probably at the beginning of May 2015.