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MindManager 7 - Lab Projects

HTML Help Builder

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Downloads: 2401 File Size: 781.5kB
Posted By: Michael S. Scherotter Views: 14375
Date Added: 6 Oct 2006

1.0.7: Create Compiled Help files from MindManager Maps

Check Verison 1.0.7: 2/7/2007

HTML Help files are great way of packaging information from MindManager Maps.

Windows Explorer Usage:

  1. Right-click on a .mmap file and select Compile Help.
  2. A .chm file will be created in the same folder as the .mmap file.

MindManager Usage

  1. Open a map that you want to export to CHM. If you want to create a new help map, select File...New...HTML Help Map
  2. Add Help Map Markers icons to mark Table of Content entries.
  3. From the Top menu, select File...Export...Compiled Help Export...
  4. Select a filename for the .chm and press OK.
  5. A .chm file will be created with that filename.


HTML Help file showing new TOC Icons

Adding to a build script:

To add the building of a compiled help file to a software build process, you can use this script with command line parameters:

C:\Program Files\Mindjet Labs\MindManager Help Builder\BuildHelp.wsf

Usage: BuildHelp.wsf [map] [/chm:value] [/open]

Options:

map : .mmap input filename; if none is supplied then the active map in MindManager is used.
chm : .chm output filename. Default is the map filename with a .chm extension.
open: open the compiled help file after successful creation.
Example: BuildHelp.wsf Help.mmap /chm:Help.chm

Pagination:

  • When the help file is created, a page is created for each labeled topic (select Topic...Label... to add a label to any topic).
  • If there are no labeled topics, all of the topics are put into a single page.

Red Flag Requirements:

  • Mindjet MindManager Pro 6 
  • This uses the free Microsoft HTML Help compiler that is part of the HTML Help Workshop.

Calendar Revision History:

  • 2/7/2007 Added Task Info and Topic hyperlinks.  Fixed a problem with pagination.
  • 2/2/2007 Added custom properties, spreadsheets, and comments. 
  • 2/1/2007 Added a map template and icon map marker set that corresponds to table of contents markers in HTML Help files.
    Added an instructions file (that was generated by this builder) to Start Menu/Program Files/Mindjet Labs/HTML Help Builder.
  • 1/16/2007 Fixed problem with installer that was preventing installation on some systems. 
  • 1/9/2007 Enhanced HTML transform to indent, add asterisks, and do better recursion (thanks to Allen Brown). 
  • 11/18/2006 Removed Copyright statement at the footer of each HTML page (thanks to Joel Kruse).
  • 11/15/2006 Fixed a problem with file hyperlinks: now they are embedded in the CHM. 
  • 11/7/2006 Enhanced solution and fixed bugs:
    - Fixed problem with maps that have Unicode text (international characters) (thanks to Stefan Scheib).
    - Signed installer
    - Fixed image map to work with main topics that do not have labels.
    - Added /open flag to script to open the compiled help flag after successful creation.
    - Updated explorer menu command to open the compiled help file after successful creation.
    - Added code to hide topic label Stars in image map (thanks to Stefan Schiller).

Comments
 

dethomas said:

This is pretty trick. Since I don't use topic labels much, I stumbled for a bit. But an map without labeled topics transforms to a single page .CHM file ok, and if the central topic is labeled, in addition to other pages, then the resulting CHM has multiple pages. With multiple CHM pages, I really like the search behavior. If the default was to treat each topic as a distinct page, perhaps to some topic depth, I would have had no initial problems. How about handling topic hyperlinks to external maps or other files and markup? Seems like we'd need to do something with <ap:Hyperlink> tags and the Url attribute they carry when referencing external files. Maybe one way is through C# or javaScript in mmap2html.xsl, to 1)generate a subfolder of markup for each topic hyperlink, and 2) fixup an <href> tag in the topic to point at the root HTML file in the generated subfolder. Of course, BuildHelp.js would need to process these generated subfolders to create the HTML in each, perhaps through repeated application of mmap2html.xslt itself. Another useful enhancement might be to trigger the compilation from a MindManager menu. Maybe "File->Save As -> Save As CHM", to be consistent with "Save As Web Pages"?. But that would be pretty straightforward to do with a macro. In any event, this is a good example of repurposing MindManager content.
13 Oct 2006 7:46 AM
 

jollygreengiant said:

I tried adding a comment before but am not sure if it worked. This is a great utility but I couldn't make it work with images in my Topic Notes areas - I just got a red cross and the word 'graphic'. How can I fix this please?
19 Oct 2006 10:04 AM
 

Michael S. Scherotter said:

I have not added images in topic notes yet; it should be easy. Great Suggestion!
19 Oct 2006 10:26 AM
 

Stefan Scheib said:

very useful! That's exactly what I am looking for for quite a while and didn't find an easy solution (I am not a programmer ;-)). But this only works for very few of my maps. And I am not able to ready the message in the command window... :-((. Any idea? Please make this a standard functionality in new versions!
1 Nov 2006 2:46 AM
 

sfschiller said:

to hide the "topic-label"-stars in the imagemap add "mmDoc.Filter.SetViewFilter(64);" before the count-allsubtopics for-loop in the BuildImageMap-function
5 Nov 2006 8:56 PM
 

Michael S. Scherotter said:

Stefan, Please send one of your maps that doesn't work to me at labs@mindjet.com. Michael
5 Nov 2006 9:05 PM
 

ronnie said:

Can anybody help me? I think that html help is the thing I searched for. But If I rightclick a .mmap file as written above I can see no "Compile help" what's wrong? Used Programs: Office 2003, MindManager5 Pro
7 Nov 2006 5:06 AM
 

Michael S. Scherotter said:

Ronnie, Like most of the Mindjet Labs solutions this only works on MindManager 6. What is keeping you from upgrading? Michael
7 Nov 2006 11:30 AM
 

Stefan Scheib said:

Michael, I downloaded the new version and it worked fine. Thanks. Regards Stefan
10 Nov 2006 9:58 AM
 

prgammel said:

This is outstanding - I can immediately use this for a business issue I have been working on. I think that the method of labeling the "page breaks" is acceptable - in particular because I'd also use this in webexport in order to be able to provide some fixed, "keep URLs" -- stapled URLs that I can point people to. I'd recommend that the tool will be modified to respect the current filtered view. For instance, I am working on a help map, where I have some "work in progress" items, and as I get these complete, I can move them over to the target area. Also useful for having a complete documentation for one audience, and provide a subset for another audience. Great !
15 Nov 2006 6:46 AM
 

necsus said:

Great work. That's what I wa looking for - now it's easy to make the documentation for my Addins.
15 Nov 2006 7:59 AM
 

DanielAlvarado said:

Thank you so much. I use Windows XP in spanish, so the HtmlHelp Tool Box was installed in "C:\Archivos de Programa" instead of "c:\Program Files". When I tried to compile a map for the first time, a message ask me to install HtmlHelp tool box becouse it was not found in C:\Program Files. I had to re install HtmlHelp in "C:\Program files"... and then all worked just fine. Thanks!!
19 Nov 2006 9:39 AM
 

NeoSu said:

Thank you for share...I am Chinese..when I compline my work to Chm..the Index list error.. Suggest: when Export..We can choose the Code..such as UTF-8,GB2312,Big5,ect.. thanks
20 Nov 2006 6:22 PM
 

uioiu9420 said:

真是太厲害了
9 Dec 2006 6:25 PM
 

roger_cavanagh said:

After my first trial this appears to be a really useful tool. Well done, Michael. Regards, Roger
12 Dec 2006 9:43 AM
 

Jim McDaniel said:

When it works, this seems very nice. I have one particular "help" file that I was going to distribute and am trying to see if this would be a better format. A few times, the compile seemed to work ok, but other times it creates the chm file and then all I get is a message saying that that file can't be opened when I double click on it. Any suggestions as to why that might happen?
16 Dec 2006 4:23 PM
 

Michael S. Scherotter said:

Jim, Could you please send me one of the maps that isn't working? Thanks, Michael
9 Jan 2007 2:49 PM
 

Rick Suzuki said:

Great macro!!! I hated making help files in other apps, in mindmanger, (which I use all the time) this is perfect. A few things that I would like, is to be able to add search keywords, hyperlinks, colored text and graphics. Maybe if I can't figure a way to do it in MM, I'll decompile the help file and do it that way. But even though these things don't seem to be there, a wonderful add-on to mindmanger 6
11 Jan 2007 5:28 PM
 

rick Suzuki said:

Sorry correction to above, now seeing that list topics is working - Wow!!!
11 Jan 2007 5:30 PM
 

NickDuffill said:

An excellent piece of work.
16 Jan 2007 4:06 AM
 

info1 said:

The HTML Help Builder is excellent and should if possible be made a standard part of the Mindmanager product. The users can distribute the .chm to each other for use in not only how to use Mindmanager but all other types of applications or even business processes. Whats more amazing is that you can convert the .chm to an excellent pdf document with a menu tree and all hyperlinks and bookmarks work. The images also convert and the map with hotlinks also works. I do this conversion with an external .chm to pdf converter. Mindmanager may want to add this type of converter to their offering also. Jim INFOMINDSOLUTIONS www.infomindsolutions.com
28 Jan 2007 5:40 PM
 

Michael S. Scherotter said:

Jim, I'm glad that you like it. I am now using it to make the help files for all the Mindjet Labs solutions. As you know, this is based on the HTML Help Workshop, a free download from Microsoft which is not redistributable. That would be a major roadblock to making this part of MindManager. Michael
1 Feb 2007 4:18 PM
 

info1 said:

Michael, I have used for chm converter for many maps now and am learning the nuances to its use. The map to chm converter is a very powerful took and has many applications in business. Especially when you post the chm Help files on collaborative intranet sites like EMC's eroom or Microsoft's SharePoint. For my own website I have found a Chm to HTML converter that works real well. The webpage created maintains the menu and a main frame for viewing the help contents. When I have hyperlinks open to the "same" window this tool is very powerful. You can basically stay on one page and flip from website to website or pdf to pdf etc. You (Mindjet) should consider having as option to the chm converter the extension to html. I have examples on my website at www.infomindsolutions.com. I understand that Microsoft won't allow commercial distribution of the HTML Help. But I also see that with Vista they won't be continuing support of HTML Help. Maybe this is an opportunity for Mindjet? thanks again Jim
9 Feb 2007 10:24 PM
 

asouza said:

Michael, the application is great but, unfortunately I cannot see the Help icons in MindManager when I open a previous saved map. How can I fix it? Thanks, Alex
20 Feb 2007 12:24 PM
 

Michael S. Scherotter said:

Asouza, I created a Map Marker set for that. In MindManager, open the map that you want to add help icons to. Open Tools...Template Organizer. Select the Map Marker Lists tab. Click on HTML Help Builder/Help on the left side. Press Apply at the bottom. You will now have the Help Map Markers in that document. Enjoy, Michael
23 Feb 2007 1:49 PM
 

info1 said:

Hi Michael, Is there anyway to set an option to have each main topic be a separate page in the CHM help file created?
2 Mar 2007 9:41 PM
 

Michael S. Scherotter said:

Info1, From the description above about pagination, add a label to each main topic. "When the help file is created, a page is created for each labeled topic (select Topic...Label... to add a label to any topic)." Michael
2 Mar 2007 10:14 PM
 

erik said:

this is great, but I agree it should work with images in textnotes to become really useful.
26 Mar 2007 1:45 AM
 

duc said:

i want this software
4 Apr 2007 9:02 AM
 

Stefan Scheib said:

Just started with a large internal project and plan to use that very useful tool for different purposes. But recently I see some strange things with the created chm-Files: When I try to open them on my offline share on the laptop (Filesystem: *NT5CSC) I get an error message: "Action canceled Internet Explorer was unable to link to the Web page you requested. The page might be temporarily unavailable.". When copying the chm-file to a folder on the local drive (c:; Filesystem: NTSC) everything works fine. Any idea how to solve that? Best regards Stefan
16 Apr 2007 1:58 PM
 

roger_cavanagh said:

I am not sure whether this is a problem with the add-in or something has broken in my installation. I have a large document which, mostly, works great except for hyperlinks to other topics added to text in topic notes. The text shows as a link and the cursor changes from the arrow to the hand, but no jump. I cannot honestly remember whether this has ever worked. Can anyone confirm whether this is a problem, or if there is some remedial action I can take? Regards, Roger
17 Apr 2007 8:46 AM
 

Stefan Scheib said:

Roger, I couldn't get the hyperlinks going either when I was doing some testing yesterday. No idea why. Today the text in the notes is not exported in all cases...
17 Apr 2007 1:14 PM
 

amab said:

This would be very useful if you could get the images working! One very good use of MindManager is to produce user documentation for applications and business processes. These are maintained as mindmaps, and we are currently distributing them as web pages and as written documents via Microsoft Word. It would be very neat if we could use the same mindmaps to produce .chm-files as well! There is also a problem with the ProgramFiles variable which is hard-coded to “Program Files” in BuildHelp.js and had to be changed. Maybe you should note that in your comments. We are able to create .chm-files from a .mmap file through Windows Explorer but MindManager (6.0.643) reacts to this function simply by terminating the application. Could this be a “Program Files” problem as well? In our part of the world this directory is simply called “Program”.
29 Apr 2007 4:17 PM
 

Jen said:

Hm, interesting! I'm going to have to give this a try. Keep us updated on the progress!
30 Apr 2007 5:13 PM
 

Stefan Scheib said:

Hello Mindjet Labs, when will this be available for MM7? Many thanks in advance Stefan
6 Jun 2007 12:22 AM
 

Michael S. Scherotter said:

Stefan, Please see this link on my blog. http://mindjetlabs.com/cs/blogs/synergist/archive/2007/06/05/Updating-Mindjet-Labs-Solutions-to-MindManager-7.aspx I would send a message to labs@mindjet.com. Michael
6 Jun 2007 7:03 AM
 

klaassart said:

Is there any way to remove 'This HTML Help document was generated automatically from a Mindjet MindManager Map by the Mindjet Labs HTML Help Builder.' at the bottom?
7 Jun 2007 7:44 AM
 

What Box said:

How exactly do I get the exported chm to appear as an option in the help menu or contect menu of a given application... say even MindManager?
14 Sep 2007 3:23 PM
 

What Box said:

Links within map to other topics do not translate to links within the CHM.
17 Sep 2007 2:31 PM
 

What Box said:

opps... that's links from pne Topic Note to another that should translate to links (bookmarks) within CFM file.
17 Sep 2007 2:33 PM
 

saj said:

very nice
4 Oct 2007 11:00 PM
 

ozgurkalan said:

Michael, hi, The builder is great, but I have a serious problem. When it's installed and Library Tab clicked, it crashes mindmanger with a message: "MINDMA~1.EXE" "The exception unknown software exception (0xc000000d) occured in the application at location 0x781477a9" Cheers, Özgür
7 Jan 2008 7:09 AM
 

ozgurkalan said:

Michael, hi, The builder is great, but I have a serious problem. When it's installed and Library Tab clicked, it crashes mindmanger with a message: MINDMA~1.EXE The exception unknown software exception (0xc000000d) occured in the application at location 0x781477a9 Cheers, Özgür
7 Jan 2008 7:10 AM
 

ozgurkalan said:

Michael, hi, The builder is great, but I have a serious problem. When it's installed and Library Tab clicked, it crashes mindmanger with a message: MINDMA1.EXE The exception unknown software exception 0xc000000d occured in the application at location 0x781477a9 Cheers, Özgür
7 Jan 2008 7:11 AM
 

veromaxx said:

Michael, hi, The builder is great, but I have a serious problem. When it's installed and Library Tab clicked, it crashes mindmanger with a message: MINDMA1.EXE The exception unknown software exception 0xc000000d occured in the application at location 0x781477a9 Cheers, Özgür
10 Jan 2008 5:22 PM
 

cialis said:

EXE The exception unknown software exception (0xc000000d http://blog.veromaxx.com) occured in the application at location 0x781477a9 Cheers, Özgür
13 Jan 2008 1:32 PM
 

maikr said:

Cool! Now I've got it running it works great. I had a little problem with the hard coded path to the HTML Help Workshop. My Vista installation is not on the regular C-drive, so I had to edit BuildHelp.js in the directory: "\\Program Files\Mindjet Labs\Mindjet Labs MindManager 7 Help Builder" and correct the drive letter in the path to the Help compiler. After that it works absolutely fabulous!! Thanks for your effort to build this great solution. Best regards, Maik
17 May 2008 11:33 AM

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