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January 4, 2012

2

Adding a Captivate video into a RoboHelp topic

captivate_start

The Adobe Technical Communication Suite is more than just a collection of powerful applications aimed at technical communicators. It includes integration between the applications not available to users buying the individual applications. One area of integration is the ability to create an Adobe Captivate movie inside an Adobe RoboHelp topic.

On your marks!

When an Adobe Captivate movie is published, a set of files are output:

  • .SWF file: This is the Shockwave Flash file that is opened when viewing the movie.
  • standard.JS: A JavaScript file required to run all Adobe Captivate movies.
  • .HTM file: This acts as a container for the .SWF file.

Creating a movie from inside Adobe RoboHelp is as easy as clicking on a toolbar icon. This opens Adobe Captivate allowing you to record your movie. The beauty of this approach is that you don’t have to worry about the publish location; this is automatically set to your Adobe RoboHelp project folder. On completion, all the files listed above are automatically imported into your project. If you don’t have the Adobe Technical Communications Suite, you can just import the .HTM file into your Adobe RoboHelp project which imports all the other files.

Get set!

When inserting a movie, the default behavior is for it to start running as soon as the Adobe RoboHelp topic is displayed. Now call me fussy, but I want the user to have control over when, or indeed if, they watch it. I recently had a conversation with other users on this very topic and we came up with the following options.

Option 1: Easy peasy Lemon squeezy!

First up is a hyperlink to the Adobe Captivate .HTM output file from inside an Adobe RoboHelp topic. I have used this approach in the past, with the link opening in a new window. Such an approach is particularly useful if you use Adobe Captivate’s full screen output option. Although the link idea works, this is a somewhat simplistic and clunky solution. It also means that once the link is activated, the movie starts. In other words you haven’t solved the initial problem, just found a way to delay it occurring.

Option 2: Dropping down!

A similar solution is to place the link to the .HTM file inside a DHTML drop down inside your Adobe RoboHelp topic. With this approach the DHTML drop down acts as a link, with the actual link inside it acting as the start button. Once again this solution works but has similar advantages and disadvantages to the previous option.

Option 3: Clickity click!

Another approach is to add an additional slide at the start of your Adobe Captivate project with a click box. Set the click box to only continue when the user clicks on it.

This solution works well giving the user full control over when they proceed. However, it does mean having to edit the Adobe Captivate project, republish its output and import the amended .HTM output file into your Adobe RoboHelp  project.

Option 4: A personal preference!

You’ll have noticed I said earlier that Adobe Captivate publishes movies by default to start automatically. This can be changed as follows:

  1. In Adobe Captivate click Edit > Preferences.
  2. Click on the Start and End preferences.
  3. Deselect the Auto Play option.
  4. Click OK.

With this option deselected, movies are published with a Play button, which must be clicked by the user for the movie to start. This neat solution gives the user full control in a familiar format. The problem is that the preference applies to all future movies.

Go!

Which option is best? As is normally the case in such matters, it depends on your requirements. My personal favorite is option 4. The only issue is that the preferences need changing if you need to override the default behavior.

I did uncover a potential fifth option which would work well in such circumstances; however it seems to only work in some movies. I’ve yet to nail down exactly why it doesn’t always work but for completeness, here it is. You can manually edit the Adobe Captivate .HTM output file to add the following line to the list of parameters:

<param name=”play” value=”false” />

I admit that manually editing a file is not to everyone’s taste. If you do try this approach, I’d be interested in hearing your results.

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  • http://www.GooberGuides.com Rick Stone

    Sorry Colum, but I have to strongly disagree that this post offers your readers anything remotely close to a “best practice” when it comes to blending RoboHelp and Captivate. In my view you are helping them aim a gun right at their foot and asking them to pull the trigger.

    While it’s certainly possible to do as you describe, I personally would NEVER advise someone to work in this manner. What I mean is that you start RoboHelp and are working on topics, then from RoboHelp you start Captivate.

    When you work in this rather convoluted manner you give up much control and allow the software to make some choices for you. It boxes you into a bit of a corner.

    Captivate and RoboHelp have entirely different workflows. My own advice is to treat each application as it *SHOULD* be treated.

    What I mean here is that you open RoboHelp and work on RoboHelp projects. And when you sense the need for a Captivate project, Open Captivate as a separate application where it’s not connected to RoboHelp and treat that project as if all you were doing was focusing on creating a Captivate. Then when finished, take that Captivate output and insert it into RoboHelp.

    Cheers… Rick :)

    • http://www.cmcandrew.com/robocolumn The Robocolum(n)

      Thanks for this advice Rick and as always you make some good points. I always treat the two applications as you suggest personally, but then I am not your average user. It is perfectly possible for a novice user to create simple Captivate movies from inside a RoboHelp topic. The entire point of the integration between the two applications was to allow users to do as I describe. It may not be for everyone, but it can be done. If you want choice and control, fine. If you don’t mind handing over control, the option is on the table.