Specifying Context-Sensitive Help Links in Word
NOTE TO REVIEWERS: This topic was updated for the ePublisher 2009.2 release to contain information about the TopicDescription marker used by Eclipse Help systems per ticket #6.
You can use TopicAlias markers that contain topic IDs, or Filename markers that specify file names, to create context-sensitive help. If your output format supports the use of mapping files and topic IDs, typically you use TopicAlias markers to create context-sensitive help. If your output format does not support the use of mapping files and topic IDs, typically you use Filename markers to create context-sensitive help.
If you are generating Eclipse Help, you can also choose to specify a topic description for each context-sensitive help link your created using a TopicAlias marker by using a TopicDescription marker in conjunction with the TopicAlias marker. For more information about how TopicAlias markers and TopicDescription markers can work together when generating Eclipse Help, see
Context-Sensitive Help in Word.
To specify a context-sensitive help link, your Stationery and template must have a TopicAlias or Filename marker type configured. If you are generating Eclipse Help and you want to be able to specify topic descriptions for your context-sensitive help links, you Stationery and template must also have a TopicDescription marker type configured. Consult with the Stationery designer to determine which marker type you should use to create context-sensitive help links and topic descriptions in your source documents. Your output format must also support this feature.
The following procedure provides an example of how to create context-sensitive help links and topic descriptions in Microsoft Word source documents using Microsoft Word 2003. Steps for creating context-sensitive help links in Microsoft Word may be different in other versions of Microsoft Word.
To create a context-sensitive help link in a Microsoft Word source document
1. Open the Microsoft Word source document that contains the context-sensitive topic you want to link to when users click a help button or help icon from within an application.
2. Insert your cursor at the end of the heading paragraph (or body paragraph if no heading) to which you want to link.
3. On the WebWorks menu, click Markers.
4. Select the marker type the Stationery designer configured your Stationery to support from the drop-down list. For example, select TopicAlias or Filename.
5. In the Value field, type the topic ID you want to specify for the topic.
6. Click OK.
7. If you are generating Eclipse Help and you want to specify topic descriptions for each context-sensitive help link you are creating, complete the following steps:
a. Insert your cursor in the topic after the TopicAlias marker you inserted for the Eclipse context-sensitive help topic.
b. On the WebWorks menu, click Markers.
c. Select the TopicDescription marker type from the list.
d. If the TopicDescription marker type is not on the list, check with the Stationery designer to obtain the name of the marker type the Stationery designer created to support this functionality, and then use the marker type specified by the Stationery designer. For more information, refer to
Implementing Online Features in Word.
e. In the Value field, type the topic description you want to use.
f. Click OK.
8. Save your Microsoft Word source document.
10. In Output Explorer, complete the following steps:
a. Verify that ePublisher inserted the topic ID into the map file when it generated output.
b. If you generated Eclipse Help and specified topic descriptions for your context-sensitive help topics, verify that the contents.xml file for your Eclipse Help system contains the topic descriptions you specified for context-sensitive help topics.
c. Test the generated output using the application and verify that the application links to the appropriate context-sensitive help topic. This testing ensures the context-sensitive help link you created displays correctly within the application.
Last modified date: 12/09/2021