Add a ‘close’ link to togglers and dropdowns (HTML5)

I’ve written a script that will add a ‘close’ link to the bottom of dropdowns and togglers.

This will work with HTML5 targets in Flare.

To use this in your own Flare project, first copy and paste the following code into a text file, and save it with a *.js extension; e.g. dd_toggler_links.js.

$(document).ready(function(){
	/* Add close button to dropdowns */
	$(".dropDownBody").append("<a href='javascript:void(0);' class='dropDownClose'>Close</a>");
	$(".dropDownClose").click(function() {
		$(this).parent().prev(".dropDownHead").children(".dropDownHotspot").click();
	});
		
	/* Add close button to togglers */
	$("[data-mc-target-name]").each(function() {
		/* for each toggler target, find the target name (togglerTarget) */
		var togglerTarget = $(this).attr("data-mc-target-name");
		/* for each toggler target, add a close link (a.togglerClose) */
		var closeTarget = $("<a href='javascript:void(0);' class='togglerClose'>Close</a>");
		$(this).append(closeTarget);
		/* Create a selector for the toggler link (closeToggler), which is linked to this target. Look for open togglers, which include the togglerTarget name */
		var closeToggler = 'a.toggler[data-mc-state="open"][data-mc-targets*="' + togglerTarget + '"]';
		/* When the closeTarget link is clicked, clik the toggler link (closeToggler) */
		$(closeTarget).click(function(){
			$(closeToggler).click();
		});
	});
});

Add the javascript file to your project, and add a script link to this file from your master page; e.g. in the head section you would include something like:

<script src="../Scripts/dd_toggler_links.js"></script>

The last part is to style the links, which use the class names a.closeDropDown and a.closeToggler. Add the following CSS to your stylesheet, and include any other properties, such as a colour or background icon.

a.dropDownClose,
a.togglerClose
{
    display: block;
}

 

Display CSH link for current topic

I’ve written a script that will display a CSH link for the current topic, for HTML5 help outputs.

If you use CSH (aliases) in your Flare project, then it’s useful to be able to share links to your help that include the CSH ID, rather than the path and topic filename (as that might change).

For example, you’d want to share a link like:
yoursite.com/help.htm#cshid=hello

Rather than:
yoursite.com/content/folder/anotherfolder/hello_topic.htm

The script checks to see if the current topic is included in your alias file. If the topic is in the alias file, then it displays a short CSH link to that topic – for you to copy and use as you wish.

Try it out

To try this out yourself, first create a master page that contains this HTML:

<p id="page-link">Page link: <a href="#">CSH link will go here</a>
  <script type="text/javascript" src="lookup.js"></script>
</p>

Then create a file called lookup.js (in the same place as your master page), and copy and paste the following code.

$(document).ready(function()
   {
      /* hide link, unless we find a match */
      $("#page-link").css("display", "none");
      
      /* find help path */
      var helpPath = $("html").data("mc-path-to-help-system");   
      /* find help filename */   
      var helpFile = $("html").data("mc-help-system-file-name");
      /* substitute xml extension with htm */   
      var helpFile = helpFile.replace(".xml", ".htm");
      /* complete help URL */
      var helpURL = helpPath + helpFile;
      
      /* alias file URL */
      var aliasURL = helpPath + "Data/Alias.xml";

      $.ajax({
         type: "GET",
         url: aliasURL,
         dataType: "xml",
         success: function(xml) {

            
            /* get current topic filename, then decode it to remove characters like %20 */
            var currentFilename = location.pathname.substring(location.pathname.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
            var currentFilename = decodeURIComponent(currentFilename);
            
            /* find every Map in the alias file */
            $(xml).find("Map").each(function()
            {
               /* get current Link (topic path) and Name (CSH ID) from Alias file */
               var currentLink = $(this).attr("Link");
               var currentName = $(this).attr("Name");
         
               /* check if current filename is contained in curent link */
               if ( currentLink.indexOf(currentFilename) != -1 )
               {
                  /* build CSH link */
                  var CSHlink = helpURL + "#cshid=" + currentName;
                  /* set href of link */
                  $("#page-link>a").attr("href", CSHlink);
                  /* set text in link to absolute path */
                  $("#page-link>a").text($("#page-link>a").prop("href")); 
                  /* display link */
                  $("#page-link").css("display", "block");
               }            
            });
         }
      });
      
});

And that’s it.

If the current topic is in the alias file, its CSH link will be displayed in the topic.