An embedded chunk is a piece of content that is embedded and saved in a topic body. It is merely used to enhance the readability of a topic. For example, you can subdivide a rather huge topic in sections and represent these by embedded chunks. The embedded chunk hotspots act as some kind of general overview in the topic and instead of reading through the entire topic the reader can open and read the sections of his interest. You can also use an embedded chunk to add sections such a ‘More information’, ‘Related information’, or a ‘See also’ to the topic.
Pretty much the same can be achieved with hyperlinks. But the target of a hyperlink is always an object (a topic or a folder) that is reusable, shareable and it has its own properties (security, workflow, feedback, etc...). The content behind an embedded chunk is contained in the topic body and therefore it cannot be reused and it has no properties. So, carefully consider the usage of embedded chunks. In case an embedded chunk content is usable in multiple topics you'd better use hyperlinks.
In the next example we demonstrate how to add embedded chunks in the ‘About birds’ topic of the 'Animal information' project.
Inserting an embedded chunk
Put the cursor at the place where you want to insert an embedded chunk, popup the menu and select ‘Insert>Embedded chunk’. The embedded chunk tags are inserted at the cursor position and a popup window opens.
Editing the embedded chunk
In the popup you can enter and edit content in the same way as you do in the main editor window. This popup window is modeless, meaning you can work (cut/copy) with the content on the background window and paste stuff in the popup. You close the popup by clicking on the 'X' in the top-right corner.
Re-opening the embedded chunk
If you want to re-open the embedded chunk window you double click on one of the embedded chunk tags or you popup the menu and select 'Open embedded chunk'
The hotspot
The hotspot of an embedded chunk is put between tags in the topic body.
Changing the hotspot between the tags
By default the text 'Enter hotspot here' is used and the 'Link' character style is used. You should change this between the tags (you cannot set or change it on a properties window). You can add an image, text, etc... between the tags. Users click on the hotspot to reveal or hide the content.
The invocation
If you popup the menu on one of the embedded chunk tags you can open the properties you can determine the way the embedded chunk is invoked in the topic.
Opening the embedded chunk properties
The embedded chunk properties
The following invocation options are supported.
• |
• |
• |
Remark
If you perform a find/replace or a spell check and an embedded chunk object is encountered then its associated window will popup to allow you to process its content. If all content in the embedded chunk popup is found/replaced or spell checked the process will continue outside that popup. The popups are not automatically closed or repositioned.