A hyperlink is an element in a topic body that links or points to another content object. Typically, people click on the hyperlink to follow the link and to walk through the content. In HelpServer hyperlinks are also used to embed pieces of content directly in the body of a topic for example as a drop down or a popup. A HelpServer hyperlink can point to a folder or to a specific topic within a folder. These are called the hyperlink targets.
In the following example we create a hyperlink to the 'Topic: About the shark' You can use the same working principles to create a hyperlink to a folder.
Copying an object
Popup the menu of the object to which you want to create a hyperlink and select 'Copy'.
Next, select the topic in the tree and put the cursor where you want to insert the hyperlink.
Pasting a copied object as a hyperlink
Popup the menu and select 'Paste hyperlink to...'. A hyperlink will be inserted using the description of the object that was copied. It will automatically get the 'Link' character style.
The behavior of a hyperlink target is determined by properties included in the hyperlink itself. These properties are saved in the topic body. If you popup the menu of the hyperlink and select 'Hyperlink properties' you can see and change these properties.
Opening the hyperlink properties
The hyperlink properties
The target
| • | Object |
This is the content object behind the hyperlink. It can be a topic or a folder.
If you click on the 'Where used' button you can locate it in the folder tree (see locating a hyperlink's target).
| • | Bookmark |
If the target is a topic and it contains bookmarks you can extend the hyperlink by one of these bookmarks. If the hyperlink target is invoked, it will scroll to the position of the bookmark (see Bookmarks).
The invocation
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The hotspot
The hotspot is the clickable area that represents a hyperlink target. The hotspot can be text or an image.
If the hotspot is a text string then by default the description of the hyperlink target is used in a dynamic way. This means that if the hyperlink target's description changes, the hyperlink text is changed automatically.
Using text as a hotspot
Should the hyperlink target's description not entirely fit in the topic text, you can do two things.
| • | You can switch off the option 'Use target object description' on the 'properties window. This will enable the text entry field and then you can specify the hyperlink text of your choice. |
| • | You can change the hyperlink text directly in the topic body, it won't influence the link mechanism. It will automatically switch off the option 'Use target object description' . |
If you like to present the hyperlink as an image you can select the 'Image' radio button.
Using an image as a hotspot
Next, you can click on the 'Browse' button and then select the image from the project gallery or from your file system.
