RoboHelp Article

RoboHelp X5 and XML – Part 1: Import and Export Features

When Microsoft announced in 1996 that the next version of Windows Help would be based on HTML rather than the older Rich Text Format (RTF), Blue Sky Software (eHelp's original name) began adding HTML support to RoboHelp. That support began as a plug-in that went through a sometimes tortuous evolution before becoming the powerful and largely stable authoring tool it is today.

We are now starting another shift—this time from HTML to XML. Once again, we're likely to go through a sometimes tortuous evolution before RoboHelp XML settles down.

This article is the first of a two-part series that examines Macromedia RoboHelp support for XML. Part 1 looks at the import and export features, while Part 2 will look at the "handlers." Both articles discuss the features' mechanics, their peculiarities, and some aspects of integrating them in a documentation workflow. These articles don't cover all the details but they will help you evaluate whether you can use RoboHelp in an XML environment.

XML support by RoboHelp X5 can be summed up in two significant points:

• RoboHelp X5 does not support native XML authoring. Instead, it imports several varieties of XML into RoboHelp—converting to HTML in the process—or exports HTML files to several varieties of XML. Exporting is fairly straightforward because RoboHelp exports files that it created. Importing is less predictable due to the vagaries of legacy material and peculiarities and changes in XML and RoboHelp.
• Because XML usage is fairly rare and still evolving in the RoboHelp community, the RoboHelp engineering team wasn't always able to define specific outputs. In those cases, RoboHelp doesn't create a finished and immediately usable output, like WebHelp does. Instead, it creates a set of files for additional, custom processing as needed. You'll see this in the "export a project to XHTML" option, for example.

Review of XML Concepts

If you are new to XML, you should read this recap of XML basic concepts. XML is similar to HTML in some basic ways:

• Each has files that contain content. HTML stores content in HTM files. XML stores content in XML or XHTML files, among other types.
• Each has syntax rules for the content. In HTML the rules are largely optional. In XML the rules are mandatory and defined in one of two forms. There's a basic set of rules that all XML files must follow to be well-formed. You can define more custom rules for specific industries or applications in a DTD (Document Type Definition) or schema. Files that follow these custom rules are called valid. Two documentation-oriented DTDs are DocBook and XHTML.
• Each has formatting rules for the content. In HTML these rules are defined in a CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) or sometimes, in a holdover from past practice, in the HTML files, otherwise known as "inline." In XML you must define the rules in a separate CSS or use the more powerful, but more complex, XSL (Extensible Style Language) that can convert XML material into other formats.

After reading this article, continue reading the next part, RoboHelp X5 and XML – Part 2: Using Handlers to Customize RoboHelp XML Features.

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