Using HelpXplain in Help+Manual

If you are also using our Help+Manual help and documentation authoring suite, HelpXplain is already fully integrated. You just need to make sure that you are using the latest version that includes full HelpXplain support. Check in Help > About in Help+Manual and make sure that you are running version 7.5.1 Build 4710 or higher. If you need to update just download and run the update installer from our website.

Inserting animated Xplains in Help+Manual topics

How to insert an animated Xplain in a Help+Manual topic

This is basically just the same as inserting a regular video.

1.Click in the topic in the place where you want to insert the presentation.

2.Select Media > Insert HelpXplain Presentation in the Insert group in the Write tab.

3.Select your HelpXplain .xplain project with the BTN_Browse Browse button in the File: field. The caption, title and preview image defined in the project will be loaded automatically.

4.Set the display options and then click on OK to insert.

Important note for Xplains containing audio:

Browsers don't allow audio to play automatically so the auto-start option is disabled for Xplains that contain audio. For best results always either include a Play button or configure the Xplain to start in a lightbox if it contains any audio. This provides a clear user interaction to start the Xplain, ensuring that audio and the visual animations all start at the correct time.

Display Options:

Variable/Fixed Size:	HelpXplain presentations are fully scalable and variable size is generally the best option. The presentation will then adjust itself automatically to fit the current window size.
Alignment:	With text is the default setting and should be used for most presentations. You can align small presentations to be to the left or right of the text, so that the text wraps around it. This won't work well for normal presentations, however, because they will generally be larger.
Padding:	Space on the page around the presentation.
Lightbox:	Displays the presentation in a lightbox overlay, instead of as part of the page. This can be useful in WebHelp if you don't want the placeholder image to take up too much space. This also provides a clear user interaction to start animations and audio for Xplains that contain audio. If you don't use this option, always activate the Play button option for Xplains with audio.
Play after:	Start the presentation automatically after the specified number of seconds. This will be disabled if the Xplain contains any audio (see above).
Endless loop:	Continue playing the presentation repeatedly.
Play button:	Adds a large Play button in the middle of the preview image so that the user knows they need to click on it to play. Always include this for Xplains with audio if you are not using the Lightbox option.

Inserting an Xplain as a static image

Note that this method always inserts the first slide in your HelpXplain .xplain file as a static image. So the .xplain you use should either contain only one slide or the first slide should be the one you want to use.

Tip: Use single-slide Xplains for enhanced screenshots

You can absolutely use HelpXplain as an advanced screenshot editor. Just create a single-slide Xplain and fill it with the image you want to use. Then you can insert it directly in Help+Manual in the same way as any other image. Alternative, you can also create single-slide screenshots with animation effects – then you need to insert them as animated Xplains.

How to insert a HelpXplain slide as an image in a Help+Manual topic

Click in your topic where you want to insert the image.

Select the Image tool in the Write tab and select the .xplain file containing the slide you want to insert.

That's all there is to it. The first or only slide in the Xplain will be inserted as a static graphic image and will then behave like any other graphic. The same padding, positioning and formatting apply as for other graphics.

Conversion of Xplains for HTML

Xplains are converted to HTML-compatible graphics using the same settings as for all other bitmap files. The settings are in Configuration > Publishing Options > WebHelp/Microsoft HTML Help > HTML Export Options. Your static image Xplains will be converted to PNG, JPG or GIF, depending on your settings there. If you choose the JPG+GIF option they will be converted to JPG, since Xplains are always full-range color images.

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