Basic Working Procedures > Links, Anchors, Macros, Scripts and HTML

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Selecting a different window type for the target topic

Opening the target topic in an external window

Every topic is associated with a help window type. In addition to defining the appearance of the topic and the features of the help viewer the help window type also controls how the topic behaves when you link to it. If the help window type is Main (the default for all normal topics) a link to the topic will open it in the main help viewer in all electronic output formats. If the help window type is Popup (the default for all topics in the Invisible Topics section) a link will open the topic as a popup window in all electronic output formats that support popups.

If you define your own additional help window types you can assign them to individual topics to give them a different appearance. In addition to this you can also use them to make links open topics in external windows in HTML Help and Winhelp Note that Windows Vista does not support Winhelp. If you want to be compatible with Vista you must transition to a different help format.. This is useful if you want to display both the information in the current topic and the target topic at the same time.

In addition to assigning a secondary help window type to a topic permanently you can also define a link to open a topic with a different window type than the one that is actually assigned to it. This makes it possible to open topics that are normally displayed in the main help viewer in an external window instead. This functionality is only available in Winhelp and HTML Help.

To be able to open topics in different window types you must first define one or more additional window types.

Window types are only supported in electronic help formats (Winhelp, HTML Help and eBooks).

Selecting a different window type for the target topic:

1.	Define at least one additional help additional window type.

2.	Follow the basic instructions for inserting a topic link.

3.	Open the Hyperlink dialog (double-click on the link) and select the alternative window type in the Window: field, then click on OK.

The link will then open the target topic using the selected help window type instead of the topic's default window type.

In Winhelp this will always open the target topic in an external window and will also apply the appearance of the selected help window type (background colors of header and topic).

In HTML Help it will only open the topic in an external window if this has been configured in the help window types setup (see below) .

Opening the target topic in an external window (Winhelp & HTML Help only):

Whether or not a topic opens in the main help viewer or an external window is determined by the definition of the window type assigned to the topic or specified in a link.

If you define an external window type and assign it to a topic that topic the topic will always open in an external window when you link to it in Winhelp Note that Windows Vista does not support Winhelp. If you want to be compatible with Vista you must transition to a different help format.. In HTML Help it will open in an external window if this functionality is activated in the help window settings. You can also open any topic in an external window by selecting the appropriate window type in the link definition.

To define and use an external window type proceed as follows:

1.	Define a new window type.

2.	In the window's HTML Help Options tab select the Allow secondary HTML Help windows option. (This allows external windows in HTML Help. In Winhelp secondary windows are always external.)

3.	You will probably also want to use the other options in the dialog to switch off the external windows' control buttons and navigation panel as they can confuse the user in external windows.

4.	Create a link to a topic and choose the external window type as described above. Or assign an external window type to the topic in its Topic Options tab, then it will always be opened in an external window when you link to it.

Activating secondary HTML Help windows is a global option that makes all window types except Main external.