How to use Help Builder using MindManager 8

Manual use of the Mindjet Labs “Mindjet Labs MindManager Help Builder” in MM8.
The help authoring tool, HTML Help Workshop, provides an easy-to-use system for creating and managing help projects and their related files. It is a Unicode supported help authoring tool with an easy-to-use graphical interface for creating project files, HTML topic files, contents files, index files, and everything else you need to put together an online help system or Web site. Originally, the Mindjet Labs MindManager Help Builder took advantage of this Windows program and its own Macros in MM6, where the program was seamlessly installed. However, this program does not work with MM8+. A manual “workaround” may be used to take advantage of these Macros, obtaining the same results in MM 8.

How to install Mindjet Labs MM Help builder and its Macros in MM8 in 5 easy steps.
1. Download, unzip and place the modified Mindjet Labs Folder in: C:\Program Files\ Download from: http://www.4shared.com/zip/TVmca7qa/Mindjet_Labs_MindManager_Help_.html

2. Before doing any work, make sure you have the Microsoft HTML Help Workshop installed on your system. This program has to be installed into: C:\Program Files\ Download from: http://www.4shared.com/file/-VFFXmVC/htmlhelp.html

3. Open MM8 and install the MyMindMap tool bar (if not already installed). To see the Macros buttons in MyMapMacros the Macros have to be copied, along with a .jpg file of the same name, to the mymapmacros folder in your MyMaps folder, usually here: C:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Maps\mymapmacros Download from: http://wiki.activityowner.com/index.php?title=MyMapMacros

4. Open the folder C:\Program Files\Mindjet Labs\Mindjet Labs MindManager Help Builder, and copy and paste the Macros NewHelpMap.mmbas and ExportToCHM.mmbas to C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Mindjet\MindManager\8\macros

5. In MM8, go to Tools/Macros/Organize Macros and click on Add. Fill in the requested information and press OK. Repeat for further Macros.

Make sure you use the correct address for the Macro: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Mindjet\MindManager\8\macros

The Macros New Help Map and Export as CHM should now appear as installed Macros and also appear in the selected Menu list (New sub menu for New Help Map, and the Export sub menu for Export as CHM).

How to use the Macros
A New Help Map is generated by the NewHelpMap Macro and may be opened in MM8 by clicking on:

a. The NewHelpMap button in MyMapMacros/Macros.

b. Clicking on the button MindManager/New/New Help Map. c. Installing the button in the Quick Access ToolBar. Similarly, you can use the Export as CHM function.

Exporting a MindManager mmap as a CHM file
So! Now we have our Help Map opened in MM8 and we proceed to fill in all the necessary information. When finished we would like to export as a CHM help file.

Just click, as above (but this time on ExportToChm).

The name and directory for saving will be asked for, C:\Windows\System32\cscript.exe will open, and proceed to convert and open the CHM help file in a couple of seconds.

Converting mmap files to CHM help files without opening MM8.
If you go to the C:\Program Files\Mindjet Labs\Mindjet Labs MindManager Help Builder folder and open the HTML Help Builder.chm help file you would have seen mentioned in the first paragraph:

“HTML Help Builder Right-click on a .mmap file and select Compile Help (Now reads Send To --> BuildHelp).
 * Using from Windows Explorer

A .chm file will be created in the same folder as the .mmap file”.

Don´t forget to read the rest of the help file

This function never worked with the installed MM6 version. So, how do we get it to work? Very easy to do actually! All we have to do is customize the Send To Menu and insert a shortcut to the BuildHelp.wsf file.

Customize the Windows Send To Menu
You’ve seen the SendTo folder in action any time you right-click a file and select the Send To folder from the context menu. What you might be unaware of is that you can customize the items in this menu. Right click a file. You should see something that looks like this: To get to the SendTo folder, you’ll need to open up an Explorer window, and then paste in the following to the address bar.

Windows 7 and Vista:

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

%APPDATA% is an environment variable that actually maps to something like C:\users\ \AppData\Roaming.

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

Windows XP:

C:\DocumentsandSettings\Username \SendTo

You should now see a collection of shortcuts: Make a shortcut to the BuildHelp.wsf file in the C:\Program Files\Mindjet Labs\Mindjet Labs MindManager Help Builder folder and copy it into the SendTo folder. The BuildHelp link will appear when right-clicking on a mmap file and selecting SendTo. This function will work on any mmap file on your system (except in the C:\Program Files\Mindjet Labs\Mindjet Labs MindManager Help Builder folder) and build the respective CHM file. The file will be saved with the same name and in the same directory as the original mmap file. Conversion is slow as the program checks every function of the script and will ask for approval.

It won´t work if you don´t have MindManager 8 installed!

These functions should also work for MM9, 10 etc. Try changing the reference to MM8 in         “app = WScript.CreateObject("MindManager.Application.8")” in the C:\Program Files\Mindjet Labs\Mindjet Labs MindManager Help Builder\BuildHelp.js file.

STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION --Tomhogers 19:30, 26 December 2012(PDT)--