Walkthrough: Customizing an Existing Help Project
In this walkthrough, you will learn how to change existing content in the core Help that is provided by Microsoft. This lets you customize Microsoft Dynamics NAV Help to include content for your custom solution without creating a new Help project. To learn how to create new Help topics, see Walkthrough: Creating and Building a New Help Topic.
About This Walkthrough
This walkthrough illustrates the following tasks:
Changing core Help topics.
Configuring Help Builder and building the Help files.
Integrating and verifying customizations in core Help.
Prerequisites
To complete this walkthrough, you will need:
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2.
The CRONUS International Ltd. demonstration database.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV Help Builder.
HTML Help Workshop. For installation information, see Installation and Configuration (Microsoft Dynamics NAV Help Toolkit).
An HTML editor. In this walkthrough, Notepad and Microsoft Office Word are used as HTML editors. When writing your Help, you can use a dedicated HTML Help authoring tool. For a list of tools, see HTML Editors.
Story
Simon is a Microsoft Certified Partner who has resold and implemented a standard solution to CRONUS International Ltd.. The solution is not localized, and the Help content is in English. He wants to improve the existing Help so that the users get company-specific instructions. He does this by editing the Help source files. He will modify the following core Help topics:
Config. Template List Window (window topic) - file name: N_8620.htm.
How to: Set Up Customers (task topic) - file name: taskSetUpCustomers.htm
Changing Core Help Topics
To change the core Help that is provided by Microsoft, you must open and edit each source file that you want to modify with your preferred editor. Notepad and Microsoft Office Word are used in this walkthrough, but the tasks of writing, linking, and organizing topics in a Help system can be performed more efficiently in a dedicated HTML Help editor. For more information, see HTML Editors.
Important
When adding and modifying content on the Help server, make sure that you always work on a local copy and then when you are done, upload the new and updated files.
To change text in the Config Template List window topic
Access the folder for your Help Server, such as C:\inetpub\wwwroot\DynamicsNAV71Help\en, and copy the N_8620.htm topic file to a local folder.
From your local folder, open the shortcut menu for the file, point to Open with, and then choose Notepad.
Modify the topic slightly, so that you will notice the change.
On the File menu, choose Save.
Close Notepad.
To add See Also links between the Setting Up Customers topic and the Config Template List Window topic
Access the folder for your Help Server, such as C:\inetpub\wwwroot\DynamicsNAV71Help\en, and copy the tskSetUpCustomers.htm topic file to a local folder.
Open the shortcut menu for the file, point to Open with, and then choose Notepad.
Find and copy the following text.
<p><a HREF=" tskSetUpCashCustomers.htm">How to: Set Up Cash Customers</a></p>Paste it into a new line above it and change the text to:
<p><a HREF="N_8620.htm">Use Date Templates</a></p>.On the File menu, choose Save.
Close Notepad.
Integrating and Verifying Customizations in Core Help
After you have edited the Help files, the final steps are to copy the new .htm files to the Help server and to verify the changed content and links.
To integrate the customized Help with the core Microsoft Dynamics NAV Help
- From the Processed\html folders of your Help projects, copy the changed files: N_8620.htm and conCreateNewCustomerAccounts.htm to the equivalent of C:\inetpub\wwwroot\DynamicsNAV71Help\en.
Note
If you were customizing localized Help, then you would copy the processed Help files to the local language folders instead of the en folder.
To verify the customized Help
In the Microsoft Dynamics NAV, choose Help.
In the Search box, enter Setting Up Customers, and choose the related link.
In the topic verify that a new link is added under See Also, and then choose the Use Data Templates link.
In the Config. Template List Window topic, verify that the content is changed.
Choose the See Also button to verify that a link to Setting Up Customers has been added.
In Microsoft Dynamics NAV, choose Customers, and then select any line in the Customers window.
In the Customer Card window, choose Apply Template.
In the Config. Template List window, choose Help, and then choose Microsoft Dynamics NAV Help to verify that the customized topic is still context-sensitive.
You have successfully customized the core Help.
See Also
Tasks
Walkthrough: Creating and Building a New Help Topic