RoboHelp 8 - Script Explorer

When you install RoboHelp 8 there will be an option to also install Adobe's CS4 ExtendScript Toolkit. RoboHelp 8 comes with a number of ready made scripts accessed from View > Pods as shown below.

You can use those or you can create your own if you have an understanding of javascript. To edit the supplied scripts or create your own, you access the ExtendScript Toolkit shown below. Scripts can be created to add user input with dialogs and you can extend RoboHelp's functionality.

Let's look at one of the supplied scripts to see just how powerful this feature can be. Imagine your project has many instances of the product name and you want to convert the name to a variable because sales are now to be extended to overseas markets but different names will be used. You would simply run the UDV Converter with UI script and a dialog will appear. You enter the current name, the name for the variable and the default value. Click convert and the script will find all instances of the string and convert them to a variable.

Don't run a script with the ExtendScript Toolkit open, unless of course you want to crash RoboHelp!

Summary

The Script Explorer is a great new feature as it introduces some useful scripts and all authors will be able to add to the list as new scripts are developed by others and exchanged. The ExtendScript Toolkit is only for those with javascript skills but it is nonetheless welcome.