16.5.7 Specifying index link destinations for HTML-based Help

To specify where an index-entry link should point:

[Index]
; KeywordRefs = Keyword (default), File, or Para (at start)
KeywordRefs = Keyword

Selecting an item in the resulting index takes you to one of the locations listed in Table 16-1, depending on the setting you specified for KeywordRefs.

Table 16-1 Index link options for KeywordRefs in HTML-based Help

Option

Destination format

Location with respect to index marker

Keyword
topicfile.htm#objectID

Exact location of the PI marker.

Para
topicfile.htm#objectID

Start of the paragraph containing the PI marker; use when other index markers occur in the same paragraph.

File
topicfile.htm

Start of the file containing the PI marker; use if all index entries are at the end of their topics; also for WebHelp and for merged HTML Help CHM files.

When you specify KeywordRefs=Keyword or KeywordRefs=Para, DITA2Go generates index link destinations of the following form:

topicfile.htm#objectID

where objectID is an internally generated ID number.

RoboHelp lacks mid-topic index links

RoboHelp does not recognize the mid-topic hash (fragment) identifiers that specify mid-topic index destinations. Therefore, you must use the following setting if you plan to use RoboHelp to generate WebHelp:

[Index]
KeywordRefs=File

As a result, index links always put you at the beginning of the referenced topic in WebHelp.

Merged CHM files cannot use index anchors

When an index entry in HTML Help points to more than one topic, the viewer displays a Topics Found dialog box that lists the topics by name. However, in merged CHM files, if the index entries for a slave file point to anchored locations (topicfile.htm#anchor), the Topics Found dialog box displays the index entry instead of the destination. To avoid this problem, use the following setting:

[Index]
KeywordRefs=File

Previous Topic:  16.5.6.3 Choosing where to sort See also index references

Next Topic:  16.5.8 Customizing index sort order

Parent Topic:  16.5 Configuring index entries for Help systems

Sibling Topics:

16.5.1 Understanding how DITA2Go creates Help index entries

16.5.2 Preparing index entries for Microsoft Help Viewer

16.5.3 Limiting length of index entries for HTML Help or WinHelp

16.5.4 Treating commas as potential index level separators

16.5.5 Combining index levels for HTML-based Help

16.5.6 Configuring See and See also entries for HTML-based Help

16.5.8 Customizing index sort order