RoboHelp won't output AIR Help

I'm making my first forays into outputting an Adobe AIR help application.The problem is... I can't figure out how to actually output it! I'm attempting to output from RH8, and when I attempt to output, I get a rather unhelpful message: "Adobe AIR Output could not be generated." When I look at the output log, there are no apparent errors:
Starting compilation...
Adobe AIR output preprocessor 8.0.0.203
Compiling C:\Documents and Settings\tforbes\Desktop\Captivate Rollover Proof of Concept\!SSL!\Adobe_AIR\AdobeAIRApplication\Captivate_Rollover_Proof_of_Concept.air ...
Preparing Adobe AIR output...
Finished preparing in 1 sec(s)
Initializing compiler...
Generating Adobe AIR SSL 1.0 (8.0.1.204)...
Processing TOC data...
Processing Index data...
Processing Context-sensitive-Help data...
Updating HTML topics...
[file names redacted]
Finished updating HTML topics in 0 sec(s) : total 11 topic(s).
Processing Full-text-search data...
Finished processing Full-Text-Search data in 1 sec(s)
Applying Adobe AIR SSL 1.0 Template...
Finished applying Template in 0 sec(s)
Processing Mark of the Web...
As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with my initial setup settings, but since this is my first time trying to get this to work, it's certainly possible.
Any suggestions?

Hi,
Hmmm. i just did an air build and my log looks just like yours.
I have a lot more topics, but not sure why your update says 0 secs?
The only thing that caught my eye was
Updating HTML topics...
[file names redacted]
Finished updating HTML topics in 0 sec(s) : total 11 topic(s).
Do you have a project with more topics that you can test?
I just did an AIR build on a short project that only has only 5 topics with any thing in them but the Titles.
Update of 26 topics took 1 sec. Again the 0. sec in your log looks "hinky" to me.
I have attached my build log for you to see.
Hope that helps
Ciao
Ed

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Comments and Moderators settings in RoboHelp Server is for AIR files? Or can it used for Pro outputs as well?

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Hi, PraTha
If I can amplify what Peter has mentioned above. Actually it is just a wordy way of saying what Peter posted in one sentence! Hopefully it will help a bit.
The relationship of AIR output and how it relates to Rh Server is admittedly confusing. In fact both are mutually exclusive.
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RoboHelp air help application does not show pdf files

Hello everyone,
I hope this is the right place to post my problem.
I am developing an air help application and I want to embedd some pdf files. I tried two different ways yet:
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Welcome to the forum.
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Hi all
In addition to what my colleague and fellow Adobe Community
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Air help - autoupdating procedure

Hi all, another question concering Air Help - I did not succeed in using the autoupdate function allthough it seems rather simple. I set the path to an XML file in the output options and when I later publish a newer project to that location (i.e., with a higher version number) then the original help should detect that it is outdated - but it dos not work for me. The name and location of the set XML file is correct.
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What I did to get this working was the following ..
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Here is an example generated .xml output:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<update-settings helpid="MyHelpFilePS" version="1.0.048" location="My_Help_File_Product_Support.air" />
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Install the newly generated Adobe Air application. Close the application
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RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR is GM

RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR is GM now and you can
download it now for FREE from Adobe site –
http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelp/robohelp-packager-for-air
Adobe AIR runtime enables applications to deliver both the
benefits of server connectivity and the compelling end user
experience of a desktop application. With a seamless offline-
online experience, end-users of Adobe AIR applications can continue
to work when they are temporarily offline. RoboHelp Packager for
Adobe AIR now enables you to publish in Adobe AIR format. Neither
of the popular help output options - CHM or WebHelp or WebHelp on a
Server provide the array of features as RoboHelp Packager for Adobe
AIR does today. That said, in my opinion, RoboHelp Packager for
Adobe AIR is a beginning, beginning of a new revolution in help
authoring. Here is a list of what you get today
· Auto Update - Adobe AIR applications that can update
themselves when online connection is available and that can work
perfectly when desktop is offline. For example, Adobe AIR help file
created with RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR will prompt the
end-users when an update is available. With a single click, the
help file will update itself.
· Get Web 2.0 features - Adobe AIR applications can
store information locally – for example, when you add
comments to Online Help, they are stored locally and can be viewed
after you have closed the application. End users can also comment
on external pages and store the comments as part of help file.
Comments are still available when Online Help has been updated
(provided file names don’t change) or when you are offline.
· Extensibility - Unlike HTML Help which depends on the
CHM viewer, the functionality of the Adobe AIR is extensible and
customizable. For example, organizations can add branding
information to Adobe AIR help file, including icons for help file,
branding imagery on the top of the help file and so on.
· Multiple tab – never before end user experience
- Adobe AIR help file also allows you to open multiple tabs within
the tri-pane enabling multiple help topics and threads to be
navigated at the same time.
· Integrated interface to everything your end users need
- You can also add resource links to your help files –
enabling a single access point for product pages, user forums,
knowledge base, online help and external web pages.
· Multiple templates to choose from - Organizations get
to chose from several of the templates and can select a particular
skin or theme for each of these templates. With RoboHelp Packager
for Adobe AIR, there are three templates come out of the box -
Multi-Tab Accordion, Unipane and Classic Help.
· End user preferences - RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR
enables the help users to customize their help by selecting their
preferences (something they can’t do for a CHM or for WebHelp
output – which is not hosted on a Server).
· Cross Platform - Adobe AIR is cross-platform and
cross-browser, supported on Windows, Mac and Linux (currently in
pre-release).
Needless to say, Adobe AIR has attracted a lot of interest
among the help community and some of the experts believe that
within two years, Adobe AIR will be the preferred help format for
40% of all help authors.
If you have not tried it, you can download it now from
http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelp/robohelp-packager-for-air
Thanks and regards
Vivek Jain
Group Product Manager, Adobe Systems
Adobe Technical Communication Suite, FrameMaker and RoboHelp
www.adobe.com/products/technicalcommunicationsuite/
blog-
http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/

When you are comparing this to Flash, does this comparison
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runtime on their PCs before they can access our RoboHelp system?
And that they will also get reminders to update to the latest
version of Air runtime?

Update Adobe AIR help content without necessity of installation for users???

Hello there,
I want to make our manuals available as Adobe AIR help applications. Unfortunately for our users it is not possible to regularly install these applications. Therefore I decided to generate a help viewer as AIR file and help content as RHA file ("help content only" ssl option). So admins only once have to install an initial AIR file. Afterwards users are able to replace help content to update help files.
I proceeded in a similar way as described here:
http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2010/07/merging_multiple_helps_in_air_help_output.html
In principle this is a good solution - but here is my problem:
Help content itself already consists of different projects (merged projects). Merged projects unfortunately cannot be generated with "help content only" ssl option.
Anyone has got an idea how to satisfy all my conditions:
- Customers only once have to install an AIR file
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Generate different outputs (RHA files) for the merged projects is not a possibility. The merged projects with regard to content belong to ONE single manual - I'm not talking about different manuals. So users should be able to search the whole manual and so on ...).
Thank you so much in anticipation!
Melanie

It has always irritated me that the blog you refer to uses the term "merged help". It is not merged help, it is simply a collection of outputs where the user can select the one they want.
My site does have instructions for a true merged AIR Help output but that will not achieve your objective of one install. Sorry but I don't think what you want can be achieved.
http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/merging_webhelp/merging_method_rh9.htm#air
The method is the same for Rh10.
Please feel free to use the Contact page on my site.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Air Help not a valid option for some projects?

RH9, multiple projects that are currently deployed as merged webhelp.
I opened the project we use as the 'parent' project and was able to change the output to Air, no problem. But when I try to open the other projects that we use as 'child' projects, it doesn't allow us to select Air. The option doesn't even display in the output drop-down.
Is there a setting we need to change? My understanding was that Air can do merged help projects and does them in the same manner as our existing format, Webhelp.

You are talking about browser based AIR help and you are saying that in RoboHelp 9 you are not seeing AIR as an option to create the layout?
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Webhelp v browser-based AIR Help

Hi, I 'm going to be writing help for a web-based application for the first time and am trialing Robohelp 9. Can anyone tell me the difference between the published files for Webhelp and browser-based AIR help? Would there be any technical difference in deploying them to a web server? My apologies if this has been answered elsewhere - I couldn't find a reference to it.
Also (probably a separate question), is there any way to incorporate commenting with either output type? I know this is not supported in the SSLs, but is there a way around it using script? It seems strange that only the 'offline' AIR help includes online commenting. And Adobe's own help pages include it (though they don't seem to use Robohelp!).
Many thanks in anticipation.

Hi Susie et all,
Just spotted this thread and am in the exact same position as you :-)
Really like the browser-based Air help look and trying to keep up with the limitiations and any issues.
We cannot use classic Air Help as the help system supports a web-based product and there is no way that the client will allow a 'special' install for a help system.The trouble starts when you start comparing Air Help, browser-based webhelp and browser-based Air help. In Air Help you are teased with the Favourites tab, the comments pod but they are not available for browser-based Air. The search also works differently in Air formats (results in topic window), something I only became aware of a few days ago. You cannot add custom buttons to tool bar in BB Air something I've found very userful in web help. We have also had a few formatting issues and use a different .css for webhelp and airhelp (mainly to get styles to match the different skins).
There is no doubt that the browser-based Air output looks slick and as John said the skin can be modified to give a corporate feel. But your visitors will need flash player to view content in the left hand pane - its flash that gives it the slick look and feel. I'm trying to run some test this week to find out what will happened without flash player AND to check how the help appears in the various browsers.
I'm curious, have you had any specific issues with running browser-based help on a webserver? We are still awaiting feedback from developers, but so far they have been unable to get browser-based help running on server - just a blank page with grey background. I'm reassured by Peter's comments so hoping it is some security setting that they can deal with. The most sensible approach now is to try and get webehlp running in same environment.
I will definitely post feedback and will be following this thread closely now.
Kind Regards
Craig

RoboHelp won't output AIR Help

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