RoboHTML

How do I link to a file so that HTML-Help does not try to
load the file in its own browser? I am using a JavaScript found on
this url:
http://alexandra.di.uoa.gr/mmtech/msTech/2_VBSCRIPT/PDFs/Scripting%20Guide.pdf.
[RoboHTML's interface for linking to files doesn't seem to work.]
What happens is that, contrary to the web site, HTML-Help tries to
load any file (not just .txt and .chm) into the HTML-Help browser.
In the case of PDF files, the browser corrupts the PDF file. [A
bonus!]
Thanks,
Adam

Welcome to the forum.
"RoboHTML's interface for linking to files doesn't seem to
work."
Tell us how it doesn't work for you and we can help. I just
added a PDF to baggage, highlighted some text, dragged the PDF to
the text I had selected and it created a link. When I clicked that
link in the CHM file, it opened a new window which is what you
want.
Then you say it corrupts the PDF. I have never seen RoboHelp
corrupt a PDF. Can you be more specific?

Similar Messages

What is the hhc.exe being used by RoboHTML.exe?

While waiting for (hopefully) getting an answer in my other thread, I'm trying to peek and poke around using procmon.exe to find out which file is being openened by what component when that mystical error occurs:
HHC6000: Error:
An internal file could not be created. Make certain there is enough disk space on the drive where you are compiling your file.
HHC5007: Error:
Fatal navigational compilation error. This is likely the result of an invalid contents (.hhc) file.
I'm wondering whether it is the Microsoft Help Compiler itself (\program files(x86)\HTML HelpWorkshop\hhc.exe
which apostrophizes itself by the same version banner as in the log window of RoboHTML.
But I cannot see it in the process list being invoked eventually by RoboHTML.
Any insight?
Christoph

Thanks, Jeff,
my issue is the HHC 6000: Error. When it stems from the Microsoft HTML Help Compiler
I could find out what the command line is, invoke it manually with the command line arguments and see (using procmon) which files it opens and where the error occurs.
But it seems that it is not \program files(x86)\hhc.exe, since, when I rename that (the only occurance off hhc.exe in my system), RH9 continues working. So it must be using a diffenrent instance of a Microsoft HTML Help compiler.
Christoph

Flickering/Refresh rates RoboHTML 6.0

We just recently upgraded to RoboHTML 6.0. Now the Topics
Pane on the left-hand side of the screen refreshes constantly. This
constant flickering is enough to drive you batty. I looked at
refresh rates in the online help & the only thing I could find
had to do with Robosource Control which we do not have loaded.
One interesting thing that I just discovered is that the
project that is flickering is a very big project divided into 30
folders & hundreds of topics in each folder. I just opened a
much smaller project & it doesn't flicker at all. Makes me
wonder if it doesn't have something to do with the size of the
project.
Can anyone please tell me how to fix this? I sometimes spend
all day inside that huge project & that flickering is awful!
Thanks!

Hi all
Cindys, you may wish to try closing RoboHelp, opening Windows
Explorer and clobbering the ProjectName.CPD file. Just rename it so
RoboHelp can't find it. Then restart RoboHelp HTML and open the
.XPJ file. The .CPD should rebuild automatically as a result and
may eliminate the flicker. But be forewarned that the flicker will
likely continue until the .CPD has been fully rebuilt.
As for checking that RoboHelp WYSIWYG is the default editor,
it normally is. The trick is often the other option that is often
missed. The setting that determines whether the editor is
auto-selected or if the default is used. Normally that one is
configured for auto-select. If so, it *COULD* cause a different
application to open, depending on what was used to initially create
the topic page.
Cheers... Rick

Cannot launch RoboHTML

I uninstalled and reinstalled Robohelp from product cd:
Robohelp for word starts (with activation required), but robohelp
html does not. No error logged in event viewer. No message. no
warning. Only the process starts, but with no results. Any idea?
It's very important!
thank you very much!

I've had the same problem with RoboHTML on my machine.
However, I can get it to run immediately after an installation, but
it fails to start after the system has been rebooted. I've been
through tech support and have had this elveated quite high with no
resolution of the issue.
When you get the RoboHelp for Word screen up, have you tried
starting any of the utility applications? I can only get a few of
them to run, so if this the true in your case then there is
something dodgy in the common components for these.

Rhsnippet.apj Error with RoboHTML 11 Project on Network

I have an RH 11 project on a network drive. The project has 485 snippets. When adding or modifying snippets I get the following error:
An error occurred while trying to read data from <n:\roboHelp Projects\\rhsnippet.apj <1>.
When I open the rhsnippet.apj file, the file is truncated like this:
<file>
<name>mysnippet.hts</name>
<comments></comments
It seems that RoboHelp cannot complete writing to the APJ file.
After closing and reopening the project, I then get a message saying the cpd is corrupt. After deleting the cpd and reopening the project, I still get a message saying the project is corrupt.
The only way I have found to fix the project is to move the project back to a local drive, delete the cpd, delete the rhsnippet.apj file and re-import all the snippets.
I have seen a similar issue which was resolved by moving to another network drive. I moved my project to another network drive but the issue still occurred.
rhsnippet.apj Error with RoboHTML 10 Project on Network
My experience with R10 R11 projects on a network drive has been problematic, despite Adobes assertion that R11 and R10 projects now work on network drives. For example, Adobe support confirmed that RoboHelp does not support projects on a network drive that uses DFS (Distributed File System). I have found that large projects seem to be problematic on network drives.
I suspect that part of this issue is the large amount of snippets I have, as other projects on the network drive don't appear to have this issue as they do not contain a large amount of snippets.
If anybody else has experienced a similar issue with projects on a network drive related to snippets I'd be grateful for some advice.

Thanks for the advice Peter, but deleting the CPD does not fix the issue. I have 500 snippets because I have 500 fields (and growing all the time) to document that can appear in multiple reports and also require that each field is documented separately. So although I seem to be pushing the envelope with the amount of snippets, I am grateful for the existence of snippets because trying to document this without snippets would be a nightmare!
One thing that annoys me is that you cannot apply a style sheet to multiple snippets at the same time. At least I have not found a way. Is there a way of doing this – short of editing the HTML for each snippet individually? I will add this to a feature request for RoboHelp as well as log a bug report with Adobe.

Re-Importing a Word File Into RoboHTML

I've got a RoboHTML project where I imported a Word file with
H1s and H2s that automatically became topics and keywords that
automatically became Index entries. In addition, after the import,
I created a Browse Sequence and TOC entries for the imported
topics.
Question: what's the best way to update these imported topics
after my SME comes to me and says that they've updated the Word
file (as they have)? My gut instinct is to delete the new folder
that contains the imported topics and re-import the entire
document, especially since I don't know what's changed. However, if
I do that, what happens to the existing Index entries, Browse
Sequence, and TOC entries?
Further, I can't seem to delete the folder containing the new
topics from the Project tab. If deleting the imported topics is the
way to go, how do I delete the folder so I can start over by
re-importing the Word file?
Is there a better way to do this than by deleting the topic
folder?

Hi there J. J. Haas and welcome to our community
In addition to what Leon offered, another approach might be
to create a fresh RoboHelp HTML project with the same basic folder
structure and import the Document there. Then simply copy the HTM
files to the existing project and overwrite the existing topics.
That shouldn't mess with any existing links and whatnot.
Just a thought... Rick

Convert RoboHelp for Word project to RoboHTML

I have a couple projects which are created RoboHelp for Word
in RH6. The projects now need to be converted to RoboHelp HTML
projects and Flash generated outputs. In conjunction with this I
have the following questions:
1) Can RH Word projects be opened in RoboHTML? If so, what
are the pros and cons and how is the conversion done?
2) These independently projects will be linked/merged with a
master project which in RH HTML. Will this cause some inherent
problems.
3) I know I can generate a Flash based output from RoboHelp
for Word, however, how differently will (if at all) RH HTML treat
these files if called from within an RH HTML generated project.
4) I will also need to generate Printed documentation in the
end. Any impact on that?
Thank you in advance. A detailed answer would be greatly
appreciated.

All those questions and in detail too. This is a forum, not a
book shop. :-)
What we can do is give you some general guidance so that you
can experiment safely, then come back with specific questions.
You cannot open your RH for Word project in RH HTML. What you
have to do is import the underlying document(s) excluding the
footers as they contain RH for Word information that is not
relevant. Before you do anything, zip up the existing project and
keep it somewhere safe. Now you can use the project and blow it
apart without worrying. If anything goes wrong, you extract the zip
copy and start over.
There's a topic on my site about importing ordinary Word
documents (as opposed to RH for Word doc files) and that will be a
good starting point.
First get all the existing projects converted and running
properly as independent projects before you give any thought to
merging.
When you are ready, then look at the topic on merging webhelp
that is on my site. Just adapt as necessary for FlashHelp. I think
you need at least RH6 to merge FlashHelp, maybe 7. Not sure without
checking. RH6 FlashHelp has some indexing problems as you will see
in another thread.
RH generates files after which they go to development. What
do you mean by RH HTML treating those files? Do you mean will their
HTML be written differently? Almost certainly yes but why is that
an issue as long as they look how you want?
You will be able to generate printed documentation and that
is covered by yet another article on my site. Maybe now you are
getting the picture as to why nobody can provide the answer in
detail on a forum.
You have a massive task ahead of you and I think it would be
foolhardy to start with your real projects. Starting from where you
are, I would create some small RH for Word projects and then go
down the path you have to. With small projects like that, you will
be able to understand what is going on and the issues. It's the
same reason why most driving schools don't start you off in a
Ferrari!
Good luck. Glad its your problem. :-)

RoboHTML 7.0 Snippet Problem

I have added a two Snippets to a project. After viewing the
Snippets in the viewer, they no longer show up as greyed out text.
Their space is a single empy line. And the Snippet pod shows no
Snippets. They are in the code and show up in the viewer, but not
in the topic window.
If I add additional Snippets, they will appear in the Snippet
pod until I close the project. Re-opening the project will again
show "no snippets".
It appears that the Snippet gathering process or some Snippet
control file is messed up. Any ideas?

Yes, I'm running RoboHTML locally.
I think this issue was caused by a RoboHTML hang-up/abend
while I was working with the Snippets. The samples work fine. And I
am unable to reproduce the problem.
The RoboHTML abends are now of concern. I had another one on
Monday, 12/3 while reconstructing the project with the "broken
snippets". That's my next forum post.
It appears that Snippets are handled internally a lot like
Links. That is, if I import a Topic with a Snippet, the Topic
retains a filename reference to the Snippet. Does it manifest as a
Broken Link? If the Snippet is not Imported, how is this flagged?
How can I delete the Snippet reference? It appears that Snippets
should only be manipulated from the Snippet Pod methods, and it is
not there.

RoboHTML 7.0 Abending Destructively

This is the second time in four days the RoboHTML has
"destructively abended". In each case, the error indicated
"RoboHTML.exe -- Application Error". I didn't screen capture the
first error. The second message read "The exception unknown
software exception (0xc0020001) occurred in the application at
location 0x7c812a5b. Click on OK to terminate the program." (i have
a IBM ThinkCenter 8414 running Microsoft XP, Office 2003, fully
patched and protected.)
On 11/29, I believe this broke the project's Snippet
processing. I could add Snippets, but they would not show up in the
pod after the project was closed and re-opened.
On 12/3, the RoboHTML application abend broke the "new >
folder" functionality for the project. If I tried to add a folder
to the project, the application would abend.
It is clear that RoboHTML maintains its own "understanding"
of the folders and topics and relationships in the project --
independent of the contents of the folders and files on the disk. I
believe that this "manager" is the projectname.cpd file.
When RoboHTML abends, it appears that the "manager" is
corrupted. And the only alternative is to create a new project,
re-create the folders one-by-one, and import the topics one-by-one.
Two questions.
Am I missing some more efficient re-creation process. Is
there a way to "rebuild" the "manager" control file from the
existing project folder information? Is it possible to import a
folder or multiple topics into a new project with a single action?
Is this Application abend common? Is there something I might
be doing inadvertently to trigger it? Should I be making "safe
copies" of the project on a regular basis?

Given that you are referring to Snippets, this must be a
fairly recent installation. If the project is not on the network,
then we need to identify if it is RH or the project that is giving
trouble.
Open one of the sample projects and do some work on that to
see if you get similar issues.
Alternatively just create and work on a new project. If still
having issues, post back with more information in response to the
points Colum and I have raised.

RoboHTML.exe - Application Error

Hi,
I'm using RoboHelp 5 to generate Webhelp.
Today, I get a RoboHTML.exe Application Error when I try to
open my main project. I can open previous projects.
Error message states:
The Instruction at "XXXX" referenced memory at "XXXXXX". The
memory could not be read.
Any ideas or suggestions?
An uninstall and re-install has not helped.
Regards
Michael

Welcome to the forum.
Do you mean when you open the project or when you open a
topic in the project?
If the latter, I believe that is a classic sign your are
pointing to an output file rather than a source file.

RoboHTML.exe and WHOffice.exe hang at "Windows Installer"

When we try to start RoboHelp either with RoboHTML.exe or
with WHOffice.exe, it brings up a window labelled "Windows
Installer" with "Preparing to install..." and a Cancel buton
inside. It never gets beyond this and if I press Cancel, the window
locks and has to be killed in Task Manager. I have tried everything
I can think of including uninstalling all the X5 updates,
uninstalling the entire X5 product, deleting its Program Files
directory, rebooting and reinstalling RoboHelp Office X5 from CD
using my key starting with RHO13. I've also tried updating the
Windows installer. The problem occurs even under different logins
(all with administrative privileges). Any idea what could be the
problem?
Thank you for any help you can give!
Scott Wallace
Ternion Corporation

quote:
Originally posted by:
Captiv8r
Hi all
Sometimes we see that another application has horked (that's
a technical term) the Windows installer. We also see it sometimes
with Captivate too. I believe when this happens you have to run a
cleanup utility for the Windows Installer.
You should consider visiting the link below and downloading
Microsoft's installer cleanup utility. See if that corrects the
issue on the affected PC.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
Cheers... Rick
Hi Rick,
Actually, I installed the cleanup utility and after
uninstalling RH, there was no listing for RH in the utility. Maybe
I don't know the way its supposed to be used. Are you supposed to
run the cleanup on RH after RH is installed?
As additional info, there are several other Adobe products
installed on this machine including:
Acrobat 8.1.2 Standard
Illustrator CS3
Photoshop 6.0
Shockwave Player 11
SVG Viewer 3.0
Winsoft Linguistics Plugin
As well as Pinnacle Studio 12, Picasa 2 and ProDAD to name a
few other installed programs.
Don't know if any of those could be causing the problem.
Thanks Rick,
Scott

Rhsnippet.apj Error with RoboHTML 10 Project on Network

I have a RoboHTML 10 project on a local drive that was working just fine.
I tried to move the project to a network location. Things seemed to be going well, until I tried adding a new snippet file - when I tried saving the new snippet, I received the following error message:
The snipped was created OK and I could use it in my topics just fine. But when I checked out the rhsnippet.apj file, it was truncated at the end:
I copied my project back to my local drive, renamed the rhsnippet.apj file, and opened RoboHTML - the rhsnippet.apj file was recreated, and it was no longer truncated.
The local rhsnippet.aps file is about 88 KB while the network version of the file is 76.0 KB. I have 770 snippets and ~4k topics in my project.
I would like to have my RoboHTML project reside on a network folder, but I'm not willing to trust it while this error message appears.
Please let me know if there's something I can do to get this to work... thanks.

So the problem is only in the one project, correct?
I am not inclined to think it will help but let's rule out CPD file issues. Delete the CPD file, copy the good snippet file in and reopen the project.
Backup first.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Company new to robohtml products

Hi
I am a Technical Writer and have always used RoboHelp or
RoboHTML with companies that had already been using the products. I
have joined a company that has never used an on-line authoring tool
in the past. Here are some questions I have:
1. If we purchase RoboHelp or RoboHTML, do we need to get a
copy for the developers along with myself?
2. Do the developers need to understand single sourcing?
3. Should I generate HTML or XHTML help?
4. Exactly what do the developers need to do on his/her side
to be able to display the help file on a web-based application so
all of my conditional text and hyperlinks work?
5. Will they understand the map ID's and how they work?
6. How much time and training is needed by the developers?
They program in Java.
Thanks for all of your help
Caryn

Welcome to the forum.
1. If we purchase RoboHelp or RoboHTML, do we need to get a
copy for the developers along with myself?
# The only person who needs RoboHelp is the person producing
the help, so no your developers do not also need a copy. RoboHelp
installs both RoboHelp for Word and RoboHelp HTML. (I notice you
say RoboHelp or RoboHTML and I am not sure what you mean by that.
What versions are you thinking of?)
2. Do the developers need to understand single sourcing?
# No, that's your problem. You produce the online help in the
format(s) the developers require plus printed documentation if
required. The developers don't care whether you have a single
source or multiple sources.
3. Should I generate HTML or XHTML help?
# RoboHelp will generate HTML.
4. Exactly what do the developers need to do on his/her side
to be able to display the help file on a web-based application so
all of my conditional text and hyperlinks work?
# All the developer needs to know is how to call the help.
There are some topics on my site about that but they should already
know the basics at least. They don't even need to know about
conditional text. If you are using that, you will be creating
different versions of the help and all they need to know is which
one to use in which scenario. Once they call the help, all the
links will work, assuming you have created them properly of course!
Beware though if using conditional text that you do not exclude the
target of a link.
5. Will they understand the map ID's and how they work?
# They don't have to use map IDs as that is one of a number
of ways of calling webhelp. If they do choose to use that method,
again it is something a developer should know about. In any event,
it is their responsibility.
6. How much time and training is needed by the developers?
They program in Java.
# Depends how good they are! Seriously, this should be
straightforward stuff to them.

RoboHTML.exe exits with exception

I've just installed RoboHelp Office V10. Everything seems fine except for one problem. If I try to generate printed documentation, then RoBoHTML.exe exits with an exception.
I have Microsoft Office 2010 installed also.
Any idea who this should be reported to and how?
Anyone seen anything similar, and have a fix?
TIA
Mick Mathers

The problem I have seen always enables the option within a few minutes so clearly something else is wrong.
According to Adobe's page on Activation, other causes are you have Volume Licensing, the product is part of a suite and you need to deactivate that, or you cannot connect. I had to get our IT guys to approve the link before Update would work. What I am not following is that unless you are a government department or similar, you have to activate online, no exceptions. What request / response code are you talking about as we have been through the activation issue before and there are NO exceptions.
This is all getting away from the problem though of being able to print. Where does your Normal.dot template reside? We have seen issues when IT put it on a network drive.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

RoboHTML 6 missing graphics

When I single-source my RoboHTML 6 on-line help file to
Printed Documentation, my graphics display as boxes with the name
of the graphic, but no pretty picture. Please help.
Thanks,
Tawni

Take a look at Print Issues on my site.

RoboHTML

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