Making a duplicate copy of a RoboHelp WebHelp Pro project in RH9

Greetings forum friends,
I wanted to seek your suggestions for a procedure for creating a new project from an existing project.
The use case here is to create the help system for your recently updated project, which requires a new help project.
Here is the general process I am considering:
1. Copy original Project Files to a new location on the local file system
2. Open the project from the new location - either browse to project file using Windows Explorer, or open it from RH9.
3. Rename the project folder and File > Rename Project
4. Rename the Project Title in the Project Settings
5. Update Help topics with the new version.
6. Publish the project and confirm the availability in the RH Server Admin page
Does this process seem agreeable? Any suggestions?
The reason I ask about this is that we have begun seeing an odd issue where some of our projects are displaying twice in the RH9 Server Admin page.
We have removed the references from Admin and the webserver, and have republished but we see the same results.
Any suggestions are most welcome.
Thanks,
Eric

Hi Eric.
The "General" area is the default location for all WebHelp Pro project output. This area has certain defaults to it that are designed to allow someone to install RHServer and use it out of the box. However in the real world you may find that this area on its own does not meet your requirements.
Think of each area on the RHServer as a directory into which you publish your output. If you have ProjectA and ProjectB, you can publish their output to the same area without issue. However if you have two versions of ProjectA, there are potential pitfalls. Now I don't know what you have done with the new version of your project but if you haven't carried out your duplication correctly and published the output to the same area, you could have two different versions of the output in the same location.
Personally I always publish each version to its own distinct RHServer area that you can setup in the Web Administrator. This is set in the Edit Destination dialog as you describe. The only thing to consider here is that the path to the help would differ to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp Server 8\robo\server\<area>\projects where <area> is the area name. You may want to read the RH Server Reviewers Guide which expalins more about this area.
This keeps things much simpler and neater. This works for us also as each area contains a single help file made up of over 15 merged RoboHelp projects. If I was to publish multiple version of each version to the same area, I'd get VERY confused VERY quickly! This maybe taking things a little too far for you but we also subdivide our output into different RHServer contexts which are setup in the Configuration Manager. For example we have contexts for ProductA Versions 1-10, ProductA Versions 11-20, ProductA Versions 21-30, ProductB Versions 1-10, ProductB Versions 11-20, etc.
Hope this helps.

Similar Messages

IE10 Fix Does Not Appear to Work for My WebHelp Pro Project

I am testing a WebHelp Pro project that was originally created in RH9, but is now being generated in RH10.0.1. (I am working on a Windows 7 (64-bit) OS, with IE10.) With the RH application closed, I copied the two "FixForRH10Install" folders into my WebHelp5Ext folder, as directed. Then, after reopening the app, I recompiled my project. Unfortunately, whether I view my primary layout locally or publish it to a server, I still see the same problem with the output in IE10. Initially, I see the TOC panel on the left and the default topic on the right. But if I click a link in the topic, in the TOC, in the Index, or in a Search result, I get nothing in the right side of the screen--just a blank with progress "swirl" endlessly swirling. (For what it's worth, if I right-click in the blank screen or on a TOC link, the topic will finally display.)
Is anyone else experiencing this? Even with this "fix," the only way I can make my Help display properly is to use IE10's Compatibility View.

Did you paste the folders to the WebHelp5Ext or to the same name folder within? The latter is not the correct procedure.
You have to drag the supplied folders to where I have shown, you do not paste them over the top of the old template_skin and template_skinpreview folders. When you drag to the correct location, you will be asked if you want to merge the folders, confirm you do.
If you have dragged to the old folders, sub-folders will have been created that you need to reverse out.
The template_skin folder should not have any sub-folders.
The template_skinpreview folder should have a template_skin sub folder but that should not have any further sub-folders.
The patch does work once you have regenerated so I am pretty sure that is where you problem is. If you are not sure about all this, you may want to get IT or a developer to assist. Whilst it will not impact this problem, also make sure you have applied the recent patch.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge
Message was edited by Peter Grainge to clarify first paragraph.

Merged WebHelp Pro projects in RH8 - CSH options not working

Hi -
We are trying to upgrade from RH7 to RH8. Currently, we have several context-sensitive WebHelp Pro projects that are merged on the RH7 Pro server. To accomplish this, we simply select the "merge projects" check box in the Admin tool. (Nothing is done in the RoboHelp client w/respect to merging as must be performed with non-Pro projects.)
The master project is master by virtue of being listed first in the Web Administrator. The order of the remaining projects defines their order in the merged Help TOC. The master project specifies two named custom windows and a custom skin. In the WebHelp Pro options for the child projects, we set Skin = Default and Default Window = None.
The Help implementation is context-sensitive using map IDs. Some have the older context strings, defined in their respective projects' .ppf file. All works as expected in RH7. When a map ID is called from one of our applications, the individual Help topic inherits the master project's custom window and skin. The topic with the specified map ID or context string appears in the right-hand pane of the custom frameset. The TOC lists the topics of all merged projects. We used the RoboHelp-supplied RoboHelp_CSH.js in the design of the Help system. The call looks like this:
<a
href="javascript:RH_ShowHelp(0,'http://<ServerURL>/roboapi.asp>MyHelpWindow',HH_HELP_CONTEXT,'5108')">Help</a>
We don't specify a project name and the server is happy (still resolves the map ID). For RH8, we have set things up identically on the server. However, the 'child' projects are not inheriting the 'look' (window/skin) defined in the master project. Either that, or the map IDs are not resolving. We also have a single-pane window defined in the master project for Help pop-ups, which now insists on appearing with the other custom window's frameset (button bar, TOC, and topic pane). We have changed nothing, other than importing the RH7 projects into the RH8 client. The server's "merge" check box is selected. The call to Help for RH8 needed to change and so far looks like this:
<a href=http://<serverURL>/<context>/server?area=Area_51&ctxid=5108&wnd=MyHelpWindow>Help</a>
Note that we haven't tackled using the Robohelp_CSH.js file that is packaged with RH8 yet. First things first, i.e. make sure server is running correctly and we have devined the new parameter syntax correctly. The question is, what needs to change for our Help application to work in RH8? The link specified above displays the correct HTML frameset, but the topic pane is empty/blank. If we leave out wnd=MyHelpWindow, we get the correct topic, but it apears in the user's default browser window, with no TOC. Also, if we target the single-pane window I mentioned above, it appears in the expected size and location defined in the master project, but it is multi-paned (again, with a blank topic pane).
Here is one observation. We did find that in the RH7 Web Admin, selecting the master project and clicking View Project shows the master's default topic in the custom frameset. Doing the same for some child projects, they display their default topic in a plain window (no frameset). In RH8, many child projects would display the default RoboHelp frameset and a 404 error in the topic pane. By carefully investigating the child projects' NewWindow settings, we've found that RH8 is particularly sensitive if those settings are anything other than having 'One Pane' and 'Use Default Browser Settings' selected.
Does anyone know why this is still not working? Any help appreciated.

Hi RoboHobo,
Unfortunately my previous post got a little messed up. I wanted to point you to link http://forums.adobe.com/message/2220336#2220336 , but somehow the url for that hyperlink was set incorrectly and it pointed to another post of mine.
Anyways I hope this one gets posted properly. The workaround I was talking about is this(just a copy paste from my other post) :
The page that you get has javascript code to open a popup window to launch page containing context sensitive help. If you view source of the page you get for CSH link, you will find it has javascript code like :
<script language="JavaScript" src="/robohelp/robo//server/resource/window.js"></script>
<script language="JavaScript">
//function Main()
        var cWnd = new CWindow();
        cWnd.m_bUseProp = 1;
        cWnd.m_strFrameName = 'DHW_TestCSH|RHS_CSH';
        cWnd.m_strURL = '/robohelp/server?%26mgr%3Dagm%26agt%3Dwsm%26wnd%3DTestCSH%7CRHS_CSH%26tpc%3D%2 Frobohelp%2Frobo%2Fserver%2Fgeneral%2Fprojects%2FTestCSH%2FTopic1.htm%26ctxid%3D 2%26project%3DTestCSH';
        SetRect( cWnd, 5, 5, 90, 90, 0, 0, 0, 0 );
        SetProperty( cWnd, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1 );
        Execute( cWnd );
</script>
May be you have popup blocker enabled in your browser and that’s why popup window containing the help doesn’t open up.
The reason its launched in a separate browser window is so that CSH window properties specified in help layout can be applied on the new window.
If you have to do away with the popup window and want the page to open directly by entering the URL, then there is a workaround, but in that case your CSH window won’t have the properties specified in Webhelp Pro window used while publishing Webhelp Pro to RoboHelp Server 8.
The workaround is as follows:
1) Backup <RHS8_Install>/WEB-INF/SysWebPrjLst/wnd_ie_iframe.asp and <RHS8_Install>/WEB-INF/SysWebPrjLst/wnd_ns_window.asp
2) Stop Tomcat service
3) Edit <RHS8_Install>/WEB-INF/SysWebPrjLst/wnd_ie_iframe.asp and <RHS8_Install>/WEB-INF/SysWebPrjLst/wnd_ns_window.asp and copy following text in these files:
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="0; url=<%=strWorkspaceURL%>">
</head>
<body>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">The help page you are looking for can be found at <a href="<%=strWorkspaceURL%>">here</a>.</font>
</body>
</html>
4) Delete all files in <RHS8_Install>/robo/server/resource
5) Start tomcat service again
Now the CSH url should take you directly to the help page you are looking for.
Regards
Tulika.

Trying to publish old X5 webhelp pro project using Robo 6

I apologize immediately for this being confusing....Have to provide a bit of background b4 I get to the "roboengine" part of my question.
First - I inherited an old X5 Webhelp Pro help project (CSH) that was published with a web app developed with .NET. The app is still in use but the help hadn't been updated in 2+ years. Without going in to all the "why"s, here is the bottom line.
The old x5 project has been opened in Robo 7 but since then, worked on in Robo 6. Just the usual assortment of content edits, a new template, and such.
All seemed fine until the project started hanging up on me to the point where I could no longer even work on it. Literally, I try to edit one topic and it hangs. Have tried creating new project and reimporting files and some other things with no luck.
So..being up against an immediate and immoveable deadine, I downloaded a trial version of Robo 8 to see if the version issues might be the problem. Project stoped hanging BUT.... now I can't publish using the old publish info. New server, new security , new policies in place. Thought we could just copy the updated files to the existing network folders/structure (where the help was served up from 2 years ago and still should be.) Deleted the old files, kept the folders, and copied the new stuff into the existing folders. Now when we click the CSH help button from the web app here's the message we see:
CONGRATULATIONS! The RoboEngine .NET has been successfully created. To get started using RoboEngine you need to publish a project.
I don't even know where to start troubleshooting this. Don't know what version of roboengine is out there or where it is. . Anyone have any jumping off points for me? Other than the nearest tall bridge... :-)

Thanks for your fast reply. At this point continuing to use Robo 8 is not ideal as there is no quick way for me to get a non-trial version of it or of Server 8 (big corporate procurement rolls slowly and they are still on 6 here I believe). I can try creating another new project with 6 and importing the topics a few at a time. If that does work and I can gen webhelp output (don't think i need pro anyway as i don't care about feedback reports and such), should I then be able to just copy those output files over to the existing network folder structure (where the old help files currently resided)? Assuming whatever X5 engine I have works with 6 output...
FYI this thing is in Production as of 6am this morning with broken help. If I move quickly I can get the fix into a patch release very soon. Just saying that b/c clearly I need to do whatever I can get done the fastest that works. I've considered generating the whole thing to Word output and importing from that using my Robo 6 but assume that will leave a bigger more time consuming mess to sort out. But maybe not...I dunno.

Issue with unlinked books in WebHelp Pro project TOC - RH7 and RH8

I've been testing WebHelp Pro in both RH7 and RH8. Have the same problem in both with the topic that automatically displays when you click a book/sub-book that is not linked to a specific topic. For some reason, WebHelp Pro displays the last topic in the previous book/sub-book. After opening different books/sub-books within the TOC, I determined that there's a browse sequence being created based on the TOC hierarchy even though I do NOT have any browse sequences set up in this project at the topic level. However, WebHelp thinks that the last topic above the selected book is what should be displayed even though it might not relate to any of the topics associated with the selected book. This is a real usability issue. I was confused by what was displaying and I'm the one who develops the help topics and TOC.
By the way, this does NOT happen when I publish using FlashHelp Pro. In FlashHelp, the last topic that was accessed remains in the topic frame if there is no topic linked to the selected book. This is much more acceptable to the user because the topic is not switching.
I'm assuming that this is a BUG and should be reported!
NOTE: We're still working in RH7 but plan to publish to RH Server 8 using WebHelp Pro.
Because I don't expect this to be fixed soon, we have developed a workaround. We are adding a generic but applicable topic for each book/sub-book. This will be our new development standard but it requires going back into 4 different projects to fix the problem. Not the most efficient use of our time as we're swamped with new topic development.

Hi.
Yes this is a bug and I'd urge you to report it. You can use this link. The more people that do the greater chance it will be fixed. I have covered the entire problem and the workarounds here.
Read the RoboColum(n) for a tips, tricks and musings on the Technical Communication Suite products.

Opening webhelp pro project in c# windows form

Hi
Ive been trying to load my webhelppro project in a c# windows
form that contains a web browser control.
This is proving to be harder than it seems because i believe
there is some javascript in the generated web help, that determines
how it is being launched.
Everytime i try to load the help in my c# form, the help
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Any help appreciated :)

A very long time ago, in the days of Firefox 1.5, someone created a COM object that you could use in place of the IE objects. However, that was not maintained. Instead, there was a very complex set of procedures to use the Gecko rendering engine in other projects, and last year, support for that was phased out ([https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.embedding/c_NMcO-N8wo/discussion Smedberg 3/28/2011]).
Today, you can build a Gecko-based application by using XULRunner. However, this is not a drop-in replacement for the IE controls. You can read more about it here: [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/XULRunner].
As another alternative, some have commented that it is possible to embed Webkit (the rendering engine in Safari and Chrome), but I haven't researched that.

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The summary of features for RoboHelp Office Pro lists
"automated offline help" as a feature but I can't find anything
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Hi EmmaG2 and welcome to our community
Unless I'm mistaken, you are referring to a feature known as
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I can't imagine this would take place without some .DLL in
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inside the help file that ships with RoboHelp HTML. Look in the
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Robohelp10, WebHelp Pro -
I've got what I have to think is pretty fundamental question: When I generate my WebHelp Pro project, everything works perfectly until I move the contents of the output folder to a network drive for viewing. When the default topic opens, rather than displaying the TOC/Search window on the left, I'm getting a link that says "Show". Click that link, and the TOC opens right up.
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-lcarey

Larry, Rick has solved your conditional build issue. However, do check to make sure you have all the updates installed for RoboHelp 10.
WebHelp issues in RoboHelp versions 10 and 11
I notice you are using IE. Does the Show link occur with Chrome or Firefox as well?
Meanwhile, I'm still suspect that you are not opening the correct "default" start page file to launch the WebHelp and that's why you're getting that "Show" link. This is "tell-tale" that you are opening the default topic file instead of the default Start Page. By chance have you somehow named your "default topic", index.html? If so, this is not correct.
john

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My WebHelp Pro project has stopped showing the table of
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Hi,
We have this problem also. I tried downloading the fix from the knowledgebase and am getting the following error:
The XML page cannot be displayed
Cannot view XML input using XSL style sheet. Please correct the error and then click the Refresh button, or try again later.
An invalid character was found inside an entity reference. Error processing resource 'http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/904/cpsid_90...
<ul class="clsTOCHidden">&#32<xsl:for-each select="ETN"><xsl:call-template name="fnBuildToc"/><...
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Window caption different in Webhelp Pro

I was looking to remove the search tab and any related
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These are both bugs and I'd urge you to report them as such using this link. They more of us that report it, the more likely it is to be fixed in an update/patch. For the TOC display problem the workarounds. I have posted a blog entry on this here.
Read the RoboColum(n).

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Jonathan

Hi Jonathan.
Am I right in assuming that the release notes and user guide are completely separate projects (e.g. not merged). If so, the method you mention should work although I've never had the need to try.
Read the RoboColum(n) for a tips, tricks and musings on the Technical Communication Suite products.

While making a backup copy in Itunes of my Iphone I receive the following error message: While making a backup copy of this Iphone (-35) an error has occurred. Do you want to continue with altering this Iphone? When you continue al the material on this I

While making a backup copy in Itunes of my Iphone I receive the following error message: While making a backup copy of this iPhone (-35) an error has occurred. Do you want to continue with altering this Iphone? When you continue al the material on this Iphone will be lost.
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from: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946
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Is there a way to prevent Robohelp WebHelp from appending characters to the end of the URL address for a TOC Entry?

I am running RoboHelp 10 on Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64 bit OS.
WebHelp is appending characters to the end of the TOC entry's URL address. The characters "bc-n" where n is a number are being generated for all of the TOC Page Entries when I generate WebHelp output. We are exporting the HTML files for import into an application. The TOC Page Properties Link to: property does not contain the characters in RoboHelp.
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cid:[email protected]
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cid:[email protected]
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Is there a setting or way to configure RoboHelp to prevent Robohelp WebHelp from generating and appending characters to the end of the URL address for TOC Entries?

I have never known Rh add any characters so I think something else is at play here. Please open one of the sample projects and see what happens there. Click Open on the RoboHelp Starter page and then click Samples in the ribbon on the left.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

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I've already downloaded and installed the LION. Is it possible to re-download it just to make a USB duplicate copy?

I've already downloaded and installed the LION. Is it possible to re-download it just to make a USB duplicate copy? If yes, please advise instruction.
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Making a duplicate copy of a RoboHelp WebHelp Pro project in RH9

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