Missing TOC Book in Merged WebHelp

It's late on a Friday, and I'm brain dead. I am using a merged WebHelp structure (based on Peter Grainge's model with parent project only having one topic and using redirect to first child project) for my company's disaster recovery plan (separate department plans plus a master company plan). I recently added a new department plan. When I generate the merged help, the new department plan (Marketing) appears in the TOC but another one that should be there (Underwriting) is not showing up. Does this have to do with the length of the TOC? Seems like I recall having a problem with long TOC's before (in another job and project) but not sure if that's the issue or not.
Any guidance on where to troubleshoot would be appreciated. Thanks!

Unfortunately, I do have the same problem in Firefox. Just to clarify, I'm not viewing the merged plan in SharePoint; I am generating and viewing it locally on my C: drive. Copying to SharePoint is the last thing I do, so I haven't even gotten to that point yet, and when I do it, I delete all files on the server and copy all files again to it.
I tried regenerating AND publishing all of the plans to my C: drive (separate locations with same folder structure). I can either get the Marketing plan to show up or the Underwriting plan but not both at the same time.
Here is screen shot of the parent file TOC. They are all there. What am I missing? Have you encountered this issue before on the forum? I tried searching but couldn't find a situation that exactly matched mine. The Marketing plan only has 18 topics in it with 6 folders in the project file. The Underwriting plan has 33 topics in it with 6 folders in project file.
However, the IT plan, which comes before those two, has 226 topics and 7 folders, some of which have multiple levels of sub-folders going 3 or 4 levels down. I can send you screen shots of the structure, if you like. It's the most complicated one of the bunch. I've got to get this resolved as I am supposed to publish 1Q updates this week. And of course, I can't merge any additional department plans until I can determine where the problem lies.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Similar Messages

Show Merged TOC Option in Merged WebHelp

I am experimenting with merged WebHelp for my company's disaster recovery plans. There is a master company plan and then each department has its own dept plan. I have set up the merge using instructions from Peter's site. I'm running Robo 8.
When I generated the parent project, I did not select the "Show Merged TOC in Child Project" option, but all of the TOCs are still displaying in the merged output anyway. Is that how it's supposed to work? Eventually, I may want them to all display, but right now, I don't. I only want the TOC for the main child project to appear in the output. Is that possible?
See attached two screen shots.

Then you don't want that box ticked. The way it works is you generate all the outputs.
- If you open the start page of the parent, you will get all the TOCs showing as one.
- If you open the start page of a child, you will get just that child's TOC, unless you have ticked that check box when you will get the whole lot.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
Follow me @petergrainge

Missing TOC books & topics in RH Server output -- is there a fix??

RH9, RH Server 9,WebHelp Pro
I've seen a post a few months old now reporting the problem of nested books and topics not showing up in WebHelp Pro RH9 Server output even though they display fine in the local output before and after publication.
Has there been a fix for this?
I have a large project, over 400 topics, and it seems to affect books that are nested at level 4 and below. I have a level 3 book with several level 4 books inside it. The published output shows only the first level 4 book, and its contents, but then it omits the remaining level 4 books in that group and jumps to the next level 3 book.
This is not a merged project.
When I run the TOC report, all content is shown correctly in the report.

Hi. Sorry you're having glitches. While I research my notes from similar situations, I offer these things worth looking at:
1. This is a Knowlege Base article with a download that may help:
Books, topics missing from TOC | WebHelp Pro output | RoboHelp Server 8, 9
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/904/cpsid_90498.html
2. Take a look at this thread (in particular, Message #10):
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3691553#3691553
I don't remember offhand but I think there may indeed be a limit of three "nested books" in a TOC, although I just experimented with this and I found it worked down to 6 or 7 nests.
3. I know in the past I have noticed that sometimes the culprit has been an oddball "illegal" character or space in a subfolder or filename. One client found that an exclamation point in a filename was a problem.
4. To be clear, remember that WebHelp (not Pro) has some very important differences from RoboHelp Server (Pro) output. Also, understand that when you view WebHelp Pro locally (i.e. View Results) you are not getting a fully accurate picture. Often, you must view the project from the RoboHelp Server to truly see the results.
5. With regard to Search. I have found in some cases that ticking the "Automatically Merge Projects of the Same Type" helps even though you only have one project!
6. I have found that a project that has been "renamed" can cause the server's configuration to be choke on the new name as it looks for the old one.
Let me know if any of this helps. If it does not, I'd suggest you zip up your Tomcat Log files and send them to me. I'll ask the Adobe folks if they could take a look.
You can find them here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 6.0\logs
Because they might be large, you might just send the most recent day's worth.
I realize this is a "dump" of so many possibilities but it's the weekend and I know you must be frustrated so I thought I'd pass along all ideas no matter how remote.
John Daigle
Adobe Certified RoboHelp and Captivate Instructor
Evergreen, Colorado
www.showmethedemo.com

New TOC Book not appearing in WebHelp output

Hi
My project is proceeding fairly well, considering I've only
been using RH for about six weeks - thanks, in no small part, to
the advice I've found in this forum. I'm hoping someone can help me
with a niggling problem I'm having.
My project is based on a textbook written by my colleagues.
RH has successfully imported all the header formatting from Word
and the resulting TOC is almost perfect. My problem is that my
header 1s link to sections of the book, so I don't have a header
that just gives the chapter name. If I do create these as header 1s
they give me a clickable entry in the TOC which leads to a page
with no content.
I'd like to have an entry in the TOC that gives the chapter
name but which isn't clickable, i.e. is only there so users can
orient themselves and see what each section is about.
I thought I could do this by creating a new TOC book in the
TOC, but not linking it to any page. I've done this, saved
everything and generated afresh, but when I view the webhelp
layout, the book I just created doesn't appear in the TOC. Is there
a way I can do this?
Thanks in advance.
Colin

Hi Colin.
You may be able to do just this with a bit of wizardry! Check
out the RoboWizard's
tips
'n tricks file. It has help on how to set-up redirect topics.
Create one of these and assign it to the book. The redirect topic
would then just redirect the user to another topic.

Merged Webhelp - TOC doesn't display

Hello all,
I have generated a merged webhelp project as per the instructions at:
http://www.wvanweelden.eu/blog/2013/02/28/adobe-robohelp-creating-merged-webhelp
The output help file is quite large. I can run it without issues on my PC. However, when I copy it to a server, it does load, the TOC pane appears empty until I click around a few times in the help. Is there any way to fix this?
Thanks!

First off, make sure that the optimization in your layout is set to web
site.
Now for some more info: Which version of RoboHelp are you using?
Last, make sure to look at
http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/merging_webhelp/merged_help.htm,
the bible for merged help.
Kind regards,
Willam

TOC Book Problem - RoboHelp 8 - WebHelp Pro

Hello, I'm having a problem in a generated build of help to RoboServer 8. TOC books are linking to the previous page of the toc book above that particular book and this rings true throughout the TOC. I didn't add any links and just wanted to books to be just that books and when you click the book the subtopics within that book should display. Anyone have this problem and what can I do? I see that I can link the book to a particular page, but don't really want that. Any suggestions to correct this problem quickly. We just had a release of our product over the weekend and this is causing quite a stir. Thanks, Lana

I have come acoss issues being reported in adobe forums that webhelp output cannot be viewed in IE 10. Fixes are provided for Robohelp 10 @http://forums.adobe.com/community/robohelp/robohelp_webhelp?view=discussions where we are given a link with the fixes @.http://helpx.adobe.com/robohelp/kb/help-visible-using-win-8-ie.html but no fixes are available for robohelp 8. Please provide a similar fix for robohelp 8
Request the adobe development team to get back ASAP as we do not have the timeframe to upgrade to robohelp 10.

Webhelp RH8: TOC book not linking to topic

Hi (again),
I seem to have another little issue.
In generating our helpsystem, we would like to have books that display general information when clicked and also display the subsequent topics. That all works fine, I link a topic to the TOC book and it displays the contents of the selected page.
However, when I only have a book (no topics), linking a topic does not work. In the output it displays as a page. Is there a way I can have a book linked to a topic while there are no other topics in that book?

Thanks RoboColum(n) for your pointer. Due to time limitations I could only look at it briefly and give it one try. Redirecting didn't work in this instance. I have a few redirect pages which work fine but so far I haven't managed to get a book to display when there is only one page in that book. For now I have avoided the problem by having an empty page when the book is clicked. Not pretty and I will be looking at this again when there is more time.

Plus/minus icon for TOC books

Afternoon all,
So I see that in RH8, I can create a TOC. When in the RH8 application, the TOC Pod shows +/- or expand/contract icons to the left of each TOC book, with little dashed lines to each book/page.
But when I generate WebHelp, no such +/- icons appear.
Am I missing something? Or is the +/- just a feature of the TOC within RH8? I'd like them to display in my WebHelp output like they do in CHMs. I don't necessarily need the dashed lines.
Any clue you can bat my way...
Thanks,
Patrick

Hi Patrick
These are simple images. See if the link below helps.
Click here to view
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95!
Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training
SorcerStone Blog
RoboHelp eBooks

Merging Webhelp Projects

When merging two webhelp projects (in version 7), the
subtopic is opening in a new window and the indexes are not merged.
I looked it up in the help and there is a note at the bottom that
says: "Merging WebHelp/FlashHelp projects with a pure HTML master
project or Section 508 compliant WebHelp/FlashHelp causes the
subprojects to be available only from the TOC. Subprojects will
appear as a book in the TOC. Sub-project TOC books will open the
subproject in a new browser window." That is exactly what I don't
want to happen! I was able to do it in other versions easily. What
other options do I have? All the options on the Navigation Pane
Preferred Format tab includes PureHTML. Any advice will be
great!

There's a complete tutorial on my site.

Missing TOC icons in MMC snap-in

Working on the help for a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in application. The merge goes well, and the help itself is fine. The interesting/perplexing part is that if you click on a Help button inside the application, the default TOC book and page icons do not appear. Pressing F1 brings the help up, with the appropriate icons. As required by the MMC, the TOC is binary compiled.
Here's what the TOC looks like when called from a Help button:
Not certain if this is relevant, but this issue was first noted in the company bug database back in 2005, where it was noted that "A binary table of contents is populated based on user demand. For example, in a table of contents where a book is located within another book, the second level book will not be populated until a user clicks it. (Microsoft)"
I am using RoboHelp 8, and the project was imported with settings intact. Is there anything to be done, either inside RH8 or by the developer?
Thanks in advance for all suggestions.
Mike

Hi, Mike,
When I open the .hhc file for the MMC 3.0 Help file in Notepad, I see that none of the TOC styles is explicitly set there. In other words, the five TOC styles that are checked in my screenshot are simply the defaults that are implemented when the Help author has not selected any of the available styles. For what it's worth, this is what you would see at the start of your .hhc file if you have explicitly set the same five TOC styles:
   <OBJECT type="text/site properties">
     <param name="Window Styles" value="0x800025">
   </OBJECT>
where 0x800025 is the sum of the five selected TOC styles (each one has a unique hexadecimal value). In the .hhc file for the MMC Help file, this line is missing.
Here is an old message in which I explained what the hexadecimal value is of each style:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/microsoft.public.helpauthoring/msg/e88393893f0d6c02?hl=en
As you probably know, the binary TOC format supports a very limited set of authoring features, compared to the non-binary TOC format. When you switch to a binary TOC, most of the styles that you might use in a non-binary TOC are unavailable. Still, the binary TOC format does support book and page icons.
Perhaps it might help to test your MMC snap-in with a different Help file, created with a tool other than RoboHelp (FAR in this case). I've uploaded a Help file with a binary TOC to the following location:
http://rapidshare.com/files/292153651/Binary_TOC_Sample.zip.html
If you were to give this file the name of your own file and drop it into the location where MMC expects to find it, you may be able to determine whether the fault lies in the Help file or in the code that your snap-in uses.
Pete

Greek Fonts for TOC Book and Topic Titles

Good Morning.
I Create o project using RoboHelp for HTML.
I rename TOC book and topic titles using greek fonts.
If i generate the project using Webhelp as layout with
Section 508 Compliant Output everything is ok at runtime but if i
use Skin TOC book and topic titles display wrong fonts on runtime.
I'd like to know if there is solution for this problem.
Thanks for help.

Hi Scottie
What Colum proposed is the standard answer we have been giving for years and presently it's likely the best approach.
However, Adobe does listen to their customers. And I've seen this particular issue cropping up time and again through the years. So I'm going to suggest to you that you and everyone else wanting to see some changes here consider submitting a Wish Form to ask for a new capability. Ask Adobe to devise a way to allow the user to print in the manner you are seeking.
Click here to reach the Wish Form page
Cheers... Rick

Linking to TOC Books

Greetings,
I am using RX7 to develop a WebHelp project. My client would
like to have Splash page which allows the user to click a link and
display a specific TOC Book.
I can meet the client requirement by creating separate
projects and linking from the Splash page to the project.
Is it possible to create a single project, have the Splash
page display and then open a specific book when the corresponding
link is clicked?
Thanks,

I suggest creating a topic that is your splash page. Then, in
the Properties dialog of the TOC book in the TOC pod, link a topic
to the book. Next, the link on the splash page would point to the
topic that is linked to the book.
If you don't want the splash page in the TOC, you could leave
it out.
Hope this helps,
Ben

RH7 Published output missing TOC

I recently upgraded from x5 to RH7 with Server 7.
I generate WebHelp Pro content.
There are some topics in my project that are flagged "Version
2" and a few lines at the text level are also flagged "Version 2".
None of the TOC books are flagged with any build tags.
When I generate the project with the coniditional build tag
set to "Not Verion 2" (meaning it should generate all topics and
content that is not flagged version 2) -the generated output shows
the TOC - and then if I take it all the way to the publish step -
the published output does not show the TOC .
If I generate and publish with the conditional build tag
"Version 2" (basically meaning it should include all content) -
then I can see the TOC in the generated and published output.
(Side note: I also have build takes for Online and Print -
but these are rarely used and do not seem to be involved in the
problem described above.)
I am viewing the output in IE7 - but since I can see the TOC
in the generated output and not in the published output - I think
the problem is not with the browser.....

To resolve the problem I went through each topic and turned
off the Topic-Level Build Tag - then republished. I did this until
I found the file that was preventing the TOC from displaying. Then
I replaced that file.

RH8 - TOC books won't collapse in output and search not working

I'm working on a RH8 project with a second author. When I last generated the primary layout (Webhelp),
I noticed that the TOC books will not collapse in the generated output. Also, the Search feature is not
working (Search field is not displaying). (See ATTACHED IMAGES)
Is there something in the Project Settings that could be causing this? I am wondering if we somehow
checked a setting that would force the TOC to stay open in the generated output?
Also, I notice that the Search area seems to be displaying some index items and numbers?
Anyone have any trouble-shooting ideas? I do know that when you initially setup or open a new
RH Project, you have to go through a series of dialogue boxes with various settings. However, when
you go to Project Settings, you don't see all of those settings... so I'm not sure where to trouble-shoot this...
Any suggestions welcome - thanks!
Rachel

Look in the wizard when you generate the help. It looks like you have 508 compliant help turned on.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
Follow me @petergrainge

TOC books don't open in Firefox

It has been a couple of months since the 'TOC books don't
open in Firefox' issue was raised, so I was hoping that someone
might be able to help with my problem that seems to be closely
related...
Problem: I am generating WebHelp using RoboHelp for HTML
version 7 and viewing in Firefox 2.0.0.11. The TOC books don't open
in Firefox (IE is okay) via autosync unless I have previously
opened them manually. If I manually open half the books, then only
those books will autosync - it's as if Firefox has to be shown each
book before it will automatically open it when browsing or
searching for topics, etc. When I re-open the WebHelp I have to
manually open all the books again before Firefox will autosync.
This also happens in the simplest of WebHelp projects with just two
books.
Attempts to fix problem: I have made all the changes to files
suggested on the forums and Peter Grainge's (excellent) site. My
default topic is not within a book and is at the top of the TOC.
None of my books are linked to topics. Adobe's official line is "no
issues with Firefox", so they don't know of this problem. I did not
have this problem when using RoboHelp 6.
I need to know if I am alone in experiencing this problem -
if so there is obviously something wrong with my setup, so I will
concentrate on the way that I am using RoboHelp and its
configuration, etc.
If anyone reading this has, or has not, experienced this
problem, please let me know - many thanks.

It has been a couple of months since the 'TOC books don't
open in Firefox' issue was raised, so I was hoping that someone
might be able to help with my problem that seems to be closely
related...
Problem: I am generating WebHelp using RoboHelp for HTML
version 7 and viewing in Firefox 2.0.0.11. The TOC books don't open
in Firefox (IE is okay) via autosync unless I have previously
opened them manually. If I manually open half the books, then only
those books will autosync - it's as if Firefox has to be shown each
book before it will automatically open it when browsing or
searching for topics, etc. When I re-open the WebHelp I have to
manually open all the books again before Firefox will autosync.
This also happens in the simplest of WebHelp projects with just two
books.
Attempts to fix problem: I have made all the changes to files
suggested on the forums and Peter Grainge's (excellent) site. My
default topic is not within a book and is at the top of the TOC.
None of my books are linked to topics. Adobe's official line is "no
issues with Firefox", so they don't know of this problem. I did not
have this problem when using RoboHelp 6.
I need to know if I am alone in experiencing this problem -
if so there is obviously something wrong with my setup, so I will
concentrate on the way that I am using RoboHelp and its
configuration, etc.
If anyone reading this has, or has not, experienced this
problem, please let me know - many thanks.

Missing TOC Book in Merged WebHelp

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