OS X Help Topics Inaccessible

Apologies if this has been asked before... it's impossible to search on the keyword "help".
My OS X Help (from the finder) opens fine and searches for topics fine; it'll even show the list of topics it found. When I click on them, though, Help returns me to the Home screen; it never shows the topic I clicked on. I've tried clearing the cache, didn't help. Any ideas?

I suggest that you try the fixes suggested at: Troubleshooting Help Viewer.

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Create link to help topic from Flash file

We have started using Flash to develop our online learning
modules. So far they have been stand alone modules accessed from an
internal web site, published as .EXEs. Our latest Flash module is
related to a system for which we have an HTML help file. We'd like
to embed the Flash module in the help file b/c we want a link in
the Flash module to open a specific help topic.
I can get individual .SWFs into the help file but these Flash
modules are more complex, using many .SWFs for navigation, the TOC,
the frame, and for each interaction. In other words, the main .SWF
(or .EXE) calls many other .SWFs as the user navigates through the
module.
If I can't get the Flash module into the help file, and I can
only link to it as an external file, can a link from within a .SWF
in the Flash module open a specific help topic in the .CHM?
Any other ideas?
Thanks for your help,
SueM2

This question was answered by kglad, on Saturday, August 11,
2007 10:13 AM
Answer
no it doesn't. getURL() causes no security issues unless you
try to open the html locally and (try to) access something on the
internet.
unless your "flash site" is your local computer there is no
security issue. if your local computer is an internet server, you
just need to set the security settings for your local file and give
it permission to access the internet zone.

Opening Help Topic in a New Window

I'm posting this inquiry after searching the forum for the above topic. I have a client who requires that a contextual help page be opened in a new browser window when users press F1 in a web application screen. The client does not want help opened in a new tab or in the same window as the web application screen.
The web application for which I'm writing help supports only Internet Explorer, versions 7 through 9 (no other browsers). The client programs in .NET and, for security, handles HTML help pages like .aspx.
I have RoboHelp HTML 9 installed. Contextual help mapping is done with an external XML schema that pairs web application screens with target help topics via F1.
In practice, despite the new-window requirement, testers have found that CSH opens differently with different combinations of browsers and operating systems. With Windows XP - IE 7 & 8 and Windows 7 - IE9, when the user presses F1, the help screen is opened in a new tab. In Windows 7 - IE8 (32 and 64 bit), it opens in a new window. This last is the way the client expects it to work.
Here's my question: With RoboHelp HTML 9, can I control whether help opens in a new window, the same window or a new tab? Or do I need to rely on a developer to configure the web application server so that help opens in a new window as expected?
So far, after a search of user documentation for RoboHelp and my help mapping configuration files, I haven't found a way in RoboHelp or Help Mappings to control whether contextual help opens in a new window or a new tab. I would appreciate any information on whether this attribute can be controlled through a server configuration, or .NET, or some other aspect of the system beyond RH. Or am I overlooking something in RH?
Thanks and regards,
Tom

I'm not sure here but I would say that there is no way you can make that happen from RoboHelp. I believe it will always open in the way you describe, according to the user's browser settings and operating system.
If there is a way to do it, my gut feel is that is something that your developers will have to implement.
As a software user, I think it would irritate me to find new browser instances opening but you have to go with what your client wants.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

I run an itune 10.4 and would like to back up my entire library to a DVD, because I do not have an external hard drive to back it up to (as the "help" topic is sugesting). Is it possible and if so, can someone help me please.

I run an itune 10.4 and would like to back up my entire library to a DVD, because I do not have an external hard drive to back it up to (as the "help" topic is suggesting). Is it possible?...and if so, can someone help me please.

This is no longer done via iTunes.
Use whatever CD/DVD burner software is installed on your computer.
Add the iTunes media folder to the list of files/folders to burn to disc.

Installed Xcodes and now all "Help" topics blank.

In an attempt to play "Myst Online - Uru Live" I followed instructions to install Xcodes from my original install disks. I now have the following problems:
I can't eject the install disk.
All help topics present with blank pages.
Safari will open but also presents with blank pages.
I am currently using the Firefox browser to send this question.
I am not a developer but merely an apple user who is now very much out of his depth.
If it helps, as part of the overall process I also firstly downloaded something called Macports (I think!). The instructions also mentioned something about entering the Terminal and typing a couple of lines of code, but I haven't got to this stage yet. In trying to install Macports after download, I get this message "Either uname or sed could not be found in PATH. Your system appears to be incomplete or misconfigured."
I am running an iMac 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 duo. OS 10.6.8

If I'm allowed to reply to my own question, I restarted the computer (which I now realise is the Snow Leopard OS and not Leopard) and everything is now OK with Help and Safari. I also downloaded the wrong version of Macports, which I have now corrected.
However, as part of my quest to play "Myst Online" I have to open Terminal and type in "sudo port install mystonline-cider", after which I will be asked for my password. The trouble is, after I type in the command and press return, my password is requested, but the keyboard freezes, so I can't type in anything else.

Garbage characters appearing in help topics converted from RH6 to RH7

We have a couple of FlashHelp projects that we're converting
to RoboHelp 7. Documents were in imported from Word to create
topics and although the true code showed an asci character that
looked like a thick vertical bar for dashes (em dashes), ellipses,
and smart quotes, everything displayed fine in RoboHelp 6.
We just started converting these same RH6 projects to
RoboHelp 7 and now, we're getting garbage characters in place of
smart quotes, em dashes, etc. when we display the compile help
topics. What's weird is that the characters look fine when your in
WYSIWYG mode -- you have to display the topic to see the funky
characters.
With 900 topics in one project and 400+ in another, going
through the true code to find these funky characters is going to be
time consuming and painful. Did it for a couple of small projects
(less than 100 topics) and it took me a couple of hours --
switching back & forth between WYSIWYG and true code.
I tried using the search and replace tool to fix the smart
quotes throughout the project and it caught some but not all.
Seemed to capture the opening quote but not the end quote.
Any suggestions on how to quickly fix these problems without
going topic by topic through the project file checking the true
code.

See Item 21 on this page.
http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/rh7/using_rh7.htm

Problems when printing help topics from OHJ

We have encountered some persistent problems when printing help topics from Oracle Help for Java (Ice Browser).
NOTE: When we print the same source files from Oracle Help for the Web, the printing problems are gone.
(1) Spacing Errors (all printers had identical results)
Text with special formatting (<b>, <i>) often has either too much space or not enough space.
Links often have extra spaces underlined before or after the link, itself.
(2) When printing multiple help topics from the TOC (an entire branch in the tree):
On some printers, no graphics print correctly, but instead print as one of the following: 1. empty box the size of one character, 2. black box the size of one character, 3. black box the size of the original graphic. We could not detect a pattern that caused 1, 2, or 3.
NOTE: all graphics are bit maps (screen captures) that were generated in the same manner.
NOTE: if these same help topics are printed one at a time form Oracle Help for Java, the graphics print fine.
Is this a problem with the Ice Browser?
Thanks for the help,
Wendy Studinski

There are a known issue with the ICEBrowser printing in some circumstances. The laying out of text by the ICE Browser relies on font metrics (being able to measure the width of a run of text in a given font). On screen it looks great, but when printing, even though the GraphicsConfiguration for the printer is being used, these widths are sometimes off, which can result in text running together at boundaries between text styles. We're not sure what to do about this problem, and we've reported it to IceSoft.
Not every font has this problem, so varying the font you are using might help the appearance when printed.
The other problem you report, problems with the images when printing multiple topics, is something that we will look into.

Help topics are not displaying when using Windows 7 / IE 9 / RH10

We recently upgraded our library from RH8 to RH10. Also used a trial version of RH9 in this process. Now when we compile several of the projects have issues where help topics do not display when selected in the TOC or when a link to the topic is clicked within another internal topic. It is in a continous loop in the browser (like it is trying to load). If you right-click on the topic it displays (we are currently using this as the work-around). Anyone else having this problem?? I saw something similiar for Windows8/IE10, but the fix does not apply here (http://forums.adobe.com/message/5138909#5138909#5138909).

Hi,
I (April) apologize I have been OOO and have not been able to respond to your replies.
Let’s start over.
We have an issue where help topics do not display when selected in the TOC or when a link to the topic is clicked within another internal topic. It is in a continous loop in the browser (flickering like it is trying to load). If you right-click on the topic it displays (we are currently using this as the work-around).
We use Windows 7, IE9 and RH10 for all our projects. (Recently upgraded from RH8 to RH10)
Turns out the problem is not isolated. I have run across it in at least one other project, which leads me to think it also occurs in others.
"Does this only occur when the help is called from your software? Is it OK if you double click the start page?"
          No. I it ALSO occurs when launched from the start page.
Have you tried deleting the CPD file and reopening Rh and the project?
          Yes, without success.
Are you using any redirects?
          Per (Adrienne), “I am not using any redirects. I encounter this issue only in IE. If I paste the .htm into a Firefox browser, the help displays as it should.”
          I will add that the project also displays incorrectly in Google Chrome.
Thanks April

Can't find BI Beans Help topic

I've installed JDeveloper 10.1.2.1.0 (build 1913) and Bi Beans 10.1.2.1, but I do not see the "Building Applications with BI Beans" Help topic within JDeveloper. How do I get access to this Help file? Can it be accessed somewhere other than within JDeveloper?
Thanks

I also had this problem some time ago, after installing with base+doc install. After some time, I figured out that it was caused by the "Documentation" settings in the "Preferences" of JDev. You have to make sure that it is set to "Local documentation" instead of "Hosted documentation".
Apparently, when running the base install (with the doc install afterwards), this setting is set to "Hosted documentation". It would have been good if Oracle had highlighted this point a little bit more in their installation documentation of JDev and BI Beans.
Johan

Search in Help Viewer always returns "No matching help topics were found".

Hi!
I'm running 10.3.9 on 14" iBook G4.
Recently re-installed OSX from CD after a hard disk replacement. Help viewer was fine on the original / old installation of the same version number of OSX.
The CD installs a version earlier than 10.3.9. Possibly 10.3.4? Cannot recall... is this important?
After HDD replacement, went through all the updates fairly rapidly, and arrived at version 10.3.9. Excellent! Except one thing (there may be more, but I've only discovered this so far!)... searches in Help Viewer return the same message irrespective of what I search for. I type the search string (e.g. "dvd" ) in the search bubble in the Viewer window. The message is as follows:
[bouyancy aid with question mark logo] No matching help topics were found
I have tried the usual things, without success, of:
- Removing the Famous Four cache and preference files/dirs.
- Repairing permissions. This repaired a few 'permissions'.
- Rebooting.
I think the icon of the bouyancy aid is a comic irony, but very well suited to my situation. Anyone out there with any suggestions on how to fix, please?
RSJ

Excellent pointers, thanks!
I haven't quite got it working, yet, but have got it to a point that is better than nothing.
Very peculiar -- discovered that, after trying many of the troubleshooting ideas without success, the solution was to hit the "back" icon on the viewer to get to the list of help topics satisfying my search criteria... cannot work out why. It would appear that, for some reason, the viewer is skipping the page with the help topics, and going directly to the "No topics found" page. Curious. I am wondering if one of the above activities (from your help pages) may have helped.
Anyway. Thanks very much for your help on this, and your *very* rapid responses.
Yours most impressed,
RSJ.

Problem importing Help topics from FrontPage into RoboHelp

Hi there,
This is my first time here.
I am a tech. writer in my first job (I've been here a couple
of weeks).
My company has just purchsed RoboHelp, and wants to import
it's Help topics from FrontPage (which I know nothing about) into
RoboHelp (which I know a teeny bit about).
I know the other tech writer here tried to import the topics,
and had R.H. continually crash.
I am the only tech. writer here for the week (aaaggghh! lol),
and I need to know how to fix this problem.
Please, when you respond, imagine that you are taling to a
first grader , and keep the instuctions simple.
Thanks in advance,
Leigh-Anne

Hi Leigh-Anne. First off don't woory about being on your own.
We'll all been there at some point and come out the other side.
Rick asked you whether you had the project on a network
because this is the cause of so many RH problems. The underlaying
Access DB in RH doesn't work at all well there. It is highly
recommended that you work on your local PC and back up to a network
each night. You say there are two of you. If you are using the
RoboSource control features of RHX5 then you can have the project
on a network but the actual source files must be stored and changed
on your PCs.
You could try creating a new RH project and import the
FrontPage topics a few at a time. If this works, try a few more
into the RH project. Repeat this until you hit the problem. Once
you do, import the topics one at a time until you hit the problem.
This will identify the offending topic - if indeed the problem is
in a topic! Once you're there, try creating a new topic and cut and
paste the old topic's elements into the new topic. It's all a
process of elimination I'm afraid.
Try this and come back to the forum with any further problems
you find.

Creating a direct link to the help topics?

Ok I have been building my first RoboHelp project with the help of some good tutorials online.
I have a number of different help topics and they have sub topics.
How do I direct a user when they click on a direct link to a subtopic. What is the HTML code to use to get to a subtopic?
If I use the HTML file name of the topic, the help TOC on the left doesn't show up.
Does this make sense?

Hi there
Have you investigated the links below? Perhaps you are overthinking it.
Click here
Or Click here
Cheers... Rick
Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 within the day - $24.95!
Click here for Adobe Authorized Captivate and RoboHelp HTML Training
Click here for the SorcerStone Blog
Click here for RoboHelp and Captivate eBooks

F1 Help Topic Not Displaying

We provide F1 help for almost every field in our application.
I converted our Winhelp project into .CHM file and used the .hh
file provided by the developer. The .chm file compiles just fine.
But the developer states that the F1 help does not show up for
certain fields.
Here is an example situation:
The .hh file contains:
IDH_BYR1NAM1
IDH_BYR1NAM2
The content for both help topics is identical, therefore
instead of creating 2 help topics, the .ali file contains the
following;
IDH_BYR1NAM1=html\IDH_BYR1NAM1.htm
IDH_BYR1NAM2=html\IDH_BYR1NAM1.htm
When we press F1 in the BYR1NAM2 field, the help topic for
BYR1NAM1 should show up but it doesn't. No help topic displays.
In the Map Id report I generated, the following was noted:
DH_BYR1NAM1
Map #: #80
Map file: C:\ENTERPRISE\HELP FIXES\PROFORM F1
HELP\HTMLHelp\pfsymtab.hh
Topic: html\IDH_BYR1NAM1.htm
(Map ID)
IDH_BYR1NAM2
Map #: #81
Map file: C:\ENTERPRISE\HELP FIXES\PROFORM F1
HELP\HTMLHelp\pfsymtab.hh
Topic: html\IDH_BYR1NAM1.htm
(Map ID)
I would greatly appreciate if someone can provide clues as to
why this is happening. Thanks in advance for your help!

in the report text, is this just a cut and paste error, or an
actual typo?
DH_BYR1NAM1 - should it be IDH_BYR1NAM1?
also - is ENTERPRISE a (gulp) NETWORK drive or your local
hard drive?

PSE v9 help topics won't open on Mac

I have PSE9 installed on a MacBook Pro OS 10.6.8 and the latest help topics update. Nothing happens when clicking on any of the help topics or the square to the left. Any ideas what's going on? The software itself appears to work fine, just not the help system.

I answered my own question. Under the Adobe Help>Preferences>General Settings, I needed to select Yes to 'Display Local Help Only'.

How can I make the Help Topics available offline?

How can I make iBooks Author Help Topics available offline?

Deleted and re-installed...
Still get the following:
The selected topic is currently unavailable
Make sure you’re connected to the Internet. For help connecting, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Network, and click “Assist me.”
If you’re connected to the Internet, and the content still doesn’t appear, try again later.

OS X Help Topics Inaccessible

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