RH8 HTML - WebHelp: Topic link in TOC goes to wrong topic

I just got my upgrade to RH8 today, and I must say it has NOT been a pleasant experience so far. This issue is just one of many I will probably be posting in the next few days.
I have one RH file that I use to create two versions of help text, using conditional tags to separate out the content. In RH 7 this has worked very well. After my upgrade to RH8 today, I generated each of these files, and discovered that one of the files has the incorrect topic attached to the link in the TOC. I checked the TOC in RH, and everything is fine. I also checked the breadcrumbs, which show the correct location, and I checked the conditional tags and conditional build expressions, but still the wrong topic is displayed.
Has the way conditional tags worked changed in any way? I haven't changed anything in the files today, just opened them in RH8. My conditional build expression is created so that if the tag exists on the topic, it is included in the generated help, but there are many topics that include two conditional tags. These seem to be the ones that have the issues.
On top of this, if I am in help A and I search for a topic that is in help B, it still shows me topics that should only be included in help B.
Seriously. Can all this get messed up simply by opening my help file in RH8? On my first day using it? What other unpleasant surprises do I have in store? Well, other than that nasty looking search results box with the big numbered rank column I can't get rid of.
Kari

Well, I've discovered a solution to this initial problem, and it has nothing to do with the conditional tags. I think I'll have to start a new discussion to get a resolution to why those don't seem to be working correctly.
After trying a number of things, I stumbled upon the fix, which is, as I've come to expect, completely illogical.
In reviewing the html for the help topic that wasn't appearing correctly, I noticed that the topic was associated with a template called "Main". I inherited this help project, and have never used the templates, always relying on a .css file to handle the styles and formatting. If I went into the topic properties and changed the template to "none", then re-generated the project, the topic link in the TOC went to the correct file.
One problem solved, though why it works is still beyond me. Now on to the conditional build issue!
Kari

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Patch 8.0.1 negates custom popup size [RH8 html, Webhelp]

I installed RH8 patch 8.0.1, and am finding the custom pop-up sizes I set are no long in effect.
Per our approach, we insert an image into its own html topic.
The image is then called as a pop-up in a step-by-step topic.
Prior to the patch, the pop-up window size was 5-8 pixels taller and wider than the image and displayed with a nice white margin:
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I'd given up on this problem and uninstalled the 8.0.1 patch. We have 1265 image topics, with multiple pop-up instances for each image topic. I need a correction for every custom-sized pop-up.
I can see the decision not to install the upgrade was short-sighted, however, as the next patch 8.0.2 is critical if we hope to have a stable project.
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Praful,
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RH8 HTML
Hi all, hoping I can find a solution for this.
Currently, and as it should, I link to a page in my webhelp, from within my webhelp. i.e front page has a link that refers to another section in the webhelp. The links work fine, these links however are going to the 'book' (I created the TOC books to be books with links) and within these books are other topics.#
Is there a way to make it so that when the user clicks a link that goes to one of these 'books' in the TOC, that the toc tree also drops down.
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Hi all
For what it's worth, Leon's suggestion is what I too would recommend. When I facilitate a RoboHelp class and am discussing the "Book with link" feature, I typically will suggest that this approach is used.
@Leon - I think this changed with a recent forum upgrade. Annoying, isn't it?
Standard definiton of any upgrade: Uninstall old bugs. Install new ones.
Cheers... Rick
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RH8 RoboHelp HTML published as web help TOC format

Is there any way to manually tweak the TOC formatting in a published set of sub docs that were generated from the root books of a RoboHelp HTML project?
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Since this one-off was done to an unknown version of the content, I'd be better off mucking with the cshdat and wh files than the content of the topics.

...just now revisiting the project that precipitated the original request. I have additional info and a request:
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How do I create bread crumbs if I don't want to put all of the topics in the TOC?

Good Morning
I am trying to figure out how I can create bread crumbs for topics that I do not have in the Table of Contents. The reason is that if I put all of my topics in the TOC, it will end up a mile long!
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I've also looked for other ways to create the navigation bar (rather than using the method I've described above) in the event there is no way to manually create the breadcrumbs. I have seen what I wanted in another help database but I am completely unable to figure out how they did it.
Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Karen

Hi Karen
Unfortunately you will likely end up implementing either a totally manual system (meaning you just add a line at the top of your topic with your breadcrumb trail as you wish to display it, then link as needed) or you will have to resort to some third party solution that isn't part of RoboHelp's features.
You might also take a moment and suggest to the RoboHelp development team that we need some flexibility with this aspect. (Link is in my sig)
Cheers... Rick
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Is there a limit for external links in TOC using RoboHelp 9.2?

Hi,
This is my first time posting to the Adobe forums. Here is my problem.
I have been maintaining help projects using RoboHelp 9.2 for quite some time now to generate WebHelp. I now have four large projects that are linked through a URL in each project's TOC. Example: I have projects A B C D. In A's TOC, I include a link to B C D default topics. In B's TOC, I include a link to A C D default topics. And so on ... The fourth project (D) is new.
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What should appear in all cases is image 13.gif.
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karl219 wrote:
1-Time machine seems to be coming up often in the discussions.If my backup is on my external hard drive, why would space be taken up on my macbook hard drive?
Read the first extract for the definition of backup snapshots and how they are handled by the OS.
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No. Time Machine should be on a separate HDD and will take care of deleting backups when necessary on that drive.
3-Back to the issue, considering I don't have access to a an apple store for the next few months, what is my best plan of action?
I would consider installing a larger internal HDD. Capacities to 1 TB are now available.
4-I am considering buying a new macbook 15inch, and get more space, however, I'm scared that the same problem will happen again. Is this common on all macs? Will using Time Machine to "Restore" my backups bring along the issues as well?
All Macs using Time Machine will experience the same conditions. The problem is that many users do not under stand what 'Other' is and that leads to confusion. There are many essential OS files in that category that should not be touched as well as some user files. The issue is not to reduce 'Other' as such, but reduce the total amount of data on the HDD if space is becoming a premium.
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http://pondini.org/OSX/LionStorage.html
http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
Ciao.

Topic link working but cursor not positioned

Hi all,
I've created a HTML Help file using RH 2002. I've given link
to view previous topic and next topic with the help of buttons. In
the final output, the link is working fine (i'm able to view the
appropriate topic) in the right pane, but the cursor does not get
positioned at the exact topic place in the TOC Column (i.e., left
pane).......but when i generate Webhelp, the cursor is positioned
appropriately at the topic .....how is this........is there any
option to change so that it might work for HTML Help too.....pls
help me!!!

Hi usureka
In addition to my fellow Community Expert Peter's excellent
comments, there is another setting that could come into play here
that wasn't mentioned.
Expand your Single Source Layouts folder.
Double click the Microsoft HTML Help layout.
Click the Advanced... button.
Click the TOC Styles tab.
Ensure a check mark appears in the check box labeled "Always
Show Selection".
Cheers... Rick

HTML Sites not shown in TOC (PDF) - RoboHelp HTML (v9)

Hello ,
i have a new question. I didn't find an answer in the www so I'm asking here again.
I have a automatically generated TOC where I see all my books(directories) and html sites which are listed in the project-manager.
If I create an WebHelp I can see the html sites in the generated TOC, but if I create an pdf (printed documentation) I only see the books in my TOC inside the pdf.
Why I don't see any html sites in the TOC like it is in the web help?
But the pdf-generating-process write automatically all my headlines(inside the html sites) in my TOC.
I imagine that the printed documentation will create his own TOC and ignore my TOC which I selected.
Can someone help me show my html sites in the TOC like the automatically creation process of WebHelp will do it?
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kind regards
Denis

Just picking up on one point that may help. The very first time you use a Printed Documentation layout, the contents are taken from whichever TOC you selected. After that, any changes you make to the TOC do not reflect in the print layout. The quick way to update the print layout is to click the left facing double chevron to remove all topics, then click the right facing double chevron to take the latest version of the TOC.
See Printed Documentation on my site.
If that doesn't help, maybe some screenshots would help.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Best practice for adding images to a RH8 HTML project?

I'm working on a Word to RH8 HTML conversion. The images in Word are SNAG images but the resolution is poor and some of the images may need to be recreated from scratch again. Going forward I imagine I should work on getting them right in Snagit9. Any suggestions?

For example, installation help topics dealing with install/uninstall screenshots for an application's client and server:
client_dir_sum.gif
client_dot_net.gif
client_uninst_wlcm.gif
server_wlcm.gif
server_cfg_tomcat.gif
server_success.gif
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acct_groups.gif
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Accounts
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Convert RH8 HTML Project to RH8 Word Project

Hello,
I am new to this organization and taking over an existing RoboHelp 8 HTML online FlashHelp project. My supervisor has requested that I find out how to get our RH8 HTML project into a RH8 Word project, and after reading this forum and others, this sounds like it is not the way to go. The intent of converting to Word is to allow multiple authors (who are not HTML savvy) to create or update help topics. So, my questions are:
Is this the right path to take?
If converting from RH8 HTML to RH8 Word is not the correct path, what suggestions do you have for allowing multiple authors to create or edit content outside of RH8 (and then of course fold into the HTML online Help project)?
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi there
In addition to what Jeff offered, there really isn't any clean manner to convert a project from RoboHelp HTML to RoboHelp for Word.
Now if you have a need to allow users to edit content in Word, you have the option in RoboHelp 8 of "Linking" Word documents to the project. When you do this you have icons in RoboHelp that alert you to changes in the linked Word content. You then simply update to pull the new content into RoboHelp.
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Personally I would view converting projects from RoboHelp HTML to RoboHelp for Word to be a bad move. I'd suggest sticking with RoboHelp HTML and utilizing the linking feature to your advantage.
Cheers... Rick
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RH8 HTML, workspace font 8pt, can it be changed?

Hi,
My IT department just upgraded me to a faster machine Windows 7 however my RH8 HTML displays my Project Manager et al pods in Ariel 8pt. I know I can adjust the topic font size from the View option, however, has anyone figured out how to change the font size elsewhere on the workspace? My css works fine in my output. It's just my workspace view.
Thanks
Jan

I realize this is an old thread, but since I just encountered the same thing in RH11, I thought I would comment. I don't know how RoboHelp interprets what fonts size to use, but I was using two 22" monitors and a 14" laptop screen at 1920x1080 with Windows 8.1. I am testing TCS5 against MadPak. I'd never seen this problem in RH, and I was starting to think I would need to go with Flare to see the screen. I tried changing the resolution and nothing happened.
It wasn't until I pitted the two screen capture programs against each other that I realized something else was going on. Neither of them could capture. RoboScreen Capture was changing the resolution and making a single browser window take up the entire 22" monitor screen. I was seeing other inconsistencies with menu sizes, and I was not able to resize the display text or menus the way that I like them. I also noticed that moving windows from the laptop screen to the monitors resulted in the screens being very large for until they were completely on the new monitors screen (vs. in transition between the two).
To resolve the problem, I have had to stop using the laptop scree, but I suspect it's a Windows bug related to graphics, and it impacts RoboHelp because of the way RoboHelp determines its work space font size. A new graphics driver or a reinstallation may be what is really needed in these situations. It does appear that the bug has only gotten worse in Windows 8.1 (perhaps related to the increasing options allowing users to resize display items separately).
Once I changed my settings to two monitors and rebooted, all of my problems resolved. As multiple monitor use becomes more and more common, and Windows continues to become more customizable, Adobe may well want to change the way RH11 determines its font size. Flare did not bat an eye at this bug. It was fine. Both graphics programs were unusable but in different ways.

Controlling the Navigation Pane from Topic links

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Thanks
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Hi Willam
No your method still works fine thanks (without any page flicker). However, it only opens and closes the navigation pane. What I've been playing around with is the idea of hiding the standard WebHelp toolbar by setting its height to zero in the .SKN and then creating my own toolbar in a Master Page that controls the navigation pane, i.e. with Home, Contents, Index, Search, and Glossary links. That way I have more control over how the toolbar looks and, for example, I can use some script to power drop-down menus, etc. I've been looking at using the Bootstrap framework.
I seems to work okay, apart form the annoying page flicker when I use the links in my custom toolbar.
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RH9-chm file Bug when clicking on a sub-topic heading on TOC.

Hi all,
Today I have a bug that I wonder whether someone working with Robohelp HTML 9 has or not.
In my TOC, I create book 1 and then create page 1, page 2 for this book. The book linked to topic Startup.htm. Page1 and page 2 linked to two different bookmarks in this topic. Then I generated the project to .chm file.
On the Content tab, expanded the book, and then clicked page 1 or page 2 to see its content.
In the first time, the content of the selected page was shown on the right pane, but the book was collapsed automatically. --> This is bug ?
I had to expand the book again, I clicked and clicked again on page 1, and page 2, that bug did not occur anymore.
Anyone used to in this situation, please help me the resolution. Thanks.

Hi there
From what I'm seeing I'm guessing the following items have been configured.
You are using the option to Single Click Books to expand them.
You are auto-synchronizing the displayed topic to the TOC.
Like Colum, I'm unable to duplicate the issue. I tried using both the 32 bit and the 64 bit versions of the HTML Help viewer. Neither version seemed to present the behavior you are describing.
However, I do note that when you have the setup enabled that you do, clicking any topic outside the book that is expanded will typically cause the Book to collapse. When you look at things in the Microsoft HTML Help Workshop, the option RoboHelp calls "Single Click to Open Books" is labeled differently. There, it is labeled "Only Expand a Single Heading". So the book collapsing is really sort of an expected behavior.
I might suggest the following changes. The changes I'm proposing *MAY* change the behavior.
Instead of pointing to bookmarks within the same topic that is linked to the book, duplicate the topic you linked to. Then remove the section you only want seen if they click the book itself. Link the pages of the TOC to the new topic. Additionally, you would want to edit the topic you link to the pages so that the part the book itself links to is removed.
My thought is that perhaps your odd behavior is stemming from the fact that your book and the pages inside are really linking to the same topic, just at different places. Perhaps something about that situation is confusing the HTML Help Viewer. And that triggers another thought. If it's a bug, it's not a RoboHelp bug but a bug in the HTML Help Viewer that is manifesting. And RoboHelp can't fix a Microsoft bug. Heck, even Microsoft isn't likely to fix it at this stage.
Cheers... Rick

Some child chms don't display topic in topic pane when TOC item is clicked

Okay. I'm not sure what's going on.
We have a master project and various sub-chms that get merged into the TOC of that master project. We have a fairly new sub RH project named "Toolkit Modules" that generates three additional sub chms that are also merged into the master help. They appear at the very end of the master project's TOC:
<master help's toc>
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toolkitmodules.chm
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All the topics for the three toolkit modules chms exist in the Toolkit Modules project and are conditionally marked with topic-level build tags so that the right topics appear in their respective chm.
I compiled the three toolkit chms and then put them in the master root directory so that when the master help is generated, they get included properly.
At first glance, all three of these chms appear to be working fine in the master TOC. I can expand and view the master help's TOC for the sub projects just fine, but clicking on a TOC entry does not display
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toolkitmodules_blade.chm
toolkitmodules_vwmp.chm
I'm not sure why.
If I double-click and open up the individual chms from within Windows and view their contents, the topics appear as expected in those chms. It's just when merged, these latter two chms don't do anything from the TOC side. However, I have verified that the topics are indeed getting merged in, because I can use the Search tab to see the topics. In fact, the Locate button on the toolbar even expands the correct TOC and highlights the entry that matches. So something's just not working from the TOC side.
Any ideas?
I'm using RH 9.02.271
Windows 7 64-bit
HtmlHelp output (chm)
Thanks!

Jared
Right now I simply don't have the bandwidth to say "send me your project". You may see me ask others to do so but that will only be where I believe it will be simple or I just need to see something.
Take a look at Item 13 in http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/rh9/using_rh9.htm. That covers the fix to the merged CHM help problem that was used before Adobe fixed it in 902. Part of the problem was the HHP getting rewritten so maybe something there will help.
Any merged CHM help users able to pitch in here?
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

RH8 HTML - WebHelp: Topic link in TOC goes to wrong topic

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