RoboHelp 9 HTML FlashHelp Search Functionality

Using RoboHelp 9 HTML with FlashHelp output. FlashPlayer is fully updated, as is RH.
Whenever I access the generated help files, and attempt to Search on any word/phrase, I get a continuous Search (the "progress" bar moves back and forth under the "Searching.." indicator), and it never stops. No results are returned.
I've searched on this, but while I saw results that some words have not been found in the past, I've not seen anything posted about a never-ending search.
Any help on this would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Rich

When you use View I would expect the search to work. The other methods might not work as you then get into Flash security issues.
Create a new project with just a couple of topics. Test that and post back to tell me it is working.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Similar Messages

RoboHelp HTML 9 Search Pane Max results controls

RoboHelp HTML 9 with WebHelp as output...
I have a two part question. By default when our users do a search in compile dhelp, they see 10 search results per page. Is there a place in my RoboHelp interface where I can change that to larger number? I have found a line of code in a *.js file where it looks like I could manually change it, but would prefer not to have to do it that route in case that causes unintended hiccups elsewhere.
var nMaxResult = 10 ;
Second part of my question is related to statement in release notes/new features notes for RoboHelp 9 that state users can control the max search results per page on-the-fly as they use the Search pane. This feature only applies to WebHelp or WebHelp Pro and my output is WebHelp. I can see a line of code for that feature in the whfform.htm file but nothing shows up like that in the Search pane within compiled help. Is this a bug or is there a control somewhere in RoboHelp project settings that allows me to enable that option for users? The last 2 lines below would seem to control this area. The Search pane items referenced in first 4 lines do show up ok in my Search pane.
gsTitle = "Type in the word(s) to search for:";
gsTitle = "Type in the word(s) to search for:";
gsHiliteSearchTitle = "Highlight search results";
gsHiliteSearchTitle = "Highlight search results";
gsMaxSearchTitle = "Search results per page" ;
gsMaxSearchTitle = "Search results per page";
Thanks for any insight you can provide,
KF

I know this is an old topic, but I was trying to figure this out myself today and finally found it. In case others have been looking for this, it's in in this file:
whform.js
find this variable:
var gnMaxRslt = 10;
and then change the 10 to the number you want.
If you do that in the generated help, the number will change in the Search pane, but it will still display only 10 results. To get it to actually display more than 10 results, I had to edit the RoboHelp file, not the generated help. I made a copy of C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 10\RoboHTML\WebHelp5Ext\template_stock\whform.js before I edited it. (Right-click the file, click Copy, then right-click in the folder and click Paste. Edit the one that doesn't say Copy in the filename. Then if you want to back it out, delete the one you edited and remove Copy from the original.) If you have your project open in RoboHelp, close it, then reopen it so it can "grab" the new info.
This ought to be in the WebHelp Setting dialog box on the Search pane.
--Karla--

RoboHelp HTML 8 Search problem

I have a single (non-merged) RoboHelp 8 HTML project in which I cannot seem to get Search working correctly.
I expected to see a box into which I can type a search term and a blank pane below the Contents/Index/Search/Glossary bar where search results would appear. Instead, I get the following when I generate WebHelp:
This problem appears in IE 6, IE 7, Firefox 3.0, and Firefox 3.5, all of which our customer base uses. I'm using RoboHelp 8 on a Windows PC with XP Pro 2002, SP3.
In the Project Settings/General dialog, I have the default settings for the Stop List and the Always Ignore List selected. For "Add new keywords to" I have "Index File (HHK)" selected, and "Binary Index" is selected.
When generating WebHelp, I have the following set:
General selections: Under "Additional Options," "Apply to all Topics," "CSS" is selected, with the correct CSS name displayed. "Add Mark of the Web" is selected.
Navigation selections: For Toolbar Buttons, Contents, Index, Search, Glossary are selected. For Search Options, "Enable Highlight Search Results" is selected.
Navigation Pane Preferred Format selection is Pure HTML. (We tried DHTML/HTML but that resulted in an empty nav pane and a nonfunctional index.)
Optimize Speed For: Web Site (Internet)
Publish: Republish All.
What are we doing wrong? I'm totally stumped and I can't seem to find any help on this issue anywhere. Thanks!

Hi there
Please do expound.
MSMoore9412 wrote:
I finally succeeded in getting a Search pane that looked right and performed correctly by deselecting the Mark of the Web option.
To my knowledge this option only affects the output when you view things locally, as in when you are testing the output immediately after generating. Are you saying here that it somehow affected things after you uploaded the files to the server?
Cheers... Rick
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RoboHelp HTML 11 Search problems

I have turned off Substring Search on the WebHelp. This a clinical information site so we have medical staff looking for diseases using acronyms. For example: If we search for "STI" (with or without quotes)... we get the documents and topics that have Sexually Transmitted Infections but we also have things like testing or posting show up as well. How can we get it webhelp search to stop finding these types of strings. I have tried to find answers in help and in the forum but I haven't been able to find any help. I've followed all the suggestions but it hasn't helped. I made sure that my current version of RoboHelp has all the updates and it continues to happen. Have you got any suggestions or words that I can tell users how to search effectively?
Thanks
Deb

Thanks for the idea Jeff but I have already removed all of the indexed keywords from the topics. When a user searched, they received too many returns so we removed the index keywords. Users were complaining about too many returns. They are used to the Windows search function on their network and didn't like the webhelp search. I know they are going to complain about these substrings so I'm trying to get rid of them.

RoboHelp 8 vs. 9 - Search Functionality Comparison and "All of the Words" vs. "Any of the Words"

Greetings!
Our organization focuses a lot on the accuracy of our searches, which is a necessity when we have hundreds of very lengthy topics (no matter how well organized they are).
I finally completed a detailed comparison of the search functionality of 8 and 9 and came to the realization that 8 is a disaster, while with 9 things get better, but there's still TONS of room for improvement. I have reported this to Adobe and so far there has been no official response. There are many blogs on here related to the search functionality, but I thought it may be a good idea to try to sum some of them up. I do hope that someone somewhere at Adobe runs into this and shares with all of us why Adobe's Search functionality is still in the 20th century!
I hope this helps everyone else who is curious to know about how the tool's search functions work and whether it's worth upgrading from 8 to 9 at this point. I have included some examples which are in a way internal to us, but they will give you a good idea of what to expect and I'm quite confident you'll be able to recreate them on your side in seconds.
I also wanted to ask a question or two, and if anyone can assist, that would be greatly appreciated:
Currently if we search for several words at once (not exact phrase), both 8 and 9 perform an "Any of the words" search which always returns too many results. Does anyone know a way to change the default to an "All of the words" search? For years I have not encountered a tool out there that doesn't have the option to modify this, alas with RoboHelp 8 and 9, we can't find a way to do it (with or without modifying the source code).
Out of curiosity, are there any other tools out there which offer Conditional Tag (or similar) functionality and which behave better than RoboHelp? (easier to maintain, less buggy, web interface, etc)?
RoboHelp 8 vs 9 - Search Functionality Comparison Table with some Examples:
Search Example
RoboHelp 8
RoboHelp 9
Expected Results
(based on industry standards)
1. Searching for Exact Phrase "Correspondent Banking"
Such a search returns topics which contain "Correspondent Banking" and "Correspondent Bank". The last one is included because "Bank" is the root of "Banking". The topics that contain the exact phrase appear at the bottom. When we click on any of them, we're not automatically taken to phrase so we have to scroll and look for it or use CTR+F.
Identical behavior except that when we click on the topics which contain the exact phrase, we're taken straight to it.
When we hear "exact" we expect "exact" and nothing else. Unfortunately, both versions keep searching for the roots of each word as well and incorrectly display those results at the top. Adobe has made it clear that this is a part of their functionality, BUT this is something we would not expect to see for exact phrase searches that are in quotes.
2. A Non-Exact phrase search of "Geographical Limits of market area"
The tool automatically performs an "Any of the Words" search instead of an "All of the Words" search. This is also related to the question I asked above this table. As you can imagine, this is returning almost every topic and it becomes virtually impossible to find what we're looking for. It even returns topics which contain "of" and nothing else.
Identical behavior
There to be an option which allows us to choose what the default search would be - "Any of the words" vs. "All of the Words"
3. Exact Phrase search of "low-score" with a dash
None of the topics that were returned contain the phrase. As some of you know, RH8 has problems with special characters, including dashes.
RH9 returned only the topic that which contains the phrase and we were taken straight to it when we open it.
The expectation is to see exactly what RH9 currently offers. Unfortunately 8 has a big problem with these types of searches.
4. Exact Phrase search of "2.4"
This is similar to the one above. Adobe doesn't like periods as well. It doesn't not find any of the topics which contain this phrase. In our case, this is a section number and sometimes people want a quick way to get to a specific section or sub-section.
We were hoping that this will be fixed with 9, just the way they fixed the dashes. Unfortunately, still ZERO results returned.
Expectation is for the topics which contain that exact phrase to be returned, no matter whether there's any special character inbetween.
5. Exact Phrase search of "300,000" or $300,000"
The tool only returned several random topics which contain "000" as part of larger numbers. The topic that contains "300,000" was not on that list, even though it also contains "000".
Identical behavior
Expectation is for topics that contain the exact amount to be returned, no matter if there is a coma or a dollar sign anywhere within the phrase.
6. Exact Phrase Search of "525-B5". Goal was to have a special character, a letter and numbers.
ZERO Results returned.
Only the docs that contain the phrase were returned and nothing else. It seems that this this was addressed in version 9 and now it behaves as expected.
Expectation is only for the docs that contain the exact phrase to be returned.
7. Exact phase search of "log" in order to test the Substring Functionality
Here's an extract from Adobe's Support Site:
“Substring search (WebHelp/Pro, FlashHelp/Pro) - If you enable this feature, a search for "log" returns topics containing the words "catalog" and "logarithm." Substring search takes longer than whole-string search.”
So with that in mind, we decided to test if turning the substring searches on and off does exactly as advertised, unfortunately the answer was NO. We even used an example almost idnetical to what Adobe provided on their site.
With Substring Searches disabled, we searched for the word "log". Unfortunately it returned words like "logbook" and methodology". How is that possible?
Identical behavior
Our expectation would be only for docs that contain"log" to be returned, no matter whether substring is enabled or disabled. In our case it was disabled.

Hi there
Out of curiosity, why is it that you expect to hear from Adobe? I'm hoping it's not simply because you posted here. Certainly we have Adobe folks that visit here and we are thankful for that, but it isn't to be expected.
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day!
Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training
SorcerStone Blog
RoboHelp eBooks

Crash on search function for HTML Help file (.chm) when connected to a Visual C++ application

Crash on search function for HTML Help file (.chm) when
connected to a Visual C++ application
I use the RH_ShowHelp API command to connect a HTML Help file
(.chm file generated by RoboHelp Word X 5) to my Visual C++
application. My application is able to call up this HTML help file
in context-sensitive mode and everything is working great in the
Contents and Index panels EXCEPT when I click on List Topics (after
I enter a KEYWORD for search) in the Search panel.
I got an error that said “Unhandled exception in
xxxx.exe.(HHCTRL.OCX):0xC00000FD: Stack overflow”
I am able to execute this .chm file by itself and the search
function works well in this case. I am using HHActiveX.dll that is
created on 2/23/04. Is this the correct version?? Any advice what
to do here??

Hi agschin and welcome to the RH forums. The hhactivex.dll
file is not used by the search function so you can rule that our.
Have you tried recompiling and seeing if the problem still happens?
You can also start the Bug Hunter feature in RH - View > Output
View and then select the Bug Hunter button - and see if that throws
up any clues.

Search functionality no longer works in any of my recently generated HTML Help projects

I'm using Rh 10.0.1.292 and Rh 11.0.4.291 for different projects.
Recently, I've noticed that the Search feature returns no results, in any of my projects that are generated in either Rh10 or 11. I just get the "No topics found" message. This used to work.
The only thing that has been done recently (that I can think of) involved working with .slp files to fix an issue with the Glossary tab and the Search functionality in a Rh 11 Responsive HTML5 layout. (https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1690579) I can't, however, see how that would break the Search functionality in my HTML projects.
Any ideas?

In either Rh 10 and 11, whenever I generated a project as HTML Help (even an example project) the Search functionality was broken. Finally, when I couldn't think of what else to try, I uninstalled and reinstalled Rh 10, and that solved my problem--in both Rh 10 and 11!
Apparently some file was corrupted, but I don't know what was broken or what caused the corruption. I am still trying to get some clarification from Adobe, but so far, I have only received the following comments:
The robohelp cache folder and the preferences might have caused this.
The problem can be either with the updates on system.
If I should receive any definitive information, I will update this post.
Thanks.

How do I create a Search window in a RoboHelp HTML 8 topic pane?

I am working in RoboHelp HTML version 8 that is published as WebHelp. The system I am developing for has a search window as part of a skin that is available above the topic windows and is not always easily accessible. Can you create a search window to appear in individual help panes like they do in Microsoft Office Word 2007's Help? (to do this, can you use skins within each Help topic pane?) Or can a link or a button be created within a help topic pane to bring up a search window as a popup? If so, can you give me high level steps to doing these tasks? thanks.

Hi,
Although you can open RoboHelps search pane in a popup, the search function will not function. I guess the easiest is to use another tool for your search, one that you customize into what you need. On Peter's site, he uses a progam called zoomsearch, which you can also use for RoboHelp projects. See http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/zoomsearch/zoomsearch.htm
Greet,
Willam

Does RoboHelp 11 have the ability to add filters for the search function?

Does Robohelp 11 have the ability to add filters for the search function?

There's a page on my site about ZoomSearch. You can set up Rh to work with that and have a page with links or buttons that bring up different search options.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

RoboHelp HTML Version 10, Why has my CHM search stopped working? I get "no results found" for all searches.

RoboHelp HTML Version 10,
Why has my CHM search stopped working? I get "no results found" for all searches...........rob

Likely you need to re-register some DLLs and recompile.
Click the link below and follow the information you find there.
Click here
Cheers... Rick

RoboHelp's Search Function

It would help me in connection with some work I am doing, to
know what people like and dislike about the way the search function
works in webhelp (standard webhelp, not webhelp pro).
Please cover things you would like to see as well. Google
like results for example.

The ability to tag topics (in the GUI) with META-keywords
which, when entered by the user, would display in a separate panel
called "Sponsored links" or "Recommended links" at the top (and/or
in a right-side column?). Then, of course, I would want the ability
to produce a report, or even have another column in the Topics pane
called Search Keywords (right clicking on "Yes" would list the
keywords for that topic).
The ability to assign categories to groups (by folder and/or
file names, with wildcard option), and allow the user to choose
from all or selected categories.
Is this sounding familiar, Peter?
Oh, and all three options for searching on multiples: any
words, all words, as a phrase.
Naturally, this would have to work equally well in a merged
project as in a standalone project!

Improving FlashHelp search results

Hi,
I came across an article on this site
http://www.helpscribe.com/2008/10/improving-webhelp-search-results-in.html
that replaces the function called displayTopics in whfhost.js
with the following code :
function displayTopics() { var recHTML=""; var sHTML=""; var sLine=""; var foundRecTopics = 0; var foundAnyTopics = 0; var rg = new RegExp(gsCW,"ig"); var recHead="<dt>Recommended topics</dt>"; var allHead=" <dt>Other topics</dt>"; for(var i=0;i<gaTI.length;i++){ if(gaTI[i].sTopicTitle.search(rg)>-1){ recHTML+="<dt><a href='"+gaTI[i].sTopicURL+"'>"+_textToHtml(gaTI[i].sTopicTitle)+"</a></dt>"; foundRecTopics = 1; } else{ foundAnyTopics=1; sLine+="<dt><a href='"+gaTI[i].sTopicURL+"'>"+_textToHtml(gaTI[i].sTopicTitle)+"</a></dt>"; if(i>>4<<4==i){ sHTML+=sLine; sLine=""; } } } if(sLine.length>0) sHTML+=sLine; if (!foundRecTopics) { recHTML+="<dt>No topics found.</dt>"; } if(!foundAnyTopics) sHTML+="<dt>No topics found.</dt>"; sHTML="<dl>"+recHead+recHTML+allHead+sHTML+"</dl>"; var resultDiv=getElement(gsResultDivID); if(resultDiv) resultDiv.innerHTML=sHTML; }
Will this work for FlashHelp?
Thanks for any advice.
M

Welcome to our community, M
My own guess is that the code tweak will not apply to FlashHelp. And the reason is why I (and many others) tend to avoid FlashHelp. Sure, the output is glitzy with animation.
I stand to be corrected on this, but my understanding is that the same reason it's glitzy is also it's weak spot. Much of the code is hidden in Flash elements that use ActionScript programming.
Cheers... Rick
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RoboHelp HTML 9 Webhelp Layouts include all (unnecessary) project files

I am currently using RoboHelp HTML 9 on Windows 7 Pro. I have administrative rights on the computer.
My current project contains over 30 different webhelp layouts with 30 different TOCs that are all based on the different functions in a web-based application for a client. The project also includes over 30 different print layouts based on the same TOCs. I use build conditions to specify what I want to appear in the webhelp and print layouts. My project is organized into basically three main folders that represent Tasks, References and Concepts (as close to DITA as I can get this client). Each of these main folders has a subfolder named after a function and it contains the topics and screen captures that relate to that specific function task, function reference or function concept.
I created each webhelp layout in the SSL pod based on the specific TOC that was created for the function. In the WebHelp settings, I specified the TOC in the Content section along with enabling the "exclude unreferenced topics from output" and "exclude unreferenced baggage files from the output" options. In the Navigation section, I selected the appropriate skin that I customized along with enabling Contents and Search options with adding the About box.
With these settings my problem is that ever single webhelp layout includes all of the files in the three main folders, even when they are not referenced in the TOC. This has caused my outputs to explode in size because of the unnecessary folders filled with files (topics and graphics). How can I compile the webhelp layouts so they only output the files referenced in the TOCs and not every single file in the the three main project folders?
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated because my client is not local and I have to send these files to them over the internet.
Thanks in Advance!

"Exclude unreferenced topics from output" starts by excluding topics that are not in the TOC etc. However if a topic in the TOC has a link to a topic that is not in the TOC, the linked topic will also be included to avoid a broken link. It also daisy chains so that if the second topic has further links, that too gets included.
The idea behind this option was that people wanted TOC only outputs but Adobe chose to implement it in this way. I can see why but I take the view that if that results in broken links, that is the author's responsibility. If you agree, then please follow this link and ask for true TOC based authoring.
http://www.Adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=38
Meantime you will, as Amebr points out, need to create build tags and expressions. There is a page on my site that covers that.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Mapping Styles from Word 2010 to RoboHelp HTML 10

Hello all,
I have created customized styles for myself and my team to use for authoring content, which I then import to RoboHelp, as I am the only individual who understands RoboHelp and HTML/CSS. I created a corresponding CSS style sheet in RoboHelp to correspond with the names of the Word styles. When I go to import the files in RoboHelp, I am running in to an issue with paragraph tags and heading tags.
When I import a file from a Word document, I have not found a way to map a tag that is parsed from a Word document to an <h> tag, as heading tags do not appear as a selectable item in the Conversion Settings window when importing Word files. I would be able to keep the formatting if I left the headings as tags; however, it is my understanding that RoboHelp 10 search relies heavily on the heading tags for weighting search results. I have about 400 topics, and search is used heavily by those using my documentation. I would prefer to keep the <h> tags in place in the RoboHelp files and retain the search functionality, if at all possible, while finding an easier import option from Word files.
At this point, I have to manually change the HTML for each tag to match the correct heading style. While Find and Replace works well for this, I would prefer to have a seamless import from Word (which bloats an HTML file horrendously, I know) by mapping from one style to the next. Has anyone found a way to map a tag to an <h> tag so that the search functionality does not suffer? Or am I just approaching this the wrong way?

You are correct in your assumption that I am referring to paragraph styles when speaking of tags. The paragraph styles come over as tags, and I was just thinking of my style sheet. Sorry for the confusion.
Speaking of my workflow, I'm attempting to map the styles for one topic at a time when importing a new Word file. I set up a test project to test out my style sheet, as I am upgrading from RoboHelp 7 right now. .I need to get one document to map correctly to save the settings for future imports.
From the Import window, I click the Edit... button in the Word Document section. After RoboHelp scans the Word file, a list of all the styles from the Word document display. When I attempt to select from the available styles I want to map to from my RoboHelp style sheet, I don't have the option to select the heading styles I created in my RoboHelp CSS file. Does this provide you enough information to give you context on how I am attempting to map the styles?
I found this article that leads me to belive that RoboHelp does not support mapping to a customized heading style from a CSS file. I realize that this is around the printed output, but it states the following:
If custom heading styles aren’t named in the format Heading <number>, they are not treated as headings.
If it doesn't work going from HTML to printed output, I'm guessing that there is not support going from Word to HTML. Am I wrong in this assumption? Do I just need to alter my style sheet to only use the standard <h> tags to fix this issue?

Stack overflow at line: 1792 or 1788 when using the search function

Hello everyone,
My name is Thibault. I am a technical communications specialist. I've been using Robohelp html for a couple of years.
I am working on the user guide of the software application developed where I work.
This is a HUGE project, more than 6500 pages.
We're two technical writers on this project. (This is an inportant detail since my colleague doesn't get the problem).
I need your help because I have been having an annoying issue over the last couple of days.
After the project is generated, I open it in the software, clicking F1.
When I want to use the search function I have this error message displayed:
"Stack overflow at line: 1792" or "Stack overflow at line: 1788"
Do you know where this could come from?
Furthermore, I noticed that this stack overflow only occurs on some words.
I mean, it occurs for the most used words in this project.
We have customers all over the world and over the last week, we've been getting a lot of feedbacks about this error message.
I hope someone will be able to help me on this one!
Thanks in advance!

First of all, thanks for your answer RoboColum(n).
Is the problem only when you search for a topic that contains Flash output?
All my topics contain Flash outputs. I generate my output files on a folder that is embedded into the software.When in the software, I click F1 and the Flash User Guide opens.The search function works (or not) depending on the software version (32/64-bit).
At what point exactly does the stack overview occur?
We have two versions of the software a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version.
The search function works fine with the 32-bit version.
The problem occurs when I use the 64-bit version. When I type in a word, for example "unit", the stack overflow message appears. See below:
As you can see, it looks like the search function freezes while the stack overflow message appears.
And I never get this error message with the 32-bit version of our software.
I also wonder whether you can search on a project that contains no Flash output. Perhaps you could try for us?
What do you mean by that?
As I told you previously, my Flash Player version is a 32-bit one.
Do you think that the issue might come from there?

RoboHelp 9 HTML FlashHelp Search Functionality

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