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.

Similar Messages

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.

Adding a button before the TOC button in a WebHelp Pro navigation bar

My client wnats to add a "Home " button to the left of the TOC button in the navigation bar. I can ad buttons to the right of the "standard buttons": TOC, Search, Print, and Glossary, but even if I go and edit the skn file and add the "Home" botton before the TOC one, it still displays to the right. Is there anything I am missing?
Thanks.
Using RoboHelp 9 and Robohelp Server.
Thanks

Hi,
I don't have RH Server, so this is a bit of a guess but I think one method will work.
Modify the toolbar order in whstart.js.
1. In whstart.js, go to line 184 (RH10), it has the text else if (nMsgId == WH_MSG_TOOLBARORDER).
2. Below the opening bracket add the following code:
oMsg.oParam = "CUSTOM|toc|glo|idx|fts|blackblock|searchform|banner";
return false;
3. Open whskin_tbars.htm and go to the bottom of the file to find a few calls starting with addButton.
4. Copyt the id of the button (customxxxx) and replace the text CUSTOM in whstart.js.
Modify whskin_tbars.htm
1. Open whskin_tbars.htm
2. Go to the bottom of the file and find a few calls starting with addButton.
3. Set the lines in the order you want the buttons to appear. (Don't forget the 'blankblock' button to push certain content to the right of the toolbar.
4. Remove the call to the function ReSortToolbarButtons() from the file whskin_tbars.js.
If WebHelp does still resort the buttons, try adding return false; as the first code in the function ReSortToolbarButtons() in the file whtbar.js
Hope this helps,
Greet,
Willam

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!

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.

TOC/Search window not displayed in WebHelp Pro output

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.
I would like to have the TOC displayed on that initial view, without requiring users to click the "Show" link.
Again, when I view the results of the output on my local drive, the TOC is displayed. The obvious problem is, the generated help needs to reside on a network drive to be accessed by our users...
PS: The project is on my local drive, only the contents of the output folder are being moved to the network drive. Also, everything other than the TOC display seems to be working fine.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
-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

X5 WebHelp Pro TOC Disappeared

My WebHelp Pro project has stopped showing the table of
contents. The TOC is not shown in IE, but it is shown in Firefox.
This is an older project, created in RoboHelp X5.0.2, that I
have been maintaining for about the last year. During this time I
have been adding, editing, and deleting topics and republishing the
results. A couple days ago, after republishing, the table of
contents "disappeared."
Has anyone every encountered a similar problem? Does anyone
have any ideas about what might be causing this problem or how to
fix it?

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"/><...
Can you help, please?
Thanks
Dee

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.

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.
We have standardized names defined for our application and the appended characters are not going to work in the application.
cid:[email protected]
When I use the generated html output in IE10 Version 10.0.9200.16635 Update Versions: 10.0.7 (KB2846071) the characters show up in the URL when I hover the mouse over the TOC entry as shown in the screenshot below.
cid:[email protected]
The two screenshots show that the Link to property does not have the characters "bc-7" but the URL address does.
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

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.

Webhelp Pro - RoboHelp HTML 8

Hi,
I have very recently started to use RoboHelp HTML 8 and also have Server 8. I am currently creating some test projects so I am able to provide a feel for what the tool can do etc. I have managed to publish a project to the server, however I would like to have Webhelp Pro as my Primary layout, when I do this I lose my contents page but the content can be found through a search.
Please could someone advise why my contents page will not appear when I publish to Webhelp Pro as opposed to normal Webhelp?
Thank you.

Hi,
I have been trying various things and this now seems to be fine and the contents are showing when I publish the project using Pro.
Thank you for your help with this!

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

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.

Will the features of WebHelp and WebHelp Pro layouts ever be combined?

Why are they separate? I like the enhanced features of WebHelp Pro, but I lose other new and GREAT features of WebHelp.
I use the WebHelp Pro layout for the customization features like:
Conditional Build Expressions
Content selection (TOC, Index, Glossary, etc.)
Exclude unreferenced Topics and baggage files
I would like to also use WebHelp (not Pro) features like:
Turning off certain toolbar buttons when there is no content for them (i.e. Index, Glossary). I have customzed the skin, but am not able to delete these buttons from the navigation area. Turning them off in WHPro would be ideal.
Using Content Categories. I need to use this feature to keep the TOC pane from showing (great for mobile devices) and for offering specific navigational paths, but I would have to sacrifice the features of Pro to do. Namely, Excluding unreferenced topics and baggage files. Our client primarily uses the search feature instead of the TOC navigation. We can't have them "finding" unused or developmental content, so I have to use Pro -- unless there is a better solution.
Am I missing something here?
Thanks,
Shelley

Hi Shelley
Sounds like you could really use a bit of RoboHelp training. I say that because you are unaware of why you would need RoboHelp Server, unaware that the "Pro" outputs are intended for use only with that output and the grand daddy of them all: unaware that most (if not all) of the features you cited are simple to achieve with the standard WebHelp output if you only know what and where to tweak things.
John and I are both Adobe certified instructors. Additionally, there are books on RoboHelp you may purchase that will help you learn how to effectively learn these features.
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

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

TOC Book Problem - RoboHelp 8 - WebHelp Pro

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