Unwanted Snippets appear in Webhelp output

When producing Webhelp output, I've been having an out-of-date snippet appear in my document. I use a common snippet in several projects, and in some of the projects, the snippet appears twice in the output when it's not supposed to. I've modified said snippet, but when I produce the output, the old version of the snippet appears. Not only that, but I haven't even inserted the snippet into the topic and it still appears in the output. When I re-import the new version of the snippet and insert it, the output contains both the old version and the new version. I'm running RH9.01 on Windows 7 64-bit.

Have you tried deleting all files from your output directory or generating to a new directory?
The RoboColum(n)
@robocolumn
Colum McAndrew

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Alt text not appearing in WebHelp output

We are using FrameMaker 10 and RoboHelp 9 to output as WebHelp. In the FM files, I have added alternate text to anchored frames containing images. When I update the linked FM files in my RH project, the screen tip is empty for these images, but when I look at the HTML source for the topic, it shows that the alt text is there:
<p class="widegraphic"><img alt="Coach completes form and can either submit now or save it as a draft, edit it, and submit it later. After submit, employee receives task or alert notification, and coach receives task notification. Coach can still edit form at this point. Employee acknolwedges form and completes tasks, and employee task changes to complete. Coach completes task, and task status changes to complete. Lastly, coach receives alert or message notification. "
id="image2" src="using_bpl_form00003.jpg"
style="margin-bottom: 6pt;" border="0" /> </p>
When I preview the topic in RH and hover my mouse over the image, the alt text appears in the preview window as expected, both in the default window and when I choose to preview in Firefox and IE. However, when I generate the WebHelp and hover my mouse over the images, nothing shows up at all, and the alt text is replaced by the file name:
<p class="widegraphic"></p>
<div align="left"><img alt="using_bpl_form00003.jpg" style="margin-bottom : 6pt; " id="image2" src="using_bpl_form00003.jpg" />
</div>
If, however, I manually copy and paste the alt text into the screen tip field of the image in the RH topic, the alt text does appear in the WebHelp output:
<p class="widegraphic"><img alt="Coach completes form and can either submit now or save it as a draft, edit it, and submit it later. After submit, employee receives task or alert notification, and coach receives task notification. Coach can still edit form at this point. Employee acknolwedges form and completes tasks, and employee task changes to complete. Coach completes task, and task status changes to complete. Lastly, coach receives alert or message notification. "
id="image2" src="using_bpl_form00003.jpg"
title="Coach completes form and can either submit now or save it as a draft, edit it, and submit it later. After submit, employee receives task or alert notification, and coach receives task notification. Coach can still edit form at this point. Employee acknolwedges form and completes tasks, and employee task changes to complete. Coach completes task, and task status changes to complete. Lastly, coach receives alert or message notification."
style="margin-bottom: 6pt;" border="0" /> </p>
This seems like a pretty major bug to me. I know there have been scripts developed to delete the alt text so that graphic filename won't show up as the alt text, but is there anything that will take the existing alt text and populate the screen tip/title property with it, which seems to be the key to getting this to work in the output? There's no way I can manually copy and paste all the alt text into the images in RH, especially because I'll just end up having to redo it every time I update the linked FM files.
Thanks,
Jackie

Hi Jackie,
Offhand, your ALT string seems long. A quick search yielded info at http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/images/images_famsupp_85.html
If a lengthy description is needed to describe the image, use the LONGDESC attribute to point to the URL of another page which has the lengthy description. Because LONGDESC is not yet sufficiently supported, also follow the image with a "D-link". A D-link is a standard anchor link with contents consisting of the capital letter "D", like this:
Do you experience the same behavior with short alt strings as well?
-Matt
@mattrsullivan

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 it OK for Spanish characters not to be entities in RH8 webhelp output?

We are using RoboHelp 8. We have some Spanish words in our English-language help; these Spanish words use some of the accented characters that aren't present in English. My coworker tried using HTML entity codes to enter these characters in the code view, but she noticed that RoboHelp changed these to the actual Spanish character as soon as she switched back to Design view, and this is how they are in the generated webhelp HTML files as well.
I think this is not a problem. The UTF8 declaration appears in the webhelp output, and the characters seem to appear correctly in the browsers I've tested. Am I correct? Should the output work in older browsers as well?
Thanks,
Tammy

RoboHelp supports 35 languages so the fact that the Design Editor supports those entities does not surprise me.
The following is from the RoboHelp Tour that can be accessed from my site.
RoboHelp 7 introduced the ability to work with 35 languages. In RoboHelp 8, you can now define a language for the project, a language for a topic and a language for a paragraph.
The search works with all the supported languages you use in the project.
There is a lot more information in the help topic "Authoring content in multiple languages".
It sounds like you are just including the odd word so the above may not be relevant, I just wanted to make sure you are aware of this.
I can't help you on how older browsers will handle this but my thinking is they should, they are just HTML entities after all.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Assistance with Search Feature used in WebHelp output

Hi Friends,
I have a specific requirement. I am trying to copy and paste a few HTML files in the WebHelp output folder from an external source and display these topic in the final WebHelp output. I was successful in updating the TOC ; merged index entries and glosarry terms and definitions. The external topics appear in the WebHelp output. However, I am not able to understand how my topics can be included in the Search feature. As of now the Search option only searches for key words within the default project topics. How can I extend this search to HTML pages that I have manually copied within the WebHelp output folder?

Welcome to our community
I'm more than a bit confused here. Why are you manually copying the pages? It seems that you don't mind the pages living amongst the other WebHelp pages. So why not simply copy them into the project? That way they would be included in the search.
If for some reason that's undesirable, you might look into configuring ZoomSearch. Look at the link below for that.
Click here to view
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

Rebuild source files from Webhelp output?

Today I deleted an unwanted *.css file from my RH9 project with the result that 300 images files were suddenly deleted. Subsequently, I reimported the source Word files to create a new image folder. The result of this, even though I cleared the selection boxes on the "Do you want to over-write" prompt, was that RH9 proceded to overwrite the topics anyway. So I have now lost 20 reformatted topics.
Why these things happened is not my main concern right now, though clearly it indicates that RH has some serious issues in file handling. (It has happened before).
Before RH9 deleted and over-wrote all my topic files, I generated webhelp output, and I want to know if I can recreate those topics to my project somehow using the latest Webhelp output files.

Hi Michael
I think what you are seeing is typical behavior when you have a linked Word document. And therein lies a bit of an issue. Certainly RoboHelp allows you to link a Word document, but Word and HTML are a bit like mixing oil and water. Word creates things you intend to print. HTML is intended for screen display. Mixing the two results in a bit of a kludge.
So first, let's try and understand how RoboHelp deals with Word this way. When you link a Word document, you will get a real honest to goodness file folder that is named identically to the document. In the RoboHelp project manager, the icon doesn't look like a folder. It looks like a Word logo with some arrows superimposed that will indicate the status.
Inside this folder should be your topics that were created based on the Word document.
I know you said you didn't want the CSS, but the process of bringing Word in will *ALWAYS* create a .CSS file. You may as well learn to simply accept it. The thing is, you don't have to use it. Just ignore it is there. You are free to associate a single CSS of your choice with your files either before or during the generation/compilation process.
The folder with the name matching the document and ending in _files is normally created when you convert Word to HTML. That's normally where Word will store and reference any images that were found in the document. That's a common Microsoft Word behavior. If you wish to confirm this, just close everything and open Word only. Create a document with some images then choose to save the Word document as HTML and look at what you end up with.
It's surprising to me that simply deleting a .CSS would blow any images away. Perhaps your Word document was created in a manner where the images are somehow referenced using CSS?
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

Captivate demo hiding in WebHelp output

RH10, WebHelp output
I imported a captivate demo (SWF) and it appears in the project design view and runs properly when I preview the topic in Design view. However when I publish output, the topic comes up blank. What am I missing?
Mike in Oz

Hi Mike
Seems odd. It wouldn't hur, however, to ensure you add the Captivate files (.SWF, .JS, .HTM and any others) to your list of Baggage Files for the project.
Sounds like the Captivate cannot find its files.
Cheers... Rick

Not able to view the webhelp output in Robohelp 9

Hello,
I am in a project where we have to create webhelp output from Robohelp 9. Whenever I generate the webhelp ouput I am not able to view the the contents. Although, the webhelp is opening in a browser window but there are no topics present in the contents. The other ouputs like .chm and .dox are fine, but there is some problem with the webhelp which I am unable to figure out.
Regards,
Ruso

What browser are you using?
If Chrome, try something else. Chrome works fine with help on the server but not locally. There is more in Snippets on my site about the Chrome issue.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Problems generating WebHelp output using RoboHelp X5

Hello,
I have been using RoboHelp X5, build 606 since last 2 weeks. I am facing problems with the generation of WebHelp output, when I generate and publish the project, it does not give me the Index and TOC. I have taken over the project from another author and when I compare the new Published Help folder with the previous author's work, I see some missing files. Could anyone from the group please help me resolve this issue?
Thanks!

Two possibilities from that information.
1] Is the D drive a partition on your hard disk or a network drive? RoboHelp projects must be run from your hard disk.
2] The more likely is that RH is not properly installed. When the previous author left, was RH uninstalled and reinstalled using your login? For X5 it must be installed using your login? Also you need local admin rights both to install and use it.
My guess is this is all to do with X5 not having been installed with your login and with you having local admin rights.
This will lead to another problem. X5 can no longer be activated. The solution to that is on my site. See Snippet 100.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
Follow me @petergrainge

Server/browser requirements for WebHelp output files

What are the UNIX server and browser requirements in order to
display a WebHelp project output file correctly?
When I generate the primary layout, I am not selecting 508
format, and I select Java Applet as the preferred method for the
Navigation Pane (checking the radio button for DHTML > Java
Applet > Pure HTML as the order of preference.
When viewing the help project on the UNIX server through
Mozilla, the page appears to load and reload, load and reload.
Sometims pressing Esc. stops it and you can view the TOC and
content pane. The way around this is to generate Pure HTML only,
but then the index and the glossary become very difficult to use.
Robohelp Webhelp descriptions claim to work on all platforms
and in all browser types. What requirement are we missing on our
UNIX server so the project can display correctly?
Thanks in advance for your time and trouble. :-)

Hi GEWB,
Here are some more details--
Generate Webhelp output setup:
Use lowercase filenames (recomm. for UNIX)
Toolbar buttons: Content, Index, Search
Navigation: Add breadcrumbs links
Additional options: Enable Highlight Search results, Synchronize TOC automatically
Navigation Pane preferred format: DHTML > Java Applet > Pure HTML
Optimize speed for: Web site
Q: how are you setting up your Linux to open the default project page?
A: I use Linux only to launch the webehelp output.
Q: Are you opening the GENERATED project default page or trying to open the project source files?
A: I am trying to open the generated project default page. I copy the Webhelp folder to a Linux machine and launch the index.html page to see the output.
Q: Why are you replacing the foreward-backward slash?
A: In Linux '\' is not supported for hyperlinks/filepaths. Therefore I changed the backward slashes to forward slashes.
The scenario:
When the project files have filepath such as ../../doc/xyz/,
when I view in Windows (IE)- I can access the link
when I view in Linux (FF)- I see broken link with error message somewhat like "cannot find ..\..\doc\xyz\". (Note the changed usage of slash)
This indicates that the generated files changes the forward slash to backward.

Adding a feedback email address to webhelp output

How do I add a link within the help file which lets a user
give email feedback on a particular page? I'm happy to rename files
to be asp and get the file name to append to the mailto: string,
but can I do this just by changing a container file rather than
every single entry?
Simon Rogers

quote:
Originally posted by:
RoboWizard
Hi Simon Rogers
The only "sorta easy" solution that comes to mind would be to
use a bit of JavaScript. I think I've got some script you could use
and it's tucked inside my Tips file you can get freely off my site.
(Link to the site is in my sig line) I'd be thinking along the
lines of creating a topic template that contans a footer. Then edit
the footer to contain the script. Then apply the template to all
the topics (or all the topics where you want the link to appear)
Hopefully this helps some... Rick
Thank you. I puilled out your javascript mailto: routine. I
can now work out how to do using a mass find and replace in the htm
files, but is there any way I can avoid doing that? I don't really
understand what you mean about the topic templates. How do I "apply
the template"? Is the is something I do in RoboHelp for Word or in
the output? If in the output, which files?
If I have to follow the mass replacement route, then the
following may be of interest to others and I ask yet another
question!
What I am doing at the moment is adding your javascript
routine to the ehlpjstm.js file:
function mailink()
document.write('<p><A
HREF="mailto:[email protected]?Subject=');
//document.write(document.title);
document.write(document.URL);
// uncomment the line above and comment the line above it
using // to switch to URL. *//
document.write('&body=Type your feedback on this
topic.">Feeback on this page</A></p>')
I'm then then using Multisub (free mass text replacement
program) to change all htm files in webhelp output (except the wh*
ones) to add the following line in place of </BODY>
<script language=JavaScript1.2
type="text/javascript">mailink()</script></BODY>
I'm pretty sure I should add the javascript routine to
another js file - one that is more likely to be included regardless
of browser capabilites, or even mutlple files. Any ideas?
Simon

Text from text module is not appearing in smartform output

Hi Experts,
We are using text modules in one of our smartform to print the sender text . The name of this text module is being dynamically determined during the execution and is coming correctly but still the the text inside the text module is not appearing in the output. We checked one more similar form which is working on the similar logic but calling a different text module , there it is working perfectly. I have tried all the possibilties like changing the window size, changing the fonts and other parameters of the text module but still its not appearing . This seems to be something unusual as in both the smartforms(one with text appearing from module and one without the text) the logic is exactly similar for getting the text module name. The name is getting determined in both the cases correctly and the text modules are also maintained in same manner for both these forms but text is appearing on one and not on other.
Kindly help if any one of you have also faced similar issue.
Regards

Hi Priyank,
There could be various reasons....
Wrong language for example
An easy way to prove this is, put the text direct into the smartforms and see, if it pops up immediately.
If so, you have to really debug this spot and see if the pased name is correct. (Copy paste it in the debugger, to be really sure, there could be a space in fornt or in the end...)
If that doesn't help, you have to share more details. Your question is not that very specific. You know
~Florian

Symbol font not displayed correctly in WebHelp output

I have TCS 2. I have a character format that uses the Symbol font. It displays correctly in FM and in the RH Design Editor. But in the WebHelp output, the Symbol font displays as Arial. What did I do wrong?

Hi,
What browser are you using? Most probably, your browser does not support the symbol font out of the box and therefore defaults back to Arial. My guess is that it will work on IE, but not on other browsers. This is because Symbol isn't a default web font.
To overcome this, you must use the @font-face rule in your css and provide the font file as a baggage file in your project. For more info on @font-face, see: http://www.font-face.com/.
Greet,
Willam

TOC and Index entries sometimes blank in WebHelp output

I'm running RoboHelp 10, generating Help files using the WebHelp target.
Sometimes, in the WebHelp output, clicking a Table of Contents or Index entry restults with a bank topic. This issue is resolved my either maximizing/minimizing the screen or by refreshing the browser.
The issue does not happen consistently in the output. As well, it seems to only happen in Internet Explorer 10.
Is there a work-around for this issue?

Just installing the patches is not enough. Adobe release some smaller
fixes for WebHelp on IE10/11 and Chrome. (4 in total) For an overview of
all RH fixes, see
http://www.wvanweelden.eu/articles/robohelp-patches-and-updates
Kind regards,
Willam

Robohelp 8 Webhelp Output cannot be viewed in IE 10

Hi,
I have used Robohelp 8 to create help file. The webhelp output can be perfectly seen in IE 7 OR 8. However, in IE 10, when the start page in the webhelp folder is cliked, the TOC is opening but the topics are not getting displayed in the right pane. When we click a topic from the TOC pane, no topic gets displayed. Please suggest a solution ASAP, as we have sent the help to a client. They are are facing an issue with the help. We have to fast fix this problem to avoid an escalation. Please respond with a fix to this problem. Please note we have used Robohelp 8 and viewing the webhelp output in IE 10.

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.

Unwanted Snippets appear in Webhelp output

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