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Webhelp Index - Selected entry pop-up list does not display in Chrome

Jul 11, 2012 8:37 AM

Windows XP / RH 8 / RSC3.1

Using a compiled Webhelp in FIrefox, when you click an Index entry that has more than one related topic a list pops-up displaying the related topics. Then you can click a pop-up entry to open the topic.

In the Chrome browser the pop-up does not display.

Is this a bug, or are there limitations to RH8 compiled Helps in Chrome?

If so, is this the only limitation?

Does RH9 create webhelps that are completely compatible with Chrome?

Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Joe

1078 Views 18 Replies Latest reply: Peter Grainge, Sep 29, 2012 2:16 AM

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1. Jeff_Coatsworth,

Jul 11, 2012 8:46 AM in reply to tojo45

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Chrome closed up a perceived security threat a few years ago with locally installed WebHelp systems. See Peter Grainge's site (www.grainge.org<http://www.grainge.org>) for info on this (look for browsers or just site google "chrome") and a couple of workarounds. RH9 does not address this limitation of Chrome yet (it has to do with frames in your html) but other HATs like Flare have changed their WebHelp to get around this, so I would expect that Adobe will get to it too sometime.

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2. tojo45,

Jul 11, 2012 9:13 AM in reply to Jeff_Coatsworth

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Jeff, Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately I cannot find anything related to this specific issue with the Index pop-ups on Peter's site. I site searched for "chrome" and "browsers" and looked thru each result. Very possible it is there and I'm not finding it, but if there is indeed a workaround I would be very interested in that information.

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3. Jeff_Coatsworth,

Jul 11, 2012 9:31 AM in reply to tojo45

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Look at Snippet 3 - http://www.grainge.org/pages/snippets/snippets.htm#browsers

Where is your help located? If it's not running off a webserver, then #3 applies. To test, change your Chrome shortcut to launch with the "--allow-file-access-from-files" option.

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4. tojo45,

Jul 11, 2012 10:26 AM in reply to Jeff_Coatsworth

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Jeff, I'm sorry, I didn't present the context. I'm accessing the app on a server, and clicking the Help link. The help opens and displays as expected. I click the Index tab, and select an entry on the list that has multiple related topics. The pop-up displaying those topics does not open.

After reading the snippet, which I had seen before but discounted due to the "local" aspect., I though perhaps the pop-up would work if the help was on my local machine? If it would. that might be a workaround for our users who employ Chrome.

So I made Chrome my default browser, compiled the help and clicked the View Result button. The Help opened in Chrome but there was no content displayed at all. Just the TOC tabs and the Webhelp frame around the page. Which completely confuses me.

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5. Peter Grainge,

Jul 11, 2012 11:16 AM in reply to tojo45

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The problem of related topics with Chrome is ringing a bell with me but a quick search is not finding anything. I will see what I can find but do search these forums. I'm pretty sure there is a thread about this problem.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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6. Jeff_Coatsworth,

Jul 11, 2012 11:17 AM in reply to tojo45

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"So I made Chrome my default browser, compiled the help and clicked the View Result button. The Help opened in Chrome but there was no content displayed at all. Just the TOC tabs and the WebHelp frame around the page. Which completely confuses me."

That is the expected behaviour when Chrome is used with local WebHelp files.

You don't say if the WebHelp is running on a webserver - just that your accessing the app on a server and launching it from within the app. A LAN server is not considered a webserver from Chrome's point of view. Try this experiment - modify your Chrome shortcut to launch with the command line switch. Then browse to your server's WebHelp install - does anything show?

Also check to see if your browser has suppressed pop-ups. Check to see if the browser supports Javascript (RH uses JS to do a lot of the work in WebHelp).

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7. tojo45,

Jul 11, 2012 11:20 AM in reply to Peter Grainge

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Thanks very much Peter. I'll keep looking.

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8. tojo45,

Jul 11, 2012 11:21 AM in reply to Jeff_Coatsworth

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Jeff, I'll give that a try. Being pulled into another area right now but will get back to this ASAP. Thanks again.

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9. tojo45,

Jul 12, 2012 7:10 AM in reply to Jeff_Coatsworth

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Jeff,

Java and popups are allowed in my Chrome.   I need to talk to our network guys re the "webserver" vs "lanserver" aspect to verify how we are setup. It may not be a problem for our users in the field. We are going to test with a beta user to see if the same index popup problem exists for them..

So far as the snippet you referenced, it seems aimed at a bigger problem than this. I am not so worried about our not seeing the TOC/HElp content in Chrome when using the View Results option in RH so much as how the user in the field is impacted when using Chrome.

The only issue in Chrome we know of is he related topics pop-up issue. Hopefully that is the worst case scenario for the beta user as well,    Firguring out how to get that pop to work would be ideal.   Using another browser would be a workaround, and not using the index to stay with Chrome is also an option, though less than ideal.

I downloaded Help2GO and I can't get it to work. I'm adding the fully qualified path to the IP address as they show in the example but get "page cannot be found."   It may have something to do with the port so I need to dig into that.

I'm hoping Peter can provide some further input. I've been unable to find anything on his site specific to this related topic issue but am taking some hope from his comment about the topic ringing a bell for him.   I found one thread on the Robohelp forum that mentioned the problem but didn't see where they had resolved it.

Thanks again,

Joe

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10. tojo45,

Jul 30, 2012 6:36 AM in reply to Peter Grainge

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Peter, I received an e-mail from you as shown below, but the "View the full discusion" link gets an error. So far as your comment in that e-mail "There the issue was that if an index entry was linked to more than one topic, the popup did not display.", , on the face of it, that is exactly the problem I am having, so I am a little confused.

Can yoiu clarity. Sorry if I'm being dense.

Regards,

Joe
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Re: Webhelp Index - Selected entry pop-up list does not display in Chrome
created by Peter Grainge in RoboHelp HTML - View the full discussion

I finally found the thread that I was thinking of but it was in fact a different problem. There the issue was that if an index entry was linked to more than one topic, the popup did not display. Whilst there may be some deep down link between the two issues, it will not help here.

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11. Peter Grainge,

Jul 30, 2012 11:35 AM in reply to tojo45

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Sorry, the other topic was in fact about the Related Topics button rather than index entries that point to more than one topic. There was no resolution to that though.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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12. BillF_MSTR,

Sep 25, 2012 1:04 PM in reply to tojo45

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We just recognized this problem as well. Configuration details are as follows:

- RoboHelp 8 output
- Webhelp output is stored and accessed on a server, so the locally installed problem is avoided.
- Using latest Google Chrome update, which is 21.0.1180.89 m

A couple of things are happening:

- As mentioned in the original post, pop-ups are not being displayed for Index entries with multiple selections.
- Some odd formatting behavior can be seen if multiple index entries are clicked in succession. This odd formatting includes having the text of the index ovelap itself, the Index search field is covered in text or completely hidden, and other odd anomalies that make the Index hard to read or use. It should be noted that this behavior is a bit random in that if you click an Index entry and then another Index entry, this odd formatting might not occur and in other cases it does occur. Switching to another tab and coming back to Index seems to clear the odd formatting.
- This same strange formatting can be seen on the Search page as well if multiple clicks are done, although it seems to be less common as compared to the Index.

Has anyone heard any updates on this type of issue, either the Index pop-ups or the odd formatting when clicking Index entries.

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13. Jeff_Coatsworth,

Sep 25, 2012 2:39 PM in reply to BillF_MSTR

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Is it behaving well if you use IE or FF?

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14. BillF_MSTR,

Sep 26, 2012 6:02 AM in reply to Jeff_Coatsworth

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Yes, I should have mentioned that. We also test and support IE and Firefox and we have not seen any of these issues on these browsers, only on Chrome does it happen.

Just to be sure, I tested this again this morning on IE (version 9.0) and Firefox (version 15) and there are no issues with the functionality or display of the Index or Search tabs. By this I mean there is no odd overlapping of text, no loss of the text field for Index or Search, and the pop-up options for Index entries work as expected.

I will note that even in IE and Firefox, when making multiple, quick selections in the Index or scrolling quickly, I can see that the text of the Index "flashes" a bit. So it disappears for a split second and then re-appears as it should. The problem seems to be with Chrome it may have these same flashes but then it does not refresh itself accurately as IE and Firefox appear to be able to do. And then of course also the additional problem of the pop-ups in the Index not working.

And again just to be clear and have all the information in this post, our webhelp output is on a server (to avoid the other Chrome local help issue) and we're currently using RoboHelp 8.

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15. Jeff_Coatsworth,

Sep 26, 2012 6:10 AM in reply to BillF_MSTR

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You may want to grab the trial version of RH10 to test a copy of your project out in - make sure you use a non-production machine for your playing around. RH8 is frankly well out of date now.

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16. Peter Grainge,

Sep 26, 2012 6:35 AM in reply to Jeff_Coatsworth

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Chrome was not supported until RoboHelp 9.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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17. BillF_MSTR,

Sep 28, 2012 10:14 AM in reply to Peter Grainge

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Sigh, my mistake, we actually have RoboHelp 9. Not sure how I messed that part up. Is there a considerable upgrade in Chrome support between RH 9 and RH 10?

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18. Peter Grainge,

Sep 29, 2012 2:16 AM in reply to BillF_MSTR

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9 was the biggest change but 10 does have some further changes. I believe it fixes your issue but you will need to test the trial version. Sorry but I don't have the bandwidth for several days.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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