Adobe Community: Message List - Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 16:55:32 GMT

Did the output I generated work?

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 16:42:25 GMT

Thanks also for generating a working copy of the project/Webhelp in RH10. I installed a copy of RoboHelp 10 and compiled the RH10 project that you provided me Peter. Unfortunately, when I recompile your project and view in IE, Search does not work. Any ideas? I am at a loss, have to deliver soon.

I appreciate everyone's diligence in trying to solve this issue.

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 17:08:57 GMT

Now it gets more interesting. Generating from Rh9 the output is fine on a machine with IE9 the output is fine. Open the same output in IE11 and nothing works. No TOC, no index and no search. I have not applied any of the Rh9 patches so I cannot say what the result would be then.

I don't have a machine with IE10 on so I will send you back the outputs I created to see what you get.

I notice you are generating to a folder within your project. Normal practice is to generate to such a folder within the !SSL! folder. I don't think that has any bearing on the problem though.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 10:10:42 GMT

If I generate from Rh10 or Rh11 and view in IE11, search works OK.

I will generate from Rh9 later.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 19:38:42 GMT

On the first machine that I have tried I get the default topic in IE and nothing else, no TOC and search does not find anything, much less open the topics.

I will look on another machine tomorrow. Are you willing to share the source project in the same way so that I can generate it myself from Rh9, 10 and 11?

Use wetransfer again if you can.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 07:48:04 GMT

The zip file did not survive the trip. It was only 0.92mb and after removing .txt, WinZip reports it is not a valid file. Often happens with projects sent using email which is why my site suggests sites such as below.

Try sending it using http://wetransfer.com

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 17:24:22 GMT

Can you zip up just the output for now and send it to me? See the Contact page on my site and send the project as instructed there. Do make sure you include a link to this thread and please do not email the project direct.

I won't be able to post more today. It's evening here and the wife seems to think I should take her out just because we have been married 42 years.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 17:19:16 GMT

OK Peter, we're getting somewhere. Your suggestions for enabling Active Content under Security worked. I can not see search results BUT NOW, when I click a search result, the related topic does not display in the topic pane. See image below. What now Sir Sherlock Holmes? :-)

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 16:02:50 GMT

Look under Security and then enable Allow Active Content.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 15:53:11 GMT

Couple of suggestions – test it out by moving the help to some temp web server location OR can anyone else have a look at it with their browser? Are they getting the same result as your browser?

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 15:44:10 GMT

Hello Peter,

I have javascript enabled. See the following dialog box.

When I launch the WebHelp, I still get the following messages:

"It seems javascript is disabled in your browser, please enable it and reload again, or click here to view without javascript"

"Allow Blocked Content."

I click BOTH and still get scrambled search results.

This is so frustrating. I cannot deliver until I get this resolved :-|

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 18:52:55 GMT

Exactly how have you enabled Javascript in IE?

That message and the need to unblock are both screaming the javascript is not enabled.

I assume you have then clicked Unblock.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 18:47:59 GMT

The console tab is the one you're looking for. What happens if you reload the entire page *F5) with the console open? Do you get any errors?

Could it be that you are getting a yellow information bar at the top or the bottom of the screen? That may also block some scripts and cause the strange search behaviour.

Kind regards,

Willam

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 16:54:43 GMT

Hello William,

This is the first time I've used the Developer Console so not sure what to look for, hope you can provide some insight. Thanks!

The following appears when I select the Script tab:

<html>

<head>

<title>Relational Database Server ODBC Driver User's Guide</title>

<!--

function window_Onload()

{

if (location.hash.length > 1 && window.gsTopic && typeof(frames["bsscright"]) != "undefined")

frames["bsscright"].document.location = window.gsTopic;

}

window.onload=window_Onload;

//-->

</script>

</head>

<frameset id="whPfset" cols="260,*"><noframes><p>Your browser does not support frames. We recommend that you update your browser to a version that supports frames.</p><p>To view the Help system without frames click on this<a href="whgdata/whnvp30.htm">hyperlink.</a></p></noframes><frame src="whgdata/whnvp30.htm" title="navigation pane" name="navigation pane" scrolling="no"><frame src="titlepg.htm" title="topic pane" name="bsscright" scrolling="yes"></frameset>

</html>

The following appears when I select Console:

HTML1527: DOCTYPE expected. The shortest valid doctype is "<!DOCTYPE html>".

whnjs.htm, line 1 character 1

SEC7115: :visited and :link styles can only differ by color. Some styles were not applied to :visited.

whnjs.htm

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 16:30:19 GMT

Hello Peter,

I have javascript enabled but I also get the message "It seems javascript is disabled in your browser, please enable it and reload again, or click here to view without javascript"

I also get the message "Allow Blocked Content."

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 14:19:38 GMT

If you open the developer contsole with F12 and then load a search, does the browser report any errors?

Kind regards,

Willam

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 16:13:19 GMT

You said you are viewing locally. Is javascript enabled in the browser settings? (Look for Allow Active X to run).

When you open IE, is there a yellow bar appearing?

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 20:33:58 GMT

OK Jeff but that still leaves me with no resolution for Search with regular WebHelp output.

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 20:31:17 GMT

Don’t use the “Pro” flavours unless you’re putting them on a RH Server instance. They’re specially designed for RH Server. Regular WebHelp lets you specify the start page – it just defaults to index.htm

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 20:22:09 GMT

OK, now I just created WebHelp Pro output and it works (see attached screenshot). Is it safe to use WebHelp Pro output in lieu of regular WebHelp output?

There are a few issues I noticed.

The start page is not index.htm. It is the <previous name of my project.htm>. Very odd. Why is WebHelp Pro using something other than index.htm as the start page? I have not specified a different start page name. When I generate regular WebHelp, the start page is index.htm.

Note in the screenshot (***Enter Document Title***) that WebHelp Pro did not pick up the document title. I have already defined a document title. Why did it not use it? When I generate regular WebHelp, the document title is displayed.

I do not want a Glossary button. Any way to remove it from WebHelp Pro output? When I generate regular WebHelp, there is no Glossary button.

Thanks guys for your expertise:-)

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:57:46 GMT

Yes, I click both prompts.

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:56:08 GMT

I'm viewing locally

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:53:57 GMT

Okay, what happens is that the JavaScript code in the WebHelp files sniffs the browser and makes small adjustments when the WebHelp opens. And during that time, if the scripting senses that DHTML isn't capable, it "falls back" to Pure HTML. (Hence the setting DHTML > Pure HTML)

When help is stored on the local file system and is opened from there, you often see the "Yellow Information Bar" (YIB) in the IE browser. And I believe that if you don't click to allow things to open (I think two clicks are involved. One for the YIB and another to allow scripting to run) you may see the "Pure HTML" output and no skin (as seems to be depicted in your screen capture).

Cheers... Rick

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:49:50 GMT

Are you viewing the help on a web server or a LAN server (or local c:\ drive)?

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:42:21 GMT

Not so Rick. I do not have Section 508 Compliant Output selected. I have DHTML>Pure HTML set as the preferred format.

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 19:37:35 GMT

Hi there

What you shared isn't really "gibberish", although it probably looks that way to you.

What you are seeing is the "Pure HTML" or the "Section 508" type of output. It could be that you elected to use the Section 508 (and that means no skinning is involved) or the browser is reporting to the WebHelp JavaScript that it's not DHTML capable. And if that's the case, it falls back to Pure HTML.

Cheers... Rick

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 17:43:39 GMT

Does not work in IE10.

Works fine with Firefox.

None of the WebHelp works in Chrome, only the display of the title page.

Re: Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 17:34:11 GMT

What browser(s) have you tried & do they all act the same?

Search in WebHelp Generated with RoboHelp 9 Produces Gibberish

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 17:16:47 GMT

I used RoboHelp 9 to generate WebHelp. I applied Adobe's IE10 Patch for "Existing WebHelp created with RoboHelp 9" and the "IE10 patch for RoboHelp 9 installation" provided by William van Weelden. My Search results appear as gibberish (see below example). However, when I click on a number, a help topic appears. Weird huh? Any suggestions for a fix oh wise sages? Thanks in advance.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

/1 2 3

00b 1 2 3

00d

0100b 1 2 3

0100d

01s00 1 2

01s07 1 2

01s09 1 2

08p01

0b 1 2 3