Links to other topics do not work

[NZ-developer]

Hi guys

I've just started using RoboHelp for the first time in a new computer environment.

When I view my primary layout links to other topics display the standard Internet Explorer "This page cannot be displayed" message. I also can't see pictures - I just get the placeholder.

I suspect that I'm getting these problems because of some Internet Explorer setting ... but I've got no idea specifically what would cause this. Does anyone have any ideas where I can start looking? Has anyone had similar problems?

I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

Thanks
NZ-Developer

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

What is your output type?

* .CHM
* WebHelp
* FlashHelp

And where is the output when you are testing it?

Cheers... Rick

[NZ-developer]

Output type is WebHelp.

I'm not sure what you mean about hwere the output is. I'm just clicking View Primary Layout to open it, and it's under the My RoboHelp Projects folder in the C: drive.

[Captiv8r]

Hi again

Yes, that is what I was looking for. If you had said .CHM and you had also said that you had the .CHM on a server, that would have pretty much explained things. So your issues are a bit deeper.

Things should work when testing locally. But there are a few things to check. For example, topic file names. Are there any unusual characters being used? (anything other than A-Z, a-z or 0-9)

Are ALL links failing or only certain links? Are these links from topic to topic or from TOC to topic? Or Index to topic?

Cheers... Rick

[NZ-developer]

Well the topic names are OK. I even wondered if it was because my project name was two words, so I tested it with a single word instead.

Links from topic to topic appear to be failng. Links from the Table of Contents are fine, which thinking about it is a bit weird.

Other types of links (e.g. email addresses) are fine too.

[Captiv8r]

How did you create the links?

* Hyperlink dialog
* Drag and drop
* Manually

In case you are unfamiliar, have you tried creating links by selecting text the user will click, then clicking the topic that should be displayed when the user clicks and dragging it to the selected text?

If you haven't, you may wish to try this method and see if things improve or change.

Assuming this suggestion fails, try selecting the link, then display the HTML code. Copy that and paste into the forum for us to see. Maybe something will be obvious or provide a clue.

Cheers... Rick

[NZ-developer]

Well that's funky - dragging and dropping the hyperlinks does work! I was using the Ctrl + K shortcut to open the Hyperlink window.

Thanks Rick - you're the master.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Happy to have helped. Yet concerned that linking via the dialogs failed.

Maybe you can sort what happened by creating two links to the same topic, but using different methods for each. Then compare the code behind the scenes.

Cheers... Rick

[NZ-developer]

I had a look.

For the one that works the format is <a HREF="file://\\wlns2\loginid\My Documents\...\Documentname.htm">

For the one that doesn't work the format is <a href="file:/wlns2/loginid/My Documents/.../Documentname.htm">

Strange isn't it.

Hey seeing you're online - any idea why my pictures aren't displaying properly? I'm just getting the small red crosses as placeholders.

[NZ-developer]

Never mide - pictures are working now. I suspect I put them in the wrong part of the folder structure.