ZoomSearch Hyperlinks

[Guest]

I have converted my flash help to WebHelp and have used the structure in the Peter Grainge demo for Merged Webhelp with RoboHelp7 exactly

http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/merging_webhelp/merging_method_rh7.htm

ZoomSearch compiles great, except...

The links in the zoomsearch results are broken. The URLs point to "generate/search_files/mergedProjects/child_1" but my output (per the merged WebHelp demo) puts the output in "generate/mergedProjects/child_1." I don't know where I'm going wrong and why I am getting the extra "/search_files" directory in the hyperlilnk. Anyone?.

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

Check and recheck the instructions. I know they work.

If you cannot track it, after doing that, zip up the whole thing so that when I extract it, I will have the same structure as you. Then send it via http://www.transferbigfiles.com

[Guest]

Well, I took a new approach. I just worked with what I saw in the hyperlink results and adjusted where I put the search.htm file. It turns out that when both my "start directory" and "output directory" are the same, ZoomSearch works and the hyperllinks work.

Now, I'm going to try Method 2 with the same structure. If it doesn't work, of if you see something really dangerous with having these directories the same, I'll zip up my project and send it. Hopefully, I've worked it out.

[Peter Grainge]

Sounds wrong and your search would include words excluded from the output by tags.

[Guest]

I will zip and send my project.  I really have configured and reconfigured. Thanks for your help.

[Peter Grainge]

Someone has sent me a file with no sender name. Yours or someone else's. What was the filename?

[Guest]

SDK.zip

[Peter Grainge]

OK. I will look as soon as I can. May be a day or two.

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[Guest]

That would be great.  I appreciate.

[Peter Grainge]

I will also need your ZoomSearch configuration file. Please send it via my site.

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[Peter Grainge]

1] In the search_files folder in your generated projects there is only one file, search.html. There should be a bunch of files that ZoomSearch generates. I don't see those and without them, I don't understand how you are getting anything to work.

2] Thanks for the zcfg but because I don't have the relevant folders on my PC, it will not open with the details I need.

Please post the details that are in the three fields shown and confirm that the Platform selected is JavaScript.

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[Guest]

1 - You don't see the .js files because they aren't in the search_files folder.  (The search.htm you see in the search_files folder was an old file that I did not delete. I apologize)

2 - The only way I could get both the zoom search and the hyperlinks to work was to put the search results directly in the "generate" folder (SDK\generate).  That's where you will find them. Hence, my configuration files are:

Start directory:

c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate

Base URL:

c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate

Output directory:

c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate

Yes, the platform selected is Java.

NOTE:  I tried it the first time, as instructed, so these fields were defined as shown below.  But, when I did, I got search results, but the hyperlinks were broken.  I reviewed the instructions again and again, but didn't see what I was doing wrong to cause the hyperlinks to break. That's why I changed to the fields above - the search worked and the hyperlinks worked, too.

Start directory:

c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate

Base URL:

../

Output directory:

c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate\search_files

[Peter Grainge]

See the second bullet point under What in Step 2 on my site.

What you need is as below. You are putting the search results in c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate and telling ZoomSearch to look one folder up so of course the links will break. If you put the results in the search_files folder and then ZoomSearch's links go up a folder, it will find the topics.

Start directory:
c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate

Base URL:
../

Output directory:
c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate\search_files

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[Guest]

That is what I did the first time when the hyperlinks were broken.  I'll try again.  Can you clear up one thing before I start?  Maybe I have Point"2." in Step 1 wrong.  (2 . In the published output, create the same folder using Windows Explorer. Make sure it is in the same relative location to the root and has the same case.)

According to this step, I create the "search_files" folder in my published output at: \sdk\generate

right?

[Peter Grainge]

No it is not what you did.

Your output directory was

c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate

You can see ZoomSearch's files in there and they need removing.

The output directory I advised was

c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate\search_files

It is that folder where you will now see

c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate\search_files\search.htm plus all the files ZoomSearch creates. In what you sent me, that folder contained just search.htm and ZoomSearch's files were in c:\workspaces\sdk_int\sdk\generate

Good to see you have got it working now, hope the above helps you understand what was wrong.

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[Guest]

Crazy question of the day - Can Zoom Search or something like it be used with the RoboHelp AIR output?

[Peter Grainge]

I very much doubt it. ZoomSearch works in WebHelp because you can process the output, not an option with AIR Help.

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@petergrainge

[Guest]

Aaarrrggg.  It works!  I am going to attribute it to your wizardry!  (not my *****ity)