Launching Flash Builder 4 Help takes 20 secs (ACH or browser)

[missionboy123]

We have 5 flex developers on our team who are all running into the same issue with the dynamic help:

1) Hit F1 (display help section)

2) Select a class (ArrayList for example)

3) Click on the Related API (mx.collections.ArrayList) in the help section.

4) It then take 15-20 seconds for the page to display in Adobe Community Help which is already running.

5) If I switch the preferences to 'Open Help in Browser' it take the same amount of time for the webpage to open.

There's no CPU load during this waiting time. This is really hitting our productivity.

Any ideas?

[Mark_Nichoson]

Hi: have you guys downloaded the local help for Flash Builder yet?  That should actually boost performance, even for online search/browsing.  Here's why:  when you download the local Help content, the Help system also downloads an intermediary XML file that we use to resolve context-sensitivity and a few other functions. Having this file cached locally should improve launch times for both the AIR app and the browser.

To be sure, open up the Community Help AIR app and check Preferences:

• Windows: CTRL+ K  or check under the Edit menu
• Mac:  Cmd + comma or check under Adobe Help > Preferences

Then click on the Local Content tab -- you should see the various package titles available for download with a status message (pending download, current, etc.).

We are working on an update so that we can deliver the intermediary XML file by default when a user opens the app, instead of delivering it via the content download.  That fix should be coming out soon.

[missionboy123]

Hi,

The local help is installed but it still takes about 20 seconds for the ACH to open. Same result when I display help in the browser instead of ACH.

This only happens when I'm on my corporate network. When I unplug the network cable ACH loads immediately.

I think what's happening is that when the link in Flex Builder is clicked a network request is made which times out. Once that request times out (after about 20 seconds) then ACH loads.

Any idea what's happening?

Thanks

[Mark_Nichoson]

Hi: could you confirm which local help titles you have downloaded?  According to the engineering team, all of the local packages need to be downloaded in order to ensure that the helpmap.txt file gets cached locally.

It should look something like this:

[missionboy123]

Hi Mark,

All 5 are downloaded and updated. ACH is very responsive. It's Flash Builder 4 initiating ACH or the browser that's really slow.

[Mark_Nichoson]

Okay --  I follow up with our internal teams and see if there might be another issue here besides the helpmap.txt file -- in the meanwhile, can you confirm that the Local Content pane looks like this? (I'm sure it does but sorry to be so thorough... it's hard to debug otherwise).

[missionboy123]

Yes, the local content page looks like that:

[Mark_Nichoson]

One more thing: what's the performance like if you hit the ASR directly (i.e. just straight with your browser):

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AS3LCR/Flex_4.0/mx/collections/ArrayList.html

Some pages of the ASR can get pretty big so I'm wondering if page load might be part of the problem here.

[missionboy123]

The performance is good when I hit that link directly, 1 - 2 seconds.

So I think what's happening is:

1) I click on the 'mx.collections.ArrayList' link under 'Related API' in Flash Builder 4 help.

2) At this point Flash Builder 4 tries to make some type of network call.

3) Internally in my corporate network this call is not successful and times out after 20 seconds.

4) After this call times out ACH opens and loads the API help.

If I unplug my network connection, I don't have this issue and ACH opens and loads the specific help page within about 2 seconds.

So it would help to know what network call Flash Builder 4 makes at step 2. Then I can talk to my network people and have them allow it through our proxy.

[missionboy123]

I used an HTTP sniffer (Charles) and didn't see any HTTP traffic from Flash Builder 4 so that's not it.

So all that I really know is that when my computer is on my corporate network it takes 20 seconds. If I unplug the cable it takes 1 - 2 seconds.

[Mark_Nichoson]

Hi: I should have suggested this sooner but one workaround for this situation would be to switch the Help app to 'Display Local Help only.' You can access this via the General Preferences tab. This way, you can still use context-senstive help and should see much better performance without having to unplug your cable, etc.

I know this doesn't solve the root cause but it might get the team productivity back up and running. The only drawback here is that you might want to manually check for new content updates from time to time (perhaps every few months).