After applying the fix for the IE 10 problem, no topic is displayed in the right pane

[M_Boyd]

The background:

• We create WebHelp using RoboHelp 10.
• It's a merged help system that uses a script (from Peter Grainge's site) to redirect from the parent start page to the initial topic.
• The help is deployed in a web-based application.

I applied Adobe's fix for the IE 10 display issue (the one that should fix the generated help). Then I regenerated the help and added the updated files to the product build. I'm seeing different behaviors. depending on how I access the build.

Accessing the help from the product:

When I run the product in IE 10 and click the Help button:

• The right pane is initially empty and is gray (instead of the default white background):
• If you click a topic in the Contents, the right pane doesn't change.
• You can do either of the following to display the currently selected topic:
  • Resize the browser window.
  • Click a different tab in the navigation pane (Index or Search).

After you take either of those actions, everything seems to work as expected.

Running the help stand-alone:

If I run the generated help by opening the start page in IE 10, the right pane displays the initial topic as expected. However, I still experience the original problem. For example, clicking a link from the search results does not display the topic until the pane is resized.

Has anyone else seen this behavior? As a fall-back, we can add the meta tag to emulate IE 9 to our compiled start page. But, of course, we would prefer a different solution since any post-generation step could be forgotten in the scramble to get a release out.

Thanks,

Melanie

[Peter Grainge]

If you applied the Rh10 solution to the install files, you don't need to apply the other fix. Maybe applying both is the issue?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[M_Boyd]

I applied only one fix for the IE 10 problem -- the fix that's supposed to make subsequently generated files behave correctly. Then I added my regenerated help files to the product build system (so that I could access the regenerated help from the product the next day).

[Peter Grainge]

Have you pressed F5 to ensure you are not looking at a cached version?

Also try with one of the sample projects. Click Open on the RoboHelp Starter page and then click Samples in the ribbon on the left.

Post back with the results and we can take it from there.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[M_Boyd]

Peter, I cleared my browser cache, so I'm not looking at a cached version.

I generated the Web Help version of the EmployeeCare sample project, and it opens in IE 10 without any problems.

I think it's the redirect script in the parent project of our merged help system. I just tried opening a child project, and it's fine. But opening the start page for the parent project produces the problems described above.

Do you know whether other people producing merged help have been able to apply this fix?

And if it is the redirect script, are there alternatives for producing merged help that we should investigate? We set up the merged help system many years ago (and several RH versions ago). It has worked perfectly up to now, so we haven't had any reason to change it. (Many thanks for that, by the way! Your site was a lifesaver when we were setting the initial help system up.)

[Peter Grainge]

I will double check that merged help is still OK but I do believe I tested it with IE10.

Meantime the fact you say you set this up many years ago makes me wonder if you are using the metatag redirect or the later script. Please revisit my instructions and check that out as I will not be testing tonight. There is a section specifically mentioning this change.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[M_Boyd]

Yes, we are using the script. (We must have updated from the meta tag at some point.)

[Peter Grainge]

Try this link.

http://www.grainge.org/demos/merge/

The server seemed a bit slow just now but it is working.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[M_Boyd]

Yes, that works for me. I'm going to try creating a super-simple project myself and see what happens. I'll let you know the results.

[M_Boyd]

OK, I think I found it. Our skin doesn't include a "nav bar" at the top of the left pane. That's apparently what's causing the problem. I had to edit the skin config in a text editor to remove it, and it works fine in every browser we've tried -- until IE10.

I put the nav bar back in, and will check in the updated help topics for tonight's build.

[Willam_van_Weelden]

There also is a bug in IE10 that can make frames appear blank. See my message here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/5563349#5563349

Greet,

Willam

[M_Boyd]

Putting the the nav bar back in solved the problem. We don't really need it but it doesn't hurt to have it there, so this solution is fine for us. I just wanted to close the loop in case someone else had the same issue.

Thanks for the info, William. That explains an issue we had with some older help (produced in RH 9) that's available on our community site. We were able to work around that by adding the meta tag to emulate IE9.

Thanks, all!

[M_Boyd]

I spoke too soon. We have three products with three separate help systems. My change to the skin fixed the issue for two of the three help systems.

The third help system is still broken, and I'm at a complete loss. It uses the same CSS, the same skin, and the same publishing options. The only difference is that it's much, much larger than the other two and has been developed over the course of many years.

Opening this help system through the product displays the empty, gray right pane shown in the screen shot above.

The following changes do NOT solve the problem:

• Generating without a skin.
• Adding the meta tag to emulate IE 9.

The only thing I've found so far that DOES solve the problem is to force the browser out of compatibility mode. I can do this in either of the following ways (both of which display the help correctly):

• Open the F12 Developer Tools and select "Browser Mode: IE10". (This helped me troubleshoot, but is obviously not a solution.)
• Enter the following meta tag in the start topic: <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">

If no other solution presents itself, then we'll have to ship with the meta tag. But I wish I could figure out what makes this help system different.

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Can you share a project with me? I can take a look and perhaps I can find something.

Greet,

Willam

[M_Boyd]

Yes -- any help would be very much appreciated. Where should I put the files?

BTW, with my latest "fix" (the IE=Edge tag) brings back the original problem. A blank topic is displayed the first time I select a link from the index or search tab. But now after I resize the window, the problem goes away and doesn't seem to come back until I clear my browser cache.