Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Hi all,
I'm currently working on a project in RH HTML 10, which is being generated (and published) with WebHelp Pro. I've enabled the Search Input Field, but it doesn't work when generated, published, and hosted via RoboServer. Entering text into the Search Input via the toolbar and selecting Go simply brings me to a blank search pane (see image below), as if I had accessed Search from the toolbar button.
This is occurring in both the most recent versions of Chrome, Firefox, and IE (10).
Any suggestions to get this Search Input to work?
Thanks!
Siobhan
The Search Input Field is boxed in red below for clarity's sake:
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Is the “regular” search button working? Have you applied all the latest hacks for browser “security” fixes? There’s ones for Chrome & IE10/11.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I just did, re-generated, re-published, re-tried it... and no dice, the search input is still kaput. Thank you for that suggestion, though!
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
How about the “Search” button – is that working?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Yes, the search button is functioning as expected--it brings me to the pane shown in the screenshot above.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
This looks like you’ve customized the skin – what happens if you generate it as plain vanilla no-skin webhelp?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I'm not sure how to generate it with no skin, but I went ahead and tested it with one of the RH-provided skins, and the Search Input is still not functioning right. Very stubborn!
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Does it behave any differently if you run it locally vs on your RH Server?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Yes! Locally the Search Input functions correctly.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Then that leads me to believe that maybe not all files are being transferred to the RH Server – try using some FTP software to manually remove all the webhelp files on the server and retransfer the working local output – see if that has any effect.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Or just remote desktop in to the server and remove the files via Windows Explorer. I do this as a matter of course anyway before publishing any updates. The publish step does not delete anything from the server potentially leaving you with all sort of unwanted stuff.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Thanks Jeff & Colum for the suggestions--I will work with my team here and report back!
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
@Colum – I keep forgetting that’s an option too – I’m so used to dealing with remote third-party webservers via FTP ;>)
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Okay, so after a few weeks of frustrating investigation, I still have no clear indication what is going wrong. I'm even getting the same toolbar search problem with one of the RH test projects published to the server! (I've also noticed that not only is the toolbar search a problem, but I'm not seeing the correct search options along with my search, like the "And" searching that I have enabled for the project.)
I did find a strange workaround, however, and I'm wondering if this will perhaps inspire any brilliant breakthroughs from the community...
On a whim, I decided to open a random topic in a new tab, isolating the .htm page itself. From that topic, if I click "Show" to reveal the navigation pane and toolbar again... voila! The search toolbar works, and the appropriate search options are present:
After using the "workaround," the URL of my project is different (Test Project vs. Please enter Project title here), and the title in the browser is also changed, as well:
Any idea what the heck is going on?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I think I missed something back in your original post – you said you’re creating WebHelp Pro for use with RH Server; I wonder if it’s something busted in that output format. Try doing a test with just regular WebHelp and see if the Search is busted too.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
This is definitely a newbie question, but--can I publish WebHelp to RH Server?
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Frankly, I’m not sure – I don’t use web server based WebHelp – I imagine for just a test it would work, but none of the optimized reporting functionality of RH Server would work – so it’s not a permanent solution; just a test to identify a bug or not.
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
I think the idea was to generate WebHelp to a web server but not via Rh Server.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
Copy link to clipboard
Copied
Although I have never tried, I'd expect the RH Server to be just like any other web server. So in theory yes you could publish to that location. Obviously though as Jeff has said, you wouldn't get any of the RH Server functionality.