Need Mojo to tangle with site support

[Guest]

Dear Robopeople,

In October 2006, I published a major project with 450 topics to the company shared drive, and had very few problems with the functions of RoboHelp X5, or the WebHelp system I published.

In January, I migrated a few paper manuals to WebHelp systems, and have experienced a slew of baffling and persistent issues, among them Javascript errors and disappearing TOCs in the output. I fiddled with settings, analyzed code, etc. I determined that IT had been pushing XP SP2 to our local machines, and had the site support folks uninstall/reinstall the application. That took two trys before they could get it right, and it still did not resolves all the issues.

My colleague has been able to work with RoboHelp and view the output with no problem. He could even make the "highlight search results" javascript work. Finally, I convinced site support to take my computer and re-image it. That took several days.

It was a giant leap backwards!

Now RoboHelp malfunctions in more imaginative and serious ways than ever before. I can load a project, edit the topics, configure the output settings, and generate. However, I cannot display the WebHelp output with the "View Results" button. A look at the output folder reveals that the start page is missing. The only file close is something with an .ali extension and no data inside. On top of that, the skin editor generates a "cannot find file..." error.

This is all very frustrating, and I hope someone can give me some ammunition to use on our site support folks. (Figuratively, not literally)

Best regards,

Charles Arnold
MetLife DI
Tampa, Florida

[Peter Grainge]

After installing XP SP2 you got IT to uninstall and reinstall. That was necessary to correct the issues caused by SP2 but I'll bet they used their logons rather than yours. That just created another problem because you cannot do it that way. Then the re-imaging was another way not to do it!

Take a look at the topic on my site about installing RH and try it that way.

[HKabaker]

Charles, a suggestion:

In your email messages to IT, use bullets for emphasis.

Harvey

[Guest]

Robocomrades,

I contacted the support specialists who performed the RoboHelp install. He claims that he did install as specified by Adobe: logged on with my user ID, highest administrative permissions, etc.

I have concluded that my computer is possessed by demons.

[Peter Grainge]

Does a brand new project have all these issues?

What about the supplied demos?

[HKabaker]

Do your desktop support person know your password?

[Guest]

Dear Robohelpers,

Thanks for the advice and support. I have not burnt my computer at the stake (yet).

However, my site support teams are skilled and experienced. They said they installed RoboHelp according to specifications, and I believe them. They had my log-in credentials, so there's no reason that they didn't use them.

In one support session, we did detect a Java issue that may impact this situation.

My control Panel lists Java Plug-in 1.3.0_01, and the Add/Remove Programs window lists Java Runtime Environment Standard Edition 1.3.0_01. I cannot open the Java control window, for some reason.

Our site support offered to install another version of Java, and see if that resolves these issues. My company supplies several versions of Java.

The question: Does RoboHelp X5 require any particular version of Java?

Thanks,
----------------------------------------------
Charles Arnold
Business Analyst/Technical Writer
MetLife DI
Tampa, Florida

[Peter Grainge]

Nobody is suggesting your support teams are not skilled and experienced but too often here we have seen this sort of issue and it comes back to something overriding a previously good install, then when IT come along they assume it installs like most other software. Sorry to labour the point but rather than accept "according to the specification" I would want them to confirm the logon used. It may not be that and they may have done it all correct. However, with the problem still occurring there is no margin for doubt.

RH does not require Java to be installed so that is not it. In your first post you mentioned javascript, that is not the same thing as Java.

You have not responded to my question about new projects or the supplied demos. That will help identify where the problem lays.

[HKabaker]

Here's a long shot:

Go to Control Panels / Folder Options / File Types.

Scroll the list and make sure that html files (.htm, .html, .htw, .htx extensions) are flagged for Internet Explorer to open (emphasis on open) html files.

Elsewhere, make sure that RoboHelp is the default application to edit (emphasis on edit) html files.

One place I can remember is during installation of RoboHelp when it asks, do you want RH to be the default editor for HTML files?

Another place is in RoboHelp Tools / Options / HTML editors. Are WYSIWYG and TrueCode set to Internal?
Then there's Internet Explorer Internet Options / Programs / Default HTML editor.

Harvey

[HKabaker]

A footnote here:

When you have a project open and use the "View" function in RH, the rendering engine is one homegrown by RH developers long ago.

A theory: It may refer specifically to IE somewhere, and if IE is not the default reader, it can't show how the output page might look.

I have another hunch to research. Back later.

H

[HKabaker]

We have competent, experienced technical support staff, too.
Still, once in a while, I can tell them something they hadn't known about.
When uninstalling RH, did they follow the special instructions in this article?

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=rb_10492

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=rb_10492

H

[Guest]

Dear Robofellows,

My site support folks have been getitng peeved at me. After I insisted that my computer had been possessed by demons, the kind rep offered to try another uninstall/reinstall.

My computer malfunctioned so badly during the uninstall that she decided to re-image the disk, and do a new install.

That seems to work. My version of RH HTML is X5.0.1, but there is an update available. However, the instructions specify that it has to be installed before XP SP2. I already have SP 2. Is it safe to install the update? Do I need administrative rights to install it?

As it is, the installation seems to be functioning nominally. I don't want to screw it up. The next time site support may not be so "user friendly".

Roborelieved,

Charles Arnold
MetLife, Inc.
Tampa, Florida

[Peter Grainge]

Can you recheck those instructions? I've installed it after XP SP2 many times.

For RH itself you must have admin rights attached to your logon when installing (which must be with your logon) so I would not contemplate installing a patch without the same rights.