Index not loading in RH10 WebHelp output

[Carol_TGL]

We use RH10 (version 10.0.1.292) to generate WebHelp. Our current project has 3706 HTML topics and 13,119 index terms (MS-HKWD entries embedded in the HTML).

Recently, our users have encountered problems with their WebHelp index not loading properly: when the project is first opened, sometimes the index pane is empty. This is usually corrected by reloading the project, but it is frustrating for users and seems to be happening with greater frequency. The problem does not appear to be permanent and happens intermittently.

The majority of those reporting problems are running Windows 7 (service pack 1) and IE (versions 8, 9 or 10), although users have also reported problems using Mac OS and Firefox. (We have inserted the “meta tag fix” to emulate IE8.)

We wondered whether the problem could be something to do with the size of the index. Is there a maximum number of index keywords that can be contained in a RoboHTML10 project? Or a recommendation, if the maximum has not been defined?

I have looked for similar problems on the forum and Peter Grainge’s helpful site, but could only find an unanswered question from 2006.

We would appreciate any advice from the collective wisdom of the Robo community.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I’ve never heard of an index-term limit. Where’s the help located? Web server or LAN or local machine?

[Carol_TGL]

Hi Jeff - thanks for your quick response. The help is located locally.

[Peter Grainge]

Recently, our users have encountered problems with their WebHelp index not loading properly: when the project is first opened, sometimes the index pane is empty.

When you say "project" you do mean the output rather than talking about the Rh project, correct?

Is the help called from an application when this occurs? Do you have a tame user who could be asked to do some testing? Can they open the help directly from its location rather than through the application?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Carol_TGL]

Hi Peter – thank you for responding to my post.

Yes, “the project” I was referring to is the output. Apologies for confusing matters with my terminology.

All our users open the WebHelp directly from its location, it is not opened through an application.

Sometimes the index pane is completely empty and sometimes part of the index is missing. I have attached a couple of screen shots to demonstrate this. In the first, the whole index pane is empty. In the second, the index pane has a section of the 'D's missing. Whenever the problem occurs, reloading Webhelp seems to fix it and our IT guy wondered whether this could be a 'synching issue'.

We began getting reports of this problem with our latest release, which was published in March. Many of our users have later versions of IE installed (mainly 9  and 10). We included the line of code to emulate IE8 (the "meta tag fix") with this release. If the problem is not related to the size of the index, we wondered whether the problem could be something to do with IE.

Thanks for your help with this matter. Carol

[Peter Grainge]

First go to http://www.wvanweelden.eu/articles/robohelp-patches-and-updates and check you are patched up. I don't think this is a patch issue though as that tends to be more about things not appearing at all.

Is there a common theme? Users at one site? Users of a particular version of a particular browser?

Typically index, search and suchlike either work or they don't. The odd bit here is blank areas. If they leave the index like that for a while, does it eventually load. Have you tried reinstalling at one location?

In the layout settings you can optimize for Web or Local. Try the opposite of what you currently have.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge