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RoboHelp HTML 8.0
Standard project but not using Table of Contents, index, etc.
Project does use drop-down expanded sections.
When I generate the Webhelp (RoboHelp, source and output on my local machine), the files generated contain some standard javascript elements.
The files were handed over to the development team, who put the source into their source control system.
They have since extracted the source and attempted to generate the help.
The process appears to work, but on examination the generated files are identical to the source files - no javascript.
They have RoboHelp installed on a remote machine and are running it over the network.
Is there something that could have been "switched off" in the project, or are they likely to be missing some component?
Thanks in advance,
Alison
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How did they try to generate the files? Which output are they using?
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They are generating WebHelp using the layout I created. Nearly everything in the layouts is de-selected, except for the selection of some conditional tags for exclusion.
The JavaScript I'm talking about is below, the stuff that RH always includes (or does in my version)... I'm not sure it's needed in this situation to make things work, but the release engineer wants what they generate from the source to match what I generated.
<script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">
//<![CDATA[
function reDo() {
if (innerWidth != origWidth || innerHeight != origHeight)
location.reload();
}
if ((parseInt(navigator.appVersion) == 4) && (navigator.appName == "Netscape")) {
origWidth = innerWidth;
origHeight = innerHeight;
onresize = reDo;
}
onerror = null;
//]]>
</script>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
div.WebHelpPopupMenu { position:absolute;
left:0px;
top:0px;
z-index:4;
visibility:hidden; }
-->
</style>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2" src="whmsg.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="whver.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2" src="whproxy.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2" src="whutils.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2" src="whlang.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2" src="whtopic.js"></script>
</head>
<body><script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2">//<![CDATA[
<!--
if (window.gbWhTopic)
{
var strUrl = document.location.href;
var bc = 0;
var n = strUrl.toLowerCase().indexOf("bc-");
if(n != -1)
{
document.location.href = strUrl.substring(0, n);
bc = strUrl.substring(n+3);
}
if (window.addTocInfo)
{
}
if (window.writeBtnStyle)
writeBtnStyle();
if (window.writeIntopicBar)
writeIntopicBar(0);
if (window.setRelStartPage)
{
setRelStartPage("nexor_file_guardian.htm");
autoSync(0);
sendSyncInfo();
sendAveInfoOut();
}
}
else
if (window.gbIE4)
document.location.reload();
//-->
//]]></script>
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I’m confused – if you generated the help & gave it the developers to include, why are they trying to generate it again?
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Because their configuration management process says that anyone - with the right tools - should be able to regenerate the same output given the same source and the same settings. It's sensible really, as I'm only a freelance tech author and they will be updating it all in the future (until I get called back in). Part of the verification process was to put all the source files into their source control system, extract them, and generate the help... then compare it to what they should have got (a bit like taking a backup then trying to restore it rather than just hoping it's worked).
They are software engineers - it's part of their normal process. They do the same with the FrameMaker source files... check them out and check they don't get any broken cross-references or anything like that and that they can generate a PDF.
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Hmm, ok – so what’s different between your RH setup & theirs? Sounds like source control may be having an impact or that they are missing something that you’ve got & they don’t have. Maybe it’s the environment that they’re trying to use to run RH in.
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Source control... possibly. I'll get the engineers to get a full copy out to USB, and then I'll try to compile that version using my setup. That should tell me whether there's a problem with the files (they are missing something) or the environment.
The other way around (copying all of the project files to their machine) is an alternative, but I think a little harder to do...
I'm not back there for another 10 days or so (attending a conference - TCUK - next week), so can't try till then... and I can try asking the Adobe reps at the conference, too (had forgotten they would be there...).
Alison
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Have a great time in Glasgow – wished I could make it too…
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Also, are you sure they are looking at the output folder and not accidentally looking at the source folder?
For example, if they are using source control to do the comparison rather than using the View option in Robohelp to just look at the output (because they are developers ) then they may be comparing the source files in source control to the source files on the hard drive, which will of course be identical. This is especially likely if you have the output set to generate outside the project source directory, as the output folders obviously wouldn't show in the comparison tool.
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No, it was the first thing I thought of.
They extract everything from source control to a brand new folder on the machine where RH is installed, open the project, build it and look at the generated files (I know because I was sitting next to them at the time).
Thinking about it some more myself, there is one of three things happening (maybe more than one):
I'm thinking maybe the last - I had an issue with another client where we copied a .chm to the network and opened it from there (later version of RH). Although it was full size (about 13MB - a huge system), we could only see the table of contents. Even copying the file back locally to someone's machine didn't help. Something about unzipping it to a network location had caused some damage. Unzipping the same zip file locally was fine.