Refreshing the user interface

[Guest]

I would like to know where to put the meta code to auto refresh content every x seconds so that when I update the server my users do not have to manualy refresh their webpages to see it. I can get it to work on spacific frames but not for the whole thing or for the TOC. This is the code I am using--

[RoboColum_n_]

Umm! I'm guessing you are using Webhelp output here? Someone else may want to come in here but I doubt you can get the TOC or the whole help file to auto refresh. I think it would be better to write a little batch file or macro to sit on the end users PC to do this.

[Guest]

that is correct we are using webhelp. I was able ot add the code to the startup frame but I would realy like to add the code to the root html in a way that robo will not rewrite it.

[HKabaker]

The nice thing about having WebHelp on a server is that you can update the project on the fly for everyone to see. The next time the user opens that page, the new content appears (unless the browser is set to never check for new files, I think).

Are you saying you want the user to see the new content while the page is still displayed? How long, typically, does someone keep a given page open and might miss something important in the freshest update?

Not to challenge the idea, just curious.

Another question: When showing new content, does the screen flicker briefly during the refresh?

Harvey

[Guest]

As we get deeper into this we are finding more issues. If I add a refresh code to the root .hml file when the page refreshes it goes back to the default start page even if we have a help file page open. Not a good thing.
You are right about the getting new content when clicking on a link that helps.
Our problem now is that when we add a new article it does not show up when using the search unless we manually refresh the whole web help page. We would like people to be able to preform a search and get new topics without any extra manual input like haveing to click refresh. Users are lazy you know.

[HKabaker]

What you're looking at, I think, is the cache function. RH compiles the TOC, Index and Search databases on the fly from files in whdata, whgdata and whxdata, depending on how you built WebHelp: DHTML, Applet, plain html.

So I would think that, once you've updated those files on the server, a new search or index display should reflect the changed content. Have you tried setting the browser always to look for new files?

RH 7 WebHelp responds to the browser Reload button by re-displaying the current topic and reloading TOC, Index or Glossary. It doesn't automatically go back to the default file. Even in Firefox.

All you are missing, apparently, is that your revisions don't just pop up on the screen without user intervention.

This time I do question the idea. Anybody who sits on the same page for more than a few minutes probably isn't doing his or her job.
How much is it worth to you to accommodate this?

Best regards,

Harvey

[Guest]

we have had problems with the search not functioning corectly when topics have been changed on the fly, does not happen often but does every now and then. The powers that be wanted the Robo admins to come up with a solution. Right now it is a tag on the top of the start up page that says please refresh often.
It is not that the same page is being sat on but some folks open the help file then cove it up and only go to it when they need it so it can sit unused for quite a while.

I know that clicking the refresh button on IE or Firefox does not kick you back to the start page however the Firefox "reload extension" does kick back to start page.

Thank you for all of your assistance in this. It is looking more and more that we have to fix the employees not the application.

[HKabaker]

You might appease "the powers that be" by suggesting the browser option to check for newer versions of stored pages with every visit to the page. I haven't tested this for on-the-fly search databases, but it sounds better than PEBCAC (problem exists between chair and computer).

Good luck

[MergeThis]

You might also consider that generating/publishing your WebHelp after topic edits also regenerates many of the wh* files, some of which will contain new Search/Index/TOC references. Therefore, refreshing the entire WebHelp output is a good thing.


Good luck,
Leon

[MergeThis]

[Forgot the other point I wanted to make...]

Could your developers set up some type of message announcement (through the application itself) when new/revised content is available? (Seems that they should be doing the heavy lifting on this one.)


Good luck,
Leon