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doster0404
Inspiring
April 16, 2014
Question

Behavior for updating locally-installed AirHelp

  • April 16, 2014
  • 3 replies
  • 686 views

I'm generating my help file using RH 9 Air Help (locally-installed) and trying to wrap my head around the behavior of when there's an updated version of help. When the user initially downloads the help to their desktop and when the help is opened each time thereafter, does RoboHelp point to the server (location of help files) each time the user opens the help from their desktop, or are the help files downloaded to the user's desktop? (The latter doesn't seem right if I can auto-update the help contents for locally-installed help.) And if there's an update to the help file, the user is notified of the update, correct? I've worked with RoboHelp (mainly WebHelp) for several years and love the look/feel of AirHelp and its capabilities. I'm just stumped on this one area--one which I need to be ready to answer when I speak with our developers tomorrow. Please help!

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3 replies

D
doster0404Author
Inspiring
April 17, 2014

Thank you both! Peter--I have your AirHelp page bookmarked and it has been really great to have and very informative. I was pretty sure that was the behavior but needed confirmation before I talk to the powers that be this morning. I'm aware of the permissions the user must have in order to update - I'll find out this a.m. whether that will be a good option for our clients with the whole permissioning issue. And for the BB version, the user needs the proper permissions to download the Flash Player, correct?

Thanks again.

Message was edited by: doster0404

Message was edited by: doster0404

Jeff_Coatsworth
Community Expert
Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 17, 2014

Don’t confuse the AIR runtime installer that periodically updates itself with your locally installed AIRHelp .air install file. The latter depends on the former to be present to work.

Peter Grainge
Community Expert
Peter GraingeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 17, 2014

When the user opens the help, it looks to a location you have specified for updates. If it finds an update sitting there, it will notify the user who then chooses whether or not to update.

There is a lot of information about AIR Help on my site.

Before you go too far with this work, it is a help format that had limited take-up because users need admin rights to install the updates. Most help authoring tools are now moving towards adding HTML5 help outputs that work on all platforms including mobiles.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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