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M_Boyd
M_Boyd
Inspiring
March 17, 2011
Question

"Node is not defined" message when users click the Search or Index tab

  • March 17, 2011
  • 1 reply
  • 2009 views

We use RoboHelp 8 and generate HTML help. In just the past week or so, a couple of people have reported that they are suddenly unable to use our product's help system. When they open the help and click the Index or Search tab, the following message is displayed (over and over):

Message: 'Node' is undefined

Line: 3012

Char: 2

Code: 0

URI: http://<install-dir>/parent/whfhost.js

This seems to be an environmental issue, not an error in the actual help files. For example, our Support Manager can run the help on one of his machines, but not on another. So he copied the entire help directory from the "good" machine and replaced what was on the other, but saw the same issues. Also, he could run the help on both machines a short while back, and then it just stopped working. So it looks like a Windows update, software installation, or some other change to that environment caused the problem.

We've seen this happen on both Windows 7 and Windows XP.

Has anyone else seen this? Is there something I could add to or remove from the help that would get around this problem? Or something that users need to enable or disable in their environment?

I appreciate any help!

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Willam van Weelden
Willam van Weelden
Inspiring
March 18, 2011

Hi,

You say you are publishing HTML help. Given the URI returned by the error, my guess is that you're creating WebHelp not a CHM, am I correct?

What browsers are you using? If I check those lines in whfhost.js, you should only get the error message when you use Safari, Adobe Air or the deceased Netscape Navigator 7. Can you try to use the search function on the same system with different browsers: IE, FF and Safari?

Greet,

Willam

M_Boyd
M_BoydAuthor
Inspiring
March 18, 2011

Yes, WebHelp, not a .chm. Sorry!

Both people who've encountered this error were using IE8. Our product only runs in IE, so anyone accessing help through the product will be running IE.

I asked our support guy, Mike, to try running the help outside the product. He ran it in IE8 and had the same issues. He ran it in Firefox, and it worked fine!

When Mike was running the help in IE today, we noticed other errors beside the one I initially reported. For example, when he expands several nodes in the TOC, he gets something like "innerHeight not defined" (didn't write it down, so that might not be exactly right). All the errors point to RH .js files, but not to the same file.

Again, I'm baffled. Any help is profoundly appreciated!

MergeThis
MergeThis
Inspiring
March 18, 2011

Are ALL the files being "pushed" or pulled, or whatever method is used to copy the output around? Like all those pesky things in the wh*data folders?

Good luck,

Leon

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