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May 24, 2006
Question

PDF link incompatibility with IE

  • May 24, 2006
  • 1 reply
  • 246 views
Hi everyone,

I'm trying to troubleshoot a problem that occurs when I want to open an embeded PDF from a CHM, while an IE window is already opened.

He're is the point :
I just make a standard link (Ctrl+K) aiming at the PDF inside a topic, so that the PDF would open in a new window :
<a href="..\..\_PDF_directory\MyFile.pdf" target=_blank>cliquez ici</a>
The PDF is - of course - embeded in my project.

He're is the problem :
Now, when I generate the CHM and give a clic on the link, I get the folowing error message :
Unable to complete download ("Impossible de terminer le téléchargement" in French)
>> THIS PROBLEM OCCURS ONLY IF AN INTERNET EXPLORER WINDOW IS OPENED !!! (IE6 and even IE7...)
>> If I close all IE windows (or kill "iexplorer.exe" in the tasks manager) and try it again, the PDF opens just fine...
>> By the way, the PDF link also works fine - wether IE is opened or not - in the Robohelp topic preview (Ctrl+W)

So... does anyone know something about this problem ? or had to deal with it already ?

Regards
Cédric SUIRE

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

May 30, 2006
Hello Cedz,

I have experimented with this problem and have reproduced the error you have described. This error only seems to occur if you are targeting a new browser window (target=_blank). By default, links to .pdf files should automatically open in a new windows. Is there a reason you are targeting a new window? If not, a workaround for this problem would be to simply target no window (display in frame per the GUI).

I experimented with this issue with straight HTML and it worked fine. This looks like a limitation of the way .CHM and .PDF files work together.