Inspiring

Answered

RH 2019 Classic Html Help Workshop compiler compatibility

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
March 9, 2023
7 replies
1256 views

I notice that importing old (X3) projects to RH2019 Classic results in files that are incompatible with the Microsoft HTML Help Workshop compiler (hhc.exe). For example, the HHC (Table of Contents) file is now in XML and all original HTM files have been prepended with XML. When attempting to compile using HHC.exe, it produces an error on the HHC and warnings for the HTMs. In short, though the compiler does produce output, there is no TOC in the CHM produced. I presume, based on recent experience, that the same would happen if I had an HHK (index) as well.

Is there a means (option?) in RH 2019 Classic such that those files match the Microsoft standard HTML formats? If not, I would be required to run the RH compiler from its own command line to generate the CHM. This is problematic since now, anyone wanting to do a build of our system will require a license just for this one compilation step! Or did I miss something?

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Correct answer Peter Grainge

In your first post your wrote "Is there a means (option?) in RH 2019 Classic such that those files match the Microsoft standard HTML formats? If not, I would be required to run the RH compiler from its own command line to generate the CHM. This is problematic since now, anyone wanting to do a build of our system will require a license just for this one compilation step!"

Just to revert to that as it is relevant, there is no way round the problem. RoboHelp does make changes to the source code in modern versions so that it meets the requirements of the Microsoft Compiler. For a start it has to strip out unsupported features.

Thus:-

The build machine does need a licensed version of RoboHelp on it. Your interpretation of that is correct.
Is there a convenient and inexpensive licensing scenario that would accommodate the build-machine-compile-only situation?
Sorry but no. There are no light versions. I believe there are bulk licensing options that work out cheaper but you would be talking large numbers.
Can I get a perpetual license for RH 2019?
2019 was available with a perpetual licence but I'm pretty sure you can't buy that now. Scrolling quickly through this thread I can't see what version you are on now. I suspect it is a trial of 2019.
The 2020 or 2022 versions are subscription only but you are able to use 2019 under the terms of the subscription.

The licence allows you to install RoboHelp on two machines as long as they are not in concurrent use.

Does that resolve the issues?

I cannot comment on back door methods and they would be a breach of the licence.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

Peter Grainge

Correct answer

Community Expert

In your first post your wrote "Is there a means (option?) in RH 2019 Classic such that those files match the Microsoft standard HTML formats? If not, I would be required to run the RH compiler from its own command line to generate the CHM. This is problematic since now, anyone wanting to do a build of our system will require a license just for this one compilation step!"

Just to revert to that as it is relevant, there is no way round the problem. RoboHelp does make changes to the source code in modern versions so that it meets the requirements of the Microsoft Compiler. For a start it has to strip out unsupported features.

Thus:-

The build machine does need a licensed version of RoboHelp on it. Your interpretation of that is correct.
Is there a convenient and inexpensive licensing scenario that would accommodate the build-machine-compile-only situation?
Sorry but no. There are no light versions. I believe there are bulk licensing options that work out cheaper but you would be talking large numbers.
Can I get a perpetual license for RH 2019?
2019 was available with a perpetual licence but I'm pretty sure you can't buy that now. Scrolling quickly through this thread I can't see what version you are on now. I suspect it is a trial of 2019.
The 2020 or 2022 versions are subscription only but you are able to use 2019 under the terms of the subscription.

The licence allows you to install RoboHelp on two machines as long as they are not in concurrent use.

Does that resolve the issues?

I cannot comment on back door methods and they would be a breach of the licence.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

Use menu (bottom right) to mark as Best Answer or to Highlight particularly useful replies. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here.

B

BarryMVAuthor

Inspiring

Peter, thank you for your continued efforts.

First off, I should point out that my "subverting" effort was a matter of experimental curiosity, not a general practice!

Regarding the rest of your post, everything I've seen and heard totally agrees with your summary. I have written an email to the support people and haven't yet heard back from them, but I don't expect them to say anything different, but, at least, I will have something official. I hope.

I'll be marking this as done.

A

Amebr

Community Expert

For completeness, I did some poking around (Thanks Wayback Machine and Peter 😜 )and I thought some code samples for future reference would be good.

This is what the hhc file looks like in a ~2004 era RH source file (the htm files reference RoboEditor, kadov and eHelp 🙂 😞

<html>
<!-- Sitemap 1.0 -->
<object type="text/site properties">
  <param name="SiteType" value="toc">
  <param name="Image Width" value="16">
  <param name="Window Styles" value="0x800002">
  <param name="ExWindow Styles" value="0x100">
</object>
<ul>
  <li><object type="text/sitemap">
    <param name="Name" value="Child 1">
  </object>
  <ul>
    <li><object type="text/sitemap">
      <param name="Name" value="Child 1 Home Page">
      <param name="Local" value="child_1.htm">
    </object>
    </ul>
</ul>
</html>

This is what it looks like in a ~2011 era RH source file (htm file references Adobe RH9):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<toc version="1.0">
	<properties imagewidth="16" windowstyles="8388610" exwindowstyles="256">
	</properties>
	<item name="Child One">
		<item name="Child 1" link="child_1_topic.htm">
		</item>
	</item>
</toc>

The change probably happened about RH7 or RH8 when Adobe did a major refresh of the underlying code, removing old school internet hacks and kadov tags among other things.

So for probably 15 years RH source files will have required an intermediate transformation by the RH compiler before (I assume) being sent to the Microsoft compiler for final chm generation.

A

Amebr

Community Expert

Do let us know what Robohelp Support says about the command line licensing. (And don't forget, the email address is recommended as it goes to a dedicated Robohelp support team )

B

BarryMVAuthor

Inspiring

Regarding the command line licensing: as far as I can tell, any would-be build machine (that only wants to compile via command line) needs to have a fully licensed RH installation. Random internet comments support this conclusion but, more importantly, Adobe's Virtual Assistant's chat with a real person, as well as miscellaneous excerpts from various Adobe web pages, say nothing to the contrary. The only avenue I've still to explore is to try to talk to someone that knows what they are talking about at Adobe. (The Virtual Assistant guy offered to call, but his/her English was so bad, I opted out.)

If and when that happens, I will post my findings.

I have begun composing an email to be sent to the support address I presume you're referring to: tcssup@adobe.com. I intend to focus on 2 questions, the first of which may be of interest to the broader audience; the second is something that I want.

1) Is there a lconvenient and inexpensive licensing scenario that would accommodate the build-machine-compile-only situation?

2) Can I get a perpetual license for RH 2019?

I suspect that I'll get 2 "nos".

BTW, I tried subverting this by copying RHCL.exe and attendant DLLs to a random other machine, and it still provokes a license check, ie in my case, a trial version. In short, if I try to run the compiler on such a setup, I get a dialog that tells me how many days I have left on the trial.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I can answer those points but it will not be until tomorrow.

________________________________________________________
My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

Use menu (bottom right) to mark as Best Answer or to Highlight particularly useful replies. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here.

A

Amebr

Community Expert

@Peter Grainge the Adobe Robohelp command line compiler is not the same as the chm compiler (but I believes calls it after it's done it's thing to all the custom RH files). I think it has special licensing to allow it to be used on build machines, but that would need to be checked with Adobe as I've never used it.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

the Adobe Robohelp command line compiler is not the same as the chm compiler

I know. What I was thinking was that if the issue was the build machine not having the CHM compiler, could that be because RoboHelp had not been installed and therefore hadn't installed the compiler.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

Use menu (bottom right) to mark as Best Answer or to Highlight particularly useful replies. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here.

A

Amebr

Community Expert

If I understand the orignal post the MS chm compiler is on the build machine and they've been using that because they don't need an additional license to run it. However, the new RoboHelp source files don't work natively with the chm compiler, therefore the search to convert the RH toc file back into the old format so they can continue using the MS chm compiler.

As build machines are frequently "headless" and automated, I had a feeling the command line tool had a special license to allow it to be deployed in this scenario, hence my suggestion to contact Adobe directly to check if there is special licensing for this use case.

A

Amebr

Community Expert

Try contacting support about the command line compiler. It might have special licensing exactly for the "build machine" scenario you're talking about. it's not something I've used, but I'm sure other people out there work in this way and I can't imagine Adobe would ignore this standard work practice.

See the following page for support contact options. The email address is recommended as it goes to a dedicated Robohelp team.
https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

@Amebr Your post makes me wonder if I missed a point about the build machine.

@BarryMV Does that not have RoboHelp on it, is that the problem? The compiler can, as you have found, be downloaded from the wayback site. This is a direct link to download the compiler. Wayback Machine (archive.org)

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

Use menu (bottom right) to mark as Best Answer or to Highlight particularly useful replies. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here.

B

BarryMVAuthor

Inspiring

Sorry for the delay and perhaps this will only confuse matters, but here goes. RH 2019 Classic project files are incompatible with the old/ancient MS HHC compiler. Among possibly other things, it does not recognize the XML that RH sticks in the HHC (TOC) and HHK (Index) files. My wish (pipe dream?) of being able to upgrade my set of projects from X3 to 2019 and beyond, while, at the same time keep the overall build procedures as is, has gone out the window. I am now reconciled to having to change the build procedure but the new one I have in mind will require a command line compile of the RH 2019 Classic projects. I believe this is possible but I would like to avoid having to pay for licenses on each of the build machines we use; that is, I would prefer to only pay for the machines that need to use the IDE. Per @Amebr's (and yours?) point, I suppose I need to talk to Adobe about how that works. Thanks to both of you (et al) for the help. These old bones were not expecting this foray into HAT land at this stage of my life!

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I think there was a fairly recent report of no TOC appearing. Maybe there is a solution there.

Is there a means (option?) in RH 2019 Classic such that those files match the Microsoft standard HTML formats? They always have in the past.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

Use menu (bottom right) to mark as Best Answer or to Highlight particularly useful replies. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here.

B

BarryMVAuthor

Inspiring

Ha! Yes. That was my original post. For that problem I wound up manually translating the original HTML into the XML format, only to realize that the XML format itself will break the HTML Help Workshop compilation.

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

Not sure what you're expecting - RH2019 (and 2022) projects can still create CHMs. With such an antique format, I would have zero expectation of being able to digest "raw" RH project files and turn them into CHM.

B

BarryMVAuthor

Inspiring

Well, by changing the HHC from HTML to XML violates the Microsoft standard compiler requirements. Inspection of both the original and upgraded files shows the essential content to be the same, but in different formats. So the decision to regenerate the HHC in XML seems academic and perhaps short sighted on Adobe's part since now, instead of being able to do a full build of all RH projects on a machine without a license (primarily purchased for the IDE), we have to trash the MS Workshop compiler, for what? A command line executable that has to be licensed from Adobe?

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

"...changing the HHC from HTML to XML violates the Microsoft standard compiler requirements." - umm, you know that even MS doesn't even suppport CHMs any more - I don't think there's any violating going on here.🤣

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