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ZithRob
Participant
July 1, 2009
Question

Upgrade Considerations RoboHelp 5 to RH8

  • July 1, 2009
  • 3 replies
  • 907 views

I've been assigned to upgrade our RoboHelp environment.  I've no direct knowledge of the product.  We have a single Client and a single Server.  The server is running on a server that houses our mission critical MS-SQL environment.

The existing environment is a help system consisting of 320 HTML files used for help on our SQL based application.

Prior to upgrading, we will of course backup the existing systems.  Beyond that, what is the upgrade process, and what traps or potential problems might we be facing.

Any appropriate input would be most appreciated.

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

RoboColum_n_
RoboColum_n_
Legend
July 1, 2009

Hi ZithRob and welcome to the RH community.

Upgrading to RH8 is dead easy. All you need to do is open your RH projects in RH8. Make sure you do take backups of the source files as well as the output as when you open your project in RH8 the source code is upgraded and there is no going back. At least if you have a copy of the source you can recover.

As far as what to look out for, the only proper advice I can give you is to download the trial version, take the backups, fire up the application and test it out.

One other question I have is what you mean by "RoboHelp environment" and "server" in your post. If you referring to the RoboHelp Server application as well as the RoboHelp (client) you should be aware that RoboHelp Server 8 has been completely rewritten. A full review of it can be found here.

Read the RoboColum(n) for mutterings on RoboHelp, Technical Communication Suite and technical communication.

Z
ZithRobAuthor
Participant
July 1, 2009

Thanks for the response - a few more questions:

Does upgrading the server require a reboot of the server?  Our server is extremely visible, so I need to know how much of a maintenance window we'll need for the upgrade.

What is the impact of upgrading the files in RH8 as far as people using the Help?  If some files aren't upgraded immediately, will someone using the help files still have access to the content?

RoboColum_n_
RoboColum_n_
Legend
July 1, 2009

OK let's take a step back here.

First of all the upgrade to the help's source files does not affect the help output in any way untill such time as they are generated and published to the location where the current help resides. I would also strongly recommend that you have two separate publish locations (test and live). That way you can publish to your test location without affecting what your users see and use. Only when you are happy would you publish to your live location on the server.

Secondly, as far as the RoboHelp Server application is concerned there is a significant change in it's set-up and installation. Not least it now uses Tomcat open source software and the Java Runtime Environment. You can still use Windows IIS if you want. The link I posted in my previous response should cover most of the queries you have in this area.

For your final question, I'd say that if the server is down your users can't have access to the help. You may wish to employ a backup method along the lines we do here. The application attempts to access the online help located on our server. This requires an internet connection. If there is no internet connection, or the attempt to access the server times out, the application accesses the local CHM file which we also install with the application.

Read the RoboColum(n) for mutterings on RoboHelp, Technical Communication Suite and technical communication.

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