URLs Containing %C2%A0

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
October 8, 2021
3 replies
12974 views

I am using RoboHelp 2020.6.76 to generate frameless help output. Earlier this week, I and/or RH somehow generated two URLs that appear to have included a non-breaking space. I don't know how this is possible, and I cannot reproduce it (at least not intentionally). I didn't notice this issue until sending the URLs to marketing for a release notification e-mail. Both URLS contained %C2%A0. I tested the links, verified that they worked, asked internally if anyone thought that might cause an issue, and got no response--until after the e-mails went out and customers started contacting us to tell us the links didn't work. In fairness, it looks as if the marketing e-mails embedded the links in longer links, probably meant for tracking purposes, and appear to have stripped out the percent signs. Even after I put them back in, the marketing-generated links did not work. When I looked at the topics in the help project, there appeared to be a blank space in the URL. The generated output was replacing the blank space with the %C2%A0. I corrected the topic links, replacing the blank space with an underscore. Then I thought I should probably keep copies of the topics with the blank space in case those links were working for anyone. When I regenerated the help, the system replaced the blank space in the URLs with %20 (which is what I expected to see in a URL for a blank space). At this point, I added two more copies of the topics to the project where I purposely put %C2%A0 in the URL in place of the blank space (so that anyone for whom those links might have worked previously would still have working links). When I generated the help, those links did not work. When I had IT copy the new set of help files to Production, I had them keep the two files for which the system appeared to be replacing a blank space with %C2%A0. That worked. I'm at a loss to explain it. I searched the Internet and found references that C2 A0 represents a non-breaking space. I also found one reference that said the URL will show %C2%A0 if a hidden folder is associated with the URL. That said, questions: Has anyone else seen this? Does anyone know what causes it? Is there a way to prevent it from happening? Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.

L

Lars_mar

Participant

Hi! I am currently trying to make this link work: https://edge.sagepub.com/kuther2e/instructor-resources/test-bank%5D%C2%A0

The link only tells me that the page can not be found, and it seems to be caused by the problem you're writing about. Do you know it there is a way I can alter the link to make it work?

Thanks in advance!

A

Amebr

Community Expert

Just to confirm, are you using Robohelp to generate your website? It's locked behind a login so I can't check for myself.

S

Sudhanshu Monga

Adobe Employee

Hi Tim,
Try removing all the spaces in the link inn your authoring tab, and add it again by hitting the spacebar.

This is a similar issue to this issue, and we have logged a bug for the fix.

T

Tim D MorrisAuthor

Inspiring

Sudanshu, I tried removing the space in the link and then re-adding it using the space bar.

When I attempted to save the change, RH displayed this message:

Note that even though a space still appears between the "7" and the "(" in the "File Name" field, which you can see in the background of that image, the system is automatically supplying an underscore in place of the blank space.

Jeff, I didn't report it last week, but I also tried your suggestion of adding multiple blank spaces. I don't recall if I did it now using the space bar or via a different method, but the system still replaced the blanks with underscores. Again, I have not been able to reproduce the error. If it matters, I know that I created the topic based on a copy of another topic. I use the same format for the release notes content, and so each new release notes topic starts as a copy (duplicate) of the previous release notes topic. Also, the above "File Exists" message is a valid message; the file with the underscore does exist. In fact, I attempted to duplicate the existing topic and remove a space from it, using the space bar in the "File Name" field, thinking that scenario would be close the scenario in which the error initially occurred. If I am missing something and/or if you want me to try something else, please let me know. Thanks.

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

I thought I recall reading something recently in the forums about a bug that converted 2 spaces into a non-breaking one - which then messed up the output. But I can't find it right now.

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