.chm Output with Windows 7

[chrispeco]

Hi All,

I maintain a help system that uses .chm output, it's authored in Robohelp for Word, V5.  The server that the program resides on has been upgraded to the Windows 7 OS, and now the help cannot be viewed.  No error is received.  Has anyone seen anything like this or heard or any way around it?

Thanks.

Chris

[Peter Grainge]

Do you mean the CHM is on a server or RH?

It is contrary to the RH licence to install RH on a server but that is your concern.

Windows 7 is not a server operating system so all in all, some clarification is needed.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[chrispeco]

Thanks Peter,

No, RH is not on the network, that is all local.  The .chm is on the server along with the software program it is used with.

Windows 7 is available today, it's just the next step after Vista for Microsoft if I am not mistaken.  The server the program resides on has been upgraded, now when we try to call the help from the program, it does not display.

I appreciate your responding.

Chris

[chrispeco]

sorry - I see what you mean with the server OS.  Poor explanation on my part...Users that are trying to access the help are have been upgraded.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

I suspect dear Peter is counting sheep as I type this as it is 12:35 AM in England.

Are you saying only the users that have been upgraded are unable to access the help? Or that all users are unable since a server upgrade?

Have you reviewed Peter's site for CHM issues?

Click here to view

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[chrispeco]

Thanks - yes, this is specific to a certain group of users that has been upgraded.  We have other users that have not been upgraded that can still access the .chm output.

[Peter Grainge]

You had to edit their registry to make CHMs work from a server under the previous OS. It sounds like the new registry they have under Windows 7 needs to be edited. What I don't know is whether the various edits described on my site are still valid under Windows 7.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[chrispeco]

Thanks Peter - just to be clear, do you suppose that the registry edits would be necessary for those viewing the help from a server (in our case, this is a Citrix server) with a Windows 7 OS ...OR...would the registry edits be required for someone compiling the .chm output.  If it's option A, I'm beginning to wonder if I have to change my output type.

Appreciate your response.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Obviously I'm not Peter.

Typically one needs to edit the registry on the PC that will be viewing the CHM file. For example, if you copied a .CHM file to a network drive in an organization, all PCs in the organization would need a registry tweak that allowed the CHM to be viewed while it is on the network.

Indeed, if your goal is to place content in a central location such as a server, CHM likely isn't what you want. You should really explore WebHelp or FlashHelp if that's your goal.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Peter Grainge]

WebHelp or FlashHelp would be more appropriate as Rick says. The fact that your server is Citrix may change things when it comes to users viewing a CHM. I don't know. Let's hope Pete Lees looks in. He might not monitor this category. It's late in the UK where both Pete and I are based. If you don't see anything from him tomorrow, then post in the HTMLHelp category asking if the need to apply the changes described in the article on my site is still true if the CHM is hosted on a Citrix server.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[princess_betty]

It is possible that your network people have disabled chm files. CHM files are very prone to getting hacked. This means that if the file is local, you could run it, but if it resides on the network you can't.

I switched to creating webhelp. I had the network people create a share on the server where I could publish and deploy my help system. Then I got the citrix group to create an icon linking to the URL and they distributed this to all users. If your help file is tied to a specific app where the user clicks help within the app, you will need to get your developers to change this to call the URL eventually.Once this change is made, you can have the icon removed from citrix.