Participating Frequently

Question

List topics in search tab causes the program to hang/crash (chm help file)

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
December 9, 2021
10 replies
1212 views

Hello, everybody.

We are using RoboHelp 2020 and generate Microsoft HTML help.

The user start the chm help from a dialogue in our software.

If he enter some search word and click List Topics the help hangs.

If he kill the process (clicking the x in the window) the program crashes to.

Any idea what might be wrong?

Regards

Tord

This topic has been closed for replies.

A

Amebr

Community Expert

If you navigate to the folder where your application installs the chm and manually run the chm from there, does it work correctly?

abel001

Known Participant

Yes it works correctly if the chm is opened directly. It only hangs if we open the chm from our application and perform a search in the Search tab.

Jeff_Coatsworth

Community Expert

Bizarre - I think you need to touch base with the RH folks - see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your Adobe Support options. I'd recommend using the tcssup@adobe.com e-mail address as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including RoboHelp.
The problem is that CHM is such an ancient antique format now, that I suspect it's getting harder & harder for RH to support it's creation and operation as O/S versions change and browsers come & go.

A

Amebr

Community Expert

It might be that some dlls aren't registered properly.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/robohelp-discussions/full-text-search-not-working-in-chm-file/m-p/485290

This provides more info and a diagnostic tool (I haven't tried downloading it for a while, but if it doesn't work, try using the WayBack Machine to get a copy).

http://kb.helpwaregroup.com/ms-html-help/mj-s-diagnostics

If that's the problem and the users are not part of your company, I recommend working with your developers to make sure the dlls are correctly registered as part of the application installation process.

T

Tord22166383ohisAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks for your tips, but registering this dll's did not solve the problems we have.

abel001

Known Participant

If you launch it directly (i.e. not through the application) does it behave the same way?

No, if launched directly, there is no problem.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Based on my earlier reply and information from Adobe, RoboHelp installs just the components it needs and that has not changed since Update 1 of RoboHelp 2019. I have not changed anything on my system so it follows that somehow the other person and likely yourselves have got a later version installed. I have no idea how other than a deliberate update or some other program.

The solution the other person tried has worked for them but I can't say that is what you should do. Let us know what you decide to do and how you get on as that will help anyone else who hits this issue.

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

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T

Tord22166383ohisAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks for your quick and good help Peter and for taking the time 👍. I'll update you if or when we solve the problem 😊.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I have been dealing with someone else who has this issue and just got this from them.

Thanks so much for your help Peter – it helped me figure it out. It seems to be the hhw (Microsoft HTML Help Workshop) on my machine and by installing an older version from here:

http://www.helpgenerator.com/html_help_workshop.htm#.YbHtV71ByUk

The problem was resolved.

I have queried this with Adobe. It's up to you if you want to try this or wait to see what they come back with.

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Compass Travel should work with that language. You may need to take this up with Support but let me make some enquiries first.

If you want to go ahead, see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your Adobe Support options. The email link tcssup@adobe.com is recommended as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including RoboHelp.

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

What is your OS language?

________________________________________________________
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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I am advised the CHM is operating system language dependent. Test a project created for whatever OS you have and see if that one works. Assuming it does the projects created for other languages must be tested on machines with that language as the OS.

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

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T

Tord22166383ohisAuthor

Participating Frequently

OS language:

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Try the About RoboHelp sample project that you can find in Documents > My RoboHelp projects. Does that work?

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

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T

Tord22166383ohisAuthor

Participating Frequently

It does not work either:

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

I am dealing with someone else having the same issue with the search. They sent me their project and the output I generated worked fine including the search. I sent them the file back and the search does not work for them.

When you say the search is failing, that is when you search from the file opened directly on your machine, correct?

Let me know that and I will see what I can find.

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

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T

Tord22166383ohisAuthor

Participating Frequently

We have two issue:

1. When chm is opened from our application, then the search (List topics) hangs

2. When chm is opened direct on PC, then full text search does not work. Could the Languange be a problem. We have both english, swedish an orwegian help files.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Where is the CHM installed?

Does it work OK if you open the CHM direct on your computer?

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

T

Tord22166383ohisAuthor

Participating Frequently

It's installed together with our software under Program Files:

C:\Program Files\Gemini\Ter17\Sys\Language\Eng

It does not hang if I open it direct on my computer.

We have one more issue. Full text search does not work for this dialogue help.

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