Need info about RH Server 6 and reports

[Guest]

I'm interisted in RH Server 6 but I'm unable to locate much practical info about it on the Web site, and a call to sales didn't help. I need to know what I'm getting us into before I contribute our $2,000. Can anyone provide this information or point me to its location on the site:

--I have system requirements from the Adobe site, but what is the "server" and what does installation and setup entail? About how how long does it take, or how difficult, to achieve operability?

--According to a piece by John Daigle, the server component should be installed on a Windows server running IIS 5+. Is IIS a separate software or standart part of Windows server? If separate, what preparation should that server have before the installation in addition to installation of IIS?

--I know nothing about security/firewall protocols. We will have our own and our customer firewalls to navigate. Are the server setup instructions adequate for setting all that up? Or are purchasers expected to have sys admins knowledgeable to set that up? Is that applied to the RH server or the Windows server? if RH server, how can I get a copy of instructions for my system people to review?

--Have users found the RH server/RoboEngine reliable, once it's operable?

--Is it true that the usage reports aren't customizable? Can additional usage data be specified in the RH server?

--These report summaries are vague--Areas Requiing Help, Frequently Viewed Content--stating only that repoorts show the suchandsuch done "most frequently" or "most often." Does that mean the top 3, 5, 10 or what? Is there a way to track all of that activity from most to least?

--The summaries of the reports Unanswered Questions and Frequently Asked Questions say that terms entered in the Search field are identified. Questions and terms aren't the same in my book--am I right that it captures anything entered? Can it do the same for the Index field?

--I saw no RH server under downloads, or maybe missed it. Correct in guessing that a demo version is not available?

--Is RH server user doc available on the web site? I found the Getting Started gude, which isn't much use in evaluating the product.

I have additional questions, but if you can answer these questions or direct me to answers some of those may be covered.

Thanks,
Mike

Access database.

[RoboColum_n_]

Wow! So many questions. I feel like I've stepped into a job interview I'll try and answer some of them and hopefully others will chip in to as they are all valid.

First off, you could do worse than check out the product page on the website. Click here for that. In essence you publish the help file to a central server that you, or your IT people, administer. Your clients access the help from the server so they need no knowledge other than the URL.

As John says, you istall on an IIS server. IIS is a windows component but it is not installed on a users PC by default. Your IT people can help here or if you have the windows installation disk you can install it yourself. John has a series of articles that explain well how to install and run the product. Look through the Adobe website and Google for these and other articles. It would also be worth looking through this forum to see how others have faired.

[Guest]

Thanks Colum, but I spent more than 8 hrs screening info on the site before posting. I don't post until I start becoming frustrated.

After a second look at the Getting Started Guide that's available, and a look at the permissions tech note referred to by Daigle, I think I have enough installation and setup info to start a discussion with our systems staff.

SO--readers can please disregard the previous questions regarding installation and setup, and focus on these few mild-mannered questions about output and operation:

--Is it true that the usage reports aren't customizable? Can additional usage data be specified in the RH server?

--These report summaries are vague--Areas Requiing Help, Frequently Viewed Content--stating only that repoorts show the suchandsuch done "most frequently" or "most often." Does that mean the top 3, 5, 10 or what? Is there a way to track all of that activity from most to least?

--The summaries of the reports Unanswered Questions and Frequently Asked Questions say that terms entered in the Search field are identified. Questions and terms aren't the same in my book--am I right that it captures anything entered? Can it do the same for the Index field?

--I saw no RH server under downloads, or maybe missed it. Correct in guessing that a demo version is not available?

--Is RH server user doc available on the web site, other than Getting Started gude?

Thanks,
Mike

[johndaigle]

Hey, Mike!
I found a few things for you. I'm in a hurry, so I'll list them quickly.

For the Trial, go to the Adobe downloads page
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/

Then select RoboHelp Server 6 from the dropdown list. You will be asked to register (free) if you haven't already. When you arrive at the download page make sure you note the Trial Serial # To make it easier for you, its:
1336-1033-2628-5062-0993-4570

You can also find a RoboHelp Server 6 Getting Started Guide here
http://www.adobe.com/support/robohelp/downloads/getting_started_rh6_server.pdf

You were asking about IIS. Yes. As Colum says, this comes with virtually any version of Windows Server (or Windows XP Professional). However, you must install and configure it. I am not an IT or web administrator so it took me a while to learn, but amazingly I got it to work if you're patient and follow the steps. (I'm speaking of both IIS and Robohelp Server) Clearly IIS configuration is not a trivial thing and it is assumed that an author would have help and cooperation from the IT or Web Admin folks.

As for customizing reports. At present, the existing reports are the only ones offered. Since these reports are generated from a database (Access, SQL Server or Oracle) I would think (haven't done it myself) that someone familiar with database adminstration could open the DB (after a backup that is) and be more creative with generating customized reports.

You are right that the "Question" does in fact mean any search term or phrase that an end user puts in the search field. This is the string that is stored and reported as a question. In discussing this with the Adobe team at STC last month, they agreed that this was definitely a holdover from the legacy software and is due for a change sometime in the future.

To answer your other question, text entered in the Index field is not stored in the database, only the search term field.

Since taking on the old legacy product from eHelp and Macromedia, Adobe is focusing most of its attention on beefing up the client authoring app for the next version (Adobe RoboHelp 7). My assumption is that they are keen on improving the RoboHelp Server as well. I have passed along many feature requests along the lines you seem to suggest and hopefully the server will evolve along with the client app.

Even with its limitations, my clients tell me RoboHelp Server provides very useful feedback to help them improve their knowledge base content to make it more helpful and responsive to users needs. They also like the searchability of PDF, Word, PPT and Excel as well...something which plain WebHelp without the RoboHelp Server does not do.
I probably didn't get to everything, but hope this helps.
John

[Guest]

John--

Thanks for taking time to reply. It's helpful. I have one more question that I forgot to put into my original list.

Will we have to add anything to the help topics to enable this tracking--a marker, ID, or what have you? Seems to me it should unnecessary, but never know....

Mike

[johndaigle]

Hi, Mike. At the present time, no. There are no markers or "meta tags" placed in the topics (if that's what you meant). The tracking data is collected two ways, one is simply from the log files typically collected by a web server. This tells when and how often a unique user visits a topic. The second is more sophisticated in that it captures the search strings entered by the user and stores them in a database. The reports are a combination of all these data collection factors.

In a way, that's the beauty of the coming Semantic Web. Putting meta data in files to make it more its content more relevant in searches (among many other things).
thanx,
john

[david76102]

Mike,

Better get use to the "frustration". I've been with the product since forehelp, ehelp, macromedia, & now adobe. Make no mistake - we love the product itself and will continue to use it if able. Absent mindedly (with admin staff turnover) we've not keep current because we've not had any problems with the software itself. Been trying to upgrade clients and servers from x3 to x6 for 3+ months now. Calls to customer/tech support get routed to some unknown country where the only thing the level-1 support staff seem to be able to say is "please hold while I search for an anwer to your question". SEARCH? I can search. There is not an answer in the knowledge base other than instructions to call support. I'm calling. Transfers to Customer Service. Transfers to Licensing. Transfers to AOO. Hours on the phone. Still waiting.

Product itself is GREAT. Reliable. No Problems since 2002. Suggest keeping current at all costs. Expect to "go it alone" for support from Adobe. Can't believe I even ran across this site (which below says "user to user - not for tech support"). From what I've found, don't expect tech support.

- David (customer)

[Guest]

Thanks David. Are you referring to RoboHelp Server, aka Robo Engine, or RoboHelp?

[Guest]

Thanks David. Are you referring to RoboHelp Server, aka Robo Engine, or RoboHelp?

[david76102]

The RoboEngine product at version 3 & 4 was "rebranded" RoboHelp Server at version 6. I'm refering to the server product. The client products upgraded just fine. I would think a "server" product customer would get a little better treatment. Guess not.

[Guest]

I'm glad to hear that the server itself is reliable--thanks for letting me know. I know about the support experience.

[Guest]

Hi,
I'm also evaluating RH Server 6 and have learned a lot from this discussion, John Daigle's article, and related links. I have a few remaining questions that probably fall into the "duh" category, but I haven't seen addressed anywhere.

Currently, we use RH X5 to create WebHelp that ships and gets installed locally with our software. We have many dialog boxes with context-sensitive help (called by string). We include the cshdat_robohelp.htm file in the help directory to enable all of the mappings.

If instead we publish our WebHelp to a Server, what kind of hooks do we put in the software so users can access the main help as well as the context sensitive topics for the separate dialog boxes? Would we still use the cshdat_robohelp file?

Also, can someone confirm that we would have to open our firewall to allow users to access the help on our server?

Thanks for the help,
Diana

[johndaigle]

HI, Diana.
I'm traveling and don't have the old RoboHelpX5 help files with me. I am looking at the RoboHelp Server 6 help under Context Sensitive Help - Information for Developers and see this snippet of info (below). (the whole thing is too lengthy to post here)
It would appear that the CSH API is supported. The only thing is that the RoboHelp Server is itself run by an Active Server Pages program and there are a few differences from CSH WebHelp vs. "Pro". You might want to look at the online help from your trial version for more details. It seems like you will be able to accomplish what you want.

As for the firewall question.I don't think there is anything inherently that makes RoboHelp Server any different from any other website sitting on a web server. Your own IT policies and permissions would apply.
Thanx,
John


WebHelp Pro
The following function calls a WebHelp Pro project. This example is for Help that is located on a server. The application can be located locally or on a server. In WebHelp Pro projects, the new context-sensitive Help API is only supported with RoboEngine 3.0 or later.

Function call:
RH_ShowHelp(hParent, a_pszHelpFile, uCommand, dwData)
Example:
hParent = 0;

a_pszHelpFile = " http://255.255.255.255/roboapi.asp>MyWindow";// (>MyWindow is optional and must always be last)

The project name is always required to ensure proper resolution of map numbers. Use the following syntax to specify the project name: " http://RoboHelp Server/roboapi.asp?project=MyProject".

uCommand = HH_HELP_CONTEXT;

dwData = 101;// (Map number associated with the topic to display)

Note: Ask your technical writer which window(s) to call. Also, if the writer creates the map files, ask the writer to export the map files to the appropriate location.

[Guest]

Thanks, John. I'm still in the information-gathering stage and haven't downloaded the trial version yet. I think you've given me enough for now.

Cheers,
Diana