Rh2022 - on startup of Microsoft HTML help, get "can't reach this page Make sure the web ..." error

[Irene378560618xyx]

I converted classic projects from RH9 to Rh2022, output to run under Windows 10.

When help is started via a call to HtmlHelp that looks like the one below, I get the error as shown in the attached picture "Help not working.png":

hwndHelp = HtmlHelp (hwndParent,  szclHomePath + szclURL + _T(">Main"), HH_DISPLAY_TOPIC, NULL);

where

szclHomePath is c:\cromos 3.0\toolset\Help\C2000Help.chm::/redirect.xhtm#

szclURL is          C2000Help.chm::/C2000_Help_introduction.htm

From a command line, everything is fine if I use this command:

hh.exe ms-its:c:\cromos 3.0\toolset\help\C2000Help.chm::/C2000_help_introduction.htm#Retrieve

From this, I deduce that the problem is something to do with redirect.xhtm.

When I compare the generated chm file from RH9 with the generated file from RH2022, I see that redirect.xhtm is not in the RH2022 file (using BeyondCompare).

The contents of the redirect file are shown in the attached picture  "contents of redirect file.png".

Does anyone have any idea please of how to get the call to htmlhelp work in the way it did in RH9 ?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Well, seeing as how it's not working for you now, it might be worth the time to take a copy of them all and start playing with doing them as merged help to get a feel for whether it's going to work or not for your application. Was there some reason why there's 38 projects instead of one big one?

[Irene378560618xyx]

It may well depend on managers' decisions.

There are 38 projects because that's the way the original tech author did it. There is quite a lot of help in some of the projects, so I can only guess that he thought it would be easier to work with if he split it up into logical bits. That tech author left the business a very long time ago so I can't find out why he did what he did.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Might also be faster to test amalgamating them all into one project (use a copy of the projects for your test) - you might find it makes managing the content a lot easier.

[Irene378560618xyx]

Thanks for the suggestion. I am waiting to see if Adobe come up with a way of fixing it that may be quicker and then I'll look at merging the projects into one project.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I'm highly doubtful that Adobe will have much luck with your specific issue - the CHM generates and it opens fine as far as they are concerned - the redirect bit was something you guys came up with - I'm pretty sure that wasn't something Adobe suggested. CHMs are such antique technology now that nobody is putting much energy into working with them except being able to create them & run them.

And I predict that sometime in the near future, they are going to cease to work any more on Windows machines.

[Irene378560618xyx]

Well Jeff. Adobe say that the format of the 2nd parameter to the htmlhelp function has changed, so the parameter we are putting in is no longer going to work. We know the call 'works' when we take out the redirect bit in that it opens up the correct help , but opens it up in a new window every time we call htmlhelp.

I have asked if there is a way to make the help come up in the same window because it seems that was the purpose of the redirect file. 

If your prediction comes true, it will be very bad news for us and our customers.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

"a way to make the help come up in the same window" - I think that's the intended purpose of the merged help concept.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

"If your prediction comes true, it will be very bad news for us and our customers." - yes, there already was lots of wailing & gnashing of teeth when CHMs stopped working on servers years ago - but eventually I suspect they just aren't going to work at all. The way to get ahead of that is to go to HTML5 as your output - it makes things so much easier to launch, manipulate & style.

[Irene378560618xyx]

THanks again for your suggestions and taking the time to post them.

[Peter Grainge]

It looks like you have read the wrong part. mergedProjects is only for frameless and responsive help. For CHMs they can all go in one folder but there has to be a parent project and its TOC will include links to the child projects.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Irene378560618xyx]

Yes, the CHMs are all n one folder and the TOC shows the links to child projects when you view it in RH2022.

I am still convinced that the problem is the redirect.xhtm file because the TH9 final chm does not give the error when started with "redirect" in the parameter. It is for this reason that I don't think the problem is the version of ieframe.dll or any corruption of the same. 

[Peter Grainge]

I have asked several times why the redirect! 

________________________________________________________
My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Irene378560618xyx]

Sorry Peter - two conversations going on at once.

I established late yesterday afternoon that without the 'redirect' in the 2nd parameter to the call to htmlhelp, the help appears coorectly and then when you click somewhere else to launch different content, that appears, but in a separate window rather than in the one that is already open.

Given that and the comment from Jeff, the purpose of the redirect seems to have been to get the help to appear in the first window that is displayed.

Is there another way to get the help content to appear like that ?

There is a suggestion that I would be better going down the merged help route.

[Peter Grainge]

See my Private Message to you. There will be a red dot over and envelope top right of the browser.

________________________________________________________

My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.

[Irene378560618xyx]

THanks. I shall be on the lookout for it but I don't see what you describe yet.

[Irene378560618xyx · Accepted solution]

I have received a lot of helpfulo comments and I also had a phone conversation with an Adobe person, who said that the 'redirect' is no longer supported.

I have received an email from Adobe asking me to mark one of the replies as correct. Since none of the replies actually solves the problem, I cannot do that.

[Peter Grainge]

See Item 12 at https://www.grainge.org/RoboHelp_Gems/RoboHelp_Gems.htm#chms

________________________________________________________
My site www.grainge.org includes many free Authoring and RoboHelp resources that may be of help.