Robohelp 8 Search not working

[Guest]

I upgraded a project from Robohelp 7 to Robohelp 8.  Before upgrading, the Search function in the published Robohelp worked fine.  Since upgrading, it finds things but not all of the time.  For example, I search for "lost" which I know is in a few of the topics.  Nothing is found.  Does anyone have an idea why this wouldn't be working?

Thanks!

[willnrk]

Again, understood....my world came crashing down today when I opened Robohelp and everything went south.  Sorry, just trying to get my head above the water.

[Craig_Haiss]

There are several reasons why people might want to use the fix (editing OdinStemDictionary.XML) instead of marking the Enable Search Substring checkbox.

1. The Enable Search Substring checkbox can give your users misleading results. For example, searching on "age" will give you hits for "image" and "page." Your user could waste time looking through all those hits when there really isn't a single instance of "age" (as a separate word) anywhere in your help.

Remember, the purpose of Enable Search Substring isn't to include missing words in the results. It was meant to allow searching on parts of words.

2. The number of files in the search data folders in your output can increase drastically. If you're shipping for a CD, space might be limited.

3. Performance issues (RAM) could cause the search to run slowly if you have a very large project, or are merging many projects.

Diana's issues with incomplete results are a bit unsettling, but I think we're getting closer. I'll holler if I come up with anything more efficient than editing those package*.xml files manually.

Diana, thanks for sharing that workaround!

[Peter Grainge]

CRAIG

Thanks for confirming the file is being used even when in theory it should not be.

I think your post re why people might not want to use the stem search was in response to Leanne. Diana has already given her reason which is to do with source control.

DIANA

Not sure without reading the thread again if you have tried another fix I found for someone, already covered in the thread. That was to define the project language us English UK (US might also work, not sure). It doesn't affect what users will see in topics and it did fix the problem for one person. It would be useful to know what you find trying that.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[Peter Grainge]

In a simple test using the words reported

lost
override
data
stolen
zero

Craig's fixed worked for all of them.

If you don't want stem searching, I guess you could remove all the words from the file and try that.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[Guest]

I've tried several tests.

1. Removed all entries for "override" in OdinStemDictionary.xml. Regenerated WebHelp. Searched for "override." Got 40 topic results. Edited package_6.xml as before. Searched for "override." Got 53 topic results.

2. Completely removed the OdinStemDictionary.xml file from the English folder. Regenerated WebHelp. Searched for "override." Got 40 topic results. Edited package_6.xml. Searched for "override." Got 53 topic results.

3. Changed language to English UK (with OdinStemDictionary.xml still removed from English folder). Regenerated WebHelp. Searched for "override." Got 40 topic results. Edited package_6.xml. Searched for "override." Got 53 topic results.

So far, editing the xml file is the only method that works. OdinStemDictionary.xml doesn't seem to have any affect at all.  At the moment, I'm working only in a test environment but I'm curious why deleting the OdinStemDictionary file didn't cause any problems.

Thanks,

Diana

[Guest]

I just don't understand why all of this should be done to make Robohelp search correctly???

Erika J. Pasarela

Technical Writer

Conde Nast Publications

(212)790-6639

[Peter Grainge]

Erika

Because there is a bug. All software has bugs. This one has been reported hopefully by everyone who has encountered it. Don't rely on one person as that doesn't tell Adobe it is a big problem. It will get fixed but meantime you don't have to do any of this, unless you want search to work.

Be grateful Craig has found what is looking like a good solution that is not difficult.

The more people who report a bug or request a feature, the more likely it is to be actioned. Please follow this link.

http://www.Adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=38

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

pasaree wrote:

I just don't understand why all of this should be done to make Robohelp search correctly???

Likely you are seeing the result of a few, ummm, fixes put into place. It never ceases to amaze me how everyone jumps right for the search and totally ignores any indexing. Sure search is nice if you know exactly what you are looking for. But how often does it happen that you search and immediately discover what you want? For me and the great and all powerful Google, almost never. Usually I have to hunt through link after link to find one that closely matches what I wanted to find to begin with. Once in a blue moon it finds what I want straight away, but not very often.

Note that I'm not claiming search shouldn't work and display all there is. But you are relying on a bunch of JavaScript routines to scan through Indexes of search words to find what you want.

I tend to think of Search as being like a war zone. You have one house with bad folks in the middle of a big city. So you drop a nuclear bomb because you cannot tell which house has the bad folks inside. But I think of an Index as I might a guided missle. I can hone in on exactly what I need without having to wade through all the rubble to sort whether I got what I intended to get.

I've been building help systems since 1992. I learned the hard way how useful an Index is and why it's useful. I believe help systems have their roots in a continuation of that thought pattern. I think so many folks have ignored it and hammered on Searching that so much development has been focused on creating a better mouse trap that you are seeing instead a worse mouse trap as a result. But that's just me and I'm a dinosaur.

Just some thoughts from the edge... 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

[Craig_Haiss]

Hi, Diana.

You stated that "OdinStemDictionary.xml doesn't seem to have any affect at all." However, you were getting 0 hits before editing (or completely deleting) this file, right?

We may be looking at two separate issues.

1. OdinStemDictionary prevents you from searching on some common terms like "data" and "lost."

2. RoboHelp seems to not show all results because of the way it organizes terms in the package*.xml files.

Diana, do you see issue #2 with any terms that were never in OdinStemDictionary.xml in the first place? If so, these two issues probably aren't related.

[Guest]

Hi Craig,

See my responses inline.

<You stated that "OdinStemDictionary.xml doesn't seem to have any affect at all." However, you were getting 0 hits before editing (or completely deleting) this file, right?>

DG: No. Before editing OdinStemDictionary.xml, I received 7 topic results when searching on "override" in WebHelp. After removing all instances of "override" from the OdinStemDictionary.xml file, I received 40 results. After completely deleting the OdinStemDictionary.xml file, I received 40 results.  After editing package_6.xml, I received 53 results.

<We may be looking at two separate issues.

1. OdinStemDictionary prevents you from searching on some common terms like "data" and "lost.">

DG: You're probably right that it's two different issues. Editing OdinStemDictionary allows searching of "data" but it didn't completely resolve the problem of searching for "override." So, it does have an effect!

<2. RoboHelp seems to not show all results because of the way it organizes terms in the package*.xml files.

Diana, do you see issue #2 with any terms that were never in OdinStemDictionary.xml in the first place? If so, these two issues probably aren't related.>

DG: I can't answer this because I'm not sure how to identify a term that was never in OdinStemDictionary.

After all this discussion, I definitely feeled better-informed. Thanks to all for your comments!

[Peter Grainge]

Diana

Is there a reason for not trying the dictionary change? Just curious.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[Guest]

I have reverted back to using the OdinStemDictionary.xml with the following edits:

1. Added the line: <word org="override" stem="overrid"/>

2. Deleted the two lines: <word org="data" stem="datum"/> and <word org="datum" stem="data"/>

Results:

1. Get 40 hits when searching WebHelp for "override."  In order to get the full 54 results, I need to also edit package_6.xml. I would prefer that users get all possible results when searching for this term.

2. Can search for "data" in Webhelp. This is a worthwhile effect of editing OdinStemDictionary.

Does that answer your question?

Diana

[Peter Grainge]

No. See my post dated 14 September in this thread. One person got no hits on Zero, then I changed the dictionary used in his project and suddenly it worked.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[Captiv8r]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Oddly enough, if I have an Index term it faithfully presents all topics I've indexed. Every time!

Strange.... Very strange....

[Craig_Haiss]

Just wanted to say thanks to Peter and Diana for testing!

[megandoddlittle]

Hello all,

I think this might be a different topic, but I'll post it here. I am newer to RoboHelp, and using a trial to see how well verion 8 handles a framemaker 9 conversion to webhelp. Why does my generated search for webhelp populate with these terms? When I generate a chm file, this works fine, but not for webhelp. ( I want a standard search that users can type terms in and retrieve a list of related topics.)

[megandoddlittle]

Never mind folks. Looks like it was simply an ActiveX issue.