Running RoboHelp 10 and RoboHelp 11 on the same system

[AIR-Chayah]

Background

• Windows 7, 64-bit operating system.
• Upgraded RoboHelp 10 to RoboHelp 11 this week. Upgraded my RH10 WebHelp Proj project (released with our 2.0 application) to start editing for release with 3.0 application next June .
• The upgrade did not uninstall RoboHelp 10.
  
• I work from within Visual Studio 2010 Professional. (I know that this is not a Source Control thread, but my issues are intertwined here.)
• I create WebHelp Pro (even though we are not yet publishing to RH Server, although we're working on it!).
• I check the output into Release folders in Souce Control, and the build picks up the files for installation with our application.
  

Questions

• If I need to update the 2.0 application Help, does anyone know whether I can still use RH10 to update that project? (I've posed the question to an Adobe consultant, but have not yet heard back.)
• If I can't use RH10 to update the 2.0 application Help (and have to open the 2.0 project in RH11 and, therefore, upgrade it), are there new things in RH11 that could affect the WebHelp Pro output and, therefore, affect the use of the WebHelp Pro HTM files by the application? (Our release engineer believes that, for version control purposes, I must make changes to the 2.0  project in the same RH Client used to develop it.)
  

Thanks for any help.

Carol Levine

AIR Worldwide

[Captiv8r]

AIR-Chayah wrote:

• I create WebHelp Pro (even though we are not yet publishing to RH Server, although we're working on it!).

LOL, that's very similar to saying "I've been filling my tank with Diesel because I'll be installing a Diesel engine in the future.

Cheers... Rick

[johndaigle]

Hi,Carol

First, (and to reiterate what Rick said) if you are not publishing to RoboHelp Server right now. Do NOT use WebHelp Pro. The Pro flavor is strictly for hosting on a RoboHelp Server installation.

The good news is that when and if you do decide to use RoboHelp Server, you simply take the Rh project (whether from Rh 10 or 11) and publish it with the WebHelp Pro SSL. It sounds like there is a some confusion between RoboHelp Server and Source Control. It is a common option to use RoboHelp Server and Source Control. But they are mutually exclusive. (While both may be used, they have nothing to do with one another.)

If you think about it, RoboHelp Server is output (by definition not "source")

So, you can continue using Rh 10 and 11 clients on the same computer, but as you note, you cannot open an Rh 10 project in Rh 11 because it is a one-way forward conversion (as Peter said).

As for publishing, be aware that when you move to RoboHelp Server, the publishing workflow is different. The web admin can't simply copy/paste WebHelp Pro output (from source control as you describe) to the Rh Server (or, as you said, "pick up files"). The project must be published from the RoboHelp 10/11 client directly to the Rh Server. This is because Rh Server is a database application and in order for the database to be "aware" of the new content, it must come from the RoboHelp client app (10 or 11). Also, in terms of Application Help and context sensitivity, there is a CSH API and a syntax that is used to call the Rh Server help topics from the application. This is covered in the online help. See the sub head "Access context-sensitive Help" in the Adobe RoboHelp Server 9 * RoboHelp Server Web Administrator tasks as well as Adobe RoboHelp 11 * Program Help for web pages

Thanks

John

John Daigle

Adobe Certified RoboHelp and Captivate Instructor

Evergreen, Colorado

www.showmethedemo.com

[AIR-Chayah]

Hi, Rick.

When I joined AIR in 2011, the Help author had created the project using WebHelp Pro because they were planning to move to RoboHelp Server that year! So, yes, I’ve been filling my tank with Pro for almost three years and we are only now getting ready to get approval to move ahead with RH Server this year.

For various reasons, we continued to use WebHelp Pro output (despite recommendations not to do so when I asked some questions a couple of years ago).

Cheers to you, too, Rick ☺.

Carol

[Peter Grainge]

Carol

Once upgraded you cannot open again in an earlier version without making some tweaks each time you go backwards. If you don't use the new functionality the project will likely work OK in the earlier version if you do that. That said, it is not to be recommended.

Upgrading always carries a theoretical risk but no one seems to have reported any issues caused by going from 10 to 11. I think your Release Engineer is being cautious but that's the job.

Really what you want is a 2.0 version that has not been opened in Rh11. Do you have that? If not, I think Willam's http://wvanweelden.eu site has the information you want to go backwards. Post back if not.

Obviously you will have to manually make the same changes in the 3.0 version.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[AIR-Chayah]

Peter,

Thanks for your reply.

I know that I can’t open an upgraded project in a prior version, and have never planned to do so.

We can easily get a pristine 2.0 application version from Source Control and create a local workspace to make any required changes. I just didn’t know whether, after upgrading to RH11, I would be allowed to continue to use RoboHelp 10.

Our release engineer is conservative and very concerned with change management in source control. He’s concerned that the RH11 output from an upgraded project might have something odd in it that would cause the Help to break. Perhaps he would be less concerned if we knew actually what happened during the upgrade.

At any rate, thanks again, and have a great weekend.

Carol

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

There is no published detail on exactly what happens on upgrade but to the best of my knowledge it is mostly changing internal files. It can change the HTML but apart from when Rh8 came along with a major change in formatting lists, I doubt that would affect anything. However, only Adobe can give you a definitive answer and without that, there could be a "told you so" from the Release Engineer.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[AIR-Chayah]

Update after replies from Peter, Ric, and John.

• I didn't know whether there might be an Adobe licensing issue relative to the upgrade to RH11 that would keep me from using RH10. I still haven't heard back from the Adobe consultant, but it sounds as though I can (1) open our 2.0 Help project in RH10 (where it was created) and make edits as needed, while (2) opening the upgraded project in RH11 for use in our 3.0 Help release. I will circle back with the Adobe consultant again to verify this.
• I will share all these useful replies with our release engineer and with the IT person who will help us implement the server (when we get management approval).

Thanks again, as always.

Carol

[Peter Grainge]

Yes that is what we are saying. They are two projects and if you run them in their respective versions of Rh you will be OK.

Just beware of double clicking the XPJ file as opening a project that way will always open it in the latest version.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[AIR-Chayah]

Thanks, Peter. The warning about double-clicking the XPJ file is quite useful. I always open the project from Source Control, so not usually a problem.