Skin not applied when clicking hyperlinks in Frameless output displayed in iframe

[robertp10792544]

Using RoboHelp 2020.8.34, I have supplied a help project as a Frameless output to software developers who want to insert it into their app inside an iframe. This displays perfectly when navigating through the topics using the table of contents. However, there are numerous hyperlinks to other topics within the text, and when these are clicked, the correct topic is displayed but without the skin being applied (all formatting is lost and the layout (TOC, search bar, etc.) also disappears). According to the developers, something is adding an instruction '?rh_skin=false' to the hyperlink URL.
I've tried creating a brand new project and get the same result, and I noticed the same thing in one of the example projects supplied with the software. Can anyone please tell me, is there a fundamental problem with this scenario, or am I missing something? 

[Jeff_Coatsworth · Accepted solution]

I'd be testing creating one of the other Responsive HTML5 outputs to see how the links respond - if they act the way you expect, then it's got to be something in the Frameless Preset that is impacting it.
You might also test using a download of RH2022 (updated to Patch 2) with a copy of your project to see how it responds with a new output preset. 

[robertp10792544]

Many thanks Jeff. Yes I think that was the issue - even when I created a very simple project with three topics and some hyperlinks, the iframe was causing an issue with the Frameless output preset. I guess the clue is in the name! I have moved to using a responsive output instead which seems to have solved the issue.

[Amebr]

I think it would be worth creating a ticket with Adobe about the Frameless behaviour, as that is the output they seem to be putting most development effort in to (and offers much easier customisation options than responsive.

You can request features and report issues here: https://tracker.adobe.com/

Post the item number in the discussion so people can easily vote if they want the same functionality.

[Peter Grainge]

I queried this with Adobe and this is their response.

This is intentional behavior. This is to avoid skin showing up in hyperlinks popover, since we use iframe to display the hyperlink popover, we hide the skin when topic is opened in an iframe.
But this behavior is only when you open the topic from within text content, since only there hyperlink popover would be present. That is why it works on toc and other places but not on the text content.

Currently I can't think of any work around this issue.

Nonetheless, they have suggested to log a feature request. Please follow this link to report bugs or request new features. https://tracker.adobe.com. Post the link to your bug report / feature request in this thread and others can vote for it. The more people who do so, the higher it gets prioritised.

________________________________________________________

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

[Amebr]

Hmm, that would make more sense if the OP was using hyperlink popup windows, except they aren't. I wonder if Adobe couldn't name their iframe and check if the link is opening in that named iframe before applying the "rh_skin=false" tag.

I'll vote if you post the bug link as displaying the entire help in your own iframe is not a new concept. 🙂

[robertp10792544]

Thank you @Amebr  and @Peter Grainge for your support and advice. I will log a feature request as you suggest. The lack of customisation options for the Responsive output is a headache for me as my client wants the original formatting I had for the Frameless output and I can't recreate it! If it's possible to make the Frameless output more flexible with respect to iFrames then that would be a big help, and it sounds like it might help others as well. 

[robertp10792544]

The link to the request is: RH-11781 | Tracker (adobe.com)

[Peter Grainge]

Responsive was RoboHelp's first offering that gave an output where the layout would change according to what it was being viewed on. Google didn't work well with it for users hosting their output on the web, that was because frames were used. The customisation was more than had been offered before but as always, give people something they like and they want more.

Adobe put the two things together and gave frameless with the greater customisation options. Because they can offer more features in frameless, I can't see them going back to do any more development in responsive outputs.

Point out the extra features to your client and maybe try doughnuts. 🙂

________________________________________________________

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