unstable Frameless skins in RoboHelp 2020.6.76

Report · Dec 13, 2023

I am working with RH 2020.6.76 on Windows 10, and keep the source files in SharePoint. I have recently started having trouble with the stability of the skin templates/editor, and with the generation of outputs.

Example of the instability of the skin editor:

- change the font color of an element such as Topic Page > Breadcrumb > Label - it changed at first, but after moving off and coming back to that element it was unchanged even though the color change still showed in the Font Color box.

This is just one example, and happens frequently on most of the elements I have changed in the original Studio skin.

Output generation issues:

The frameless output generation is producing blank pages for both the index.htm and the First_Topic.htm files, which makes the help system inaccessible. I had everything working correctly, managed to publish a working output, and then checked the files in to SharePoint. When I next connected to the SharePoint files and re-generated the output, neither the index.htm or First_Topic.htm files contained the expected content. See atached files for comparison.

The following is the content of the index.htm file prior to check-in to SharePoint:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
  <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"/>
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=3, user-scalable=yes"/>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
  <meta name="version" content="2020.0.0"/>
  <title>
    Trustwave Fusion Help
  </title>
  
  <link rel="StyleSheet" href="template/Test_Frameless/layout.css" type="text/css"/>
  <link rel="StyleSheet" href="template/Test_Frameless/userstyles.css" type="text/css"/>
  <script type="text/javascript">//<![CDATA[

    gRootRelPath = ".";
    gCommonRootRelPath = ".";
  
//]]></script>
</head>

<body class="rh-BODY-wrapper">
  <div class="cookie-widget-holder" id="cookie-status-widget-holder"></div>
  <div class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-TITLEBAR-skip-content-container" id="skip-to-content"></div>
  <header role="banner" class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-TITLEBAR-container">
    <div class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-TITLEBAR-title-bar">
      <div class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-TITLEBAR-logo" id="logo-holder"></div>
      <div id="project_title" class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-TITLEBAR-title"></div>
      <div class="rh-layout-HOMEPAGE-titlebar-right-box">
        <div class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-HEADERMENU-container" id="header-menu"></div>
        <div class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-TITLEBAR-toolbar-box" id="rh-toolbar"></div>
        <div class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-SIDEBAR-container rh-layout-overlay" id="rh-rightpanel"></div>
      </div>
    </div>
    <div id="homepage_intro_tiles" class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-TITLEBAR-homepage-intro-tiles"></div>
    <div id="search_with_help_homepage" class="rh-layout-homepage-titlebar-search-with-help-homepage"></div>
    <div class="rh-layout-selectdetails" id="rh-selectdetails"></div>
  </header>
  <main class="rh-main-class" role="main">
    <div class="rh-layout-homepage-searchresults-searchresultpop" id="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-searchresultpop"></div>
    <section class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-TOC-container" id="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-TOCTILES"></section>
    <article data-region="topic" class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-TOPICAREA-container RH-LAYOUT-CENTERPANEL-topic-box"></article>
    <div id="rh-homepage"></div>
  </main>
  <footer role="contentinfo" class="RH-LAYOUT-HOMEPAGE-FOOTER-container" id="rh-footer"></footer>
  <script type="text/javascript" src="template/scripts/homepage.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
  <script src="whxdata/layoutconfig.js"></script>
  
  
    
  
    
  

  
    
  
    
          <link rel="StyleSheet" href="template/Test_Frameless/font.css" type="text/css"/>
    
  


</body></html>

The following is the index.htm generated after I'd checked-in to SharePoint:

?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head></head><body></body></html>

For now, if anyone could provide insight as to the output generation issue, that would at least let me see what the outputs look like, so that I can determine whether the instability of the skin editor is translating into the outputs as well.

Has anyone else ever encountered either of these issues?

Report · Dec 13, 2023

These are not issues that I can recall having seen reported here.

On the face of it Sharepoint seems to be a likely link and unfortunately the main supporters of the forum are not Sharepoint users. If no one comes along with anything constructive, I suggest for this one you need to go to Adobe Support. See https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your Adobe Support options. The email link tcssup@adobe.com is recommended as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including RoboHelp.

I assume you have tried a full check in and check out.

One thing you could try I guess is applying the latest 2020 update (2020.8) or even going to 2022.

________________________________________________________

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

Help others by clicking Correct Answer if the question is answered. Found the answer elsewhere? Share it here. "Upvote" is for useful posts.

Report · Dec 13, 2023

Hi Peter, thanks for your quick response!

Yes, I've done a full check-in/check-out, but to no avail. We've been using SharePoint in a multi-person team for 18 months or so now, and have run into other problems, but this is the first time with skins (although we are just getting started using them heavily, which is why I've had new issues, I'm sure).

What I don't understand is why/how the content of index.htm and First_Topic.htm is not being generated by RH? After checking the project files out and re-generating, shouldn't the content in those two topics be replaced, even if it was stripped out through the check-in/check-out process? or is there something missing or changed in the project files / skin files that allows the topics to be generated with no content?

Thanks,

Mai-Ann

Report · Dec 13, 2023

Are you using Sharepoint for both source control and hosting the published output? Could you have published your output to the same library as your source control repository? I don't use Sharepoint, but I feel like this scenario could mess things up?

Report · Dec 13, 2023

Hi there,

No, SharePoint is only for the source files. I publish to a local repo and then synch with Github as a means of delivering the output to AWS environments for our platform software.

That said, it's entirely possible that SharePoint could have messed something up in the source files; it is not a very sophisticated version control mechanism, and RoboHelp has its own issues with edited and deleted files when it comes to the check-in / check-out process.

Does the "engine" RoboHelp uses to generate its frameless outputs reside strictly in its code? or does it use code contained in the skin files to generate outputs? I've not has this problem prior to the last week or so, when I first started having "corrupted" skins. I have several skins that show up in the Skins list, but they are missing the icon type beside them and are empty when I open them. It was after this started happening when I was trying to recreate a skin I could no longer use by working with a new template, that I started having issues with the blank index.htm and First_Topic.htm files.

Mai-Ann

Report · Dec 13, 2023

If you are only using Sharepoint for source files, there shouldn't be an index.htm file to check in as that's an output only file (i.e created during the generation process).

If you were using Classic, I'd think you had accidentally generated the output in to the source folder, but this shouldn't be possible in New UI any more.

Check your Output Preset. The General > Start Page should be index.htm. Check that Output Path isn't the same folder as your source project (as I said, this shouldn't be possible in New UI, but best to check anyway). Content > Default Topic should be First_Topic.htm (based on the information you provided).

Some screenshots of your setup/file/folder/sharepoint structure might help as well (if you share these please use the Insert Photo icon to add the images inline with the text, as this makes it easier to understand.)

Report · Dec 14, 2023

I understand that you're only using SP for the source control, but wouldn't the generate process require you to check all the files out, generate, then check the project (not the output - you've explained where that goes) back in? I somehow thought that was the process when working with source control files & generating output.
The only other thing I can think of is that somehow you've got a damaged copy of RH installed and you're missing bits needed in the generation process. Did you say you had tried generating with the sample project? If so, I missed that - if it generated ok, then the problem must be in your "problem" project's files. If not, then a repair of RH is indicated.