Use of underscores in chm filenames

Question

Hi Everyone,I recently came across the following as a result of a web search..Locationhttp://alist.adobe.co.uk/devnet/robohelp/articles/merged_help_06.htmlPotential problem highlighted with merged projects"CHM filenamesAvoid the use of underscores, the hash symbol and suchlike in the names of the CHM files you create. They have been found to cause problems with merged Microsoft HTML help. Stick with alphanumeric characters and no spaces."Has anyone experienced problems related to this and if so what exactly?I am usually led to believe that underscores in a filename is a fairly safe practice???

Peter Grainge · Accepted Answer

Hi, Author Care,Space characters in the names of Help files are known to cause problems, at least as far as merged Help collections are concerned. Hash symbols (#) are a definite no-no, too, for the reasons outlined in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article:http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319247This is true also of other characters that have special significance in Web authoring, such as the question mark. I don't believe that I've ever had problems with underscores, however. Perhaps this is a RoboHelp-specific issue.PeteIf Pete says underscores should not cause a problem, they should not. That said, with both Colum and Craig having experienced this, it looks like it could be a RoboHelp specific issue. It could also be a historic thing, who knows?If you have a burning desire to use underscores, I would say go ahead but remember this thread if you do hit problems. If there is no need to use them, then to RoboHelp users I suggest it might be something best avoided.Remember the issue is only with merged CHMs too.See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

Anonymous · Answer

I had the problem, but it appears to have gone away after I listed all files in the project in the [MERGE FILES] section of all of the help project file (.hhp). This section should list all chm files except for the one that is generated by a particular project file.

If this is not sufficient, there is another change that I made at the same time. In the Window definition. I specified the Master.chm file in the window definition in every project file.

TriPane="Master_Window_Title","Master.chm::\contents.hhc","index.hhk","topicfilename.htm","ms-its:Master.chm::hometopic.htm",,,,,0x63520,,0x84e,[139,71,1026,917],0x30000,,,,,,0

I also retained a secondary window definition for the unmerged help, although you shouldn't need it if you're just opening in context of the master table of contents and index. Here it is for comparison.

Tripane2="Slave_Help_Title","contents.hhc","index.hhk","defaultfile.htm","ms-its:Slave.chm::hometopic.htm",,,,,0x63520,,0x84e,[139,71,1026,917],0x30000,,,,,,0 !

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