Best way to install local responsive html5?

[Jared Hess]

Hi RHelpers!

We're using RH 2017 (build 13.0.2.344). Our company is starting to make a shift from distributing .chm files to distributing responsive HTML5 outputs. This is somewhat uncharted territory for us.

We will provide a public server-side help, but since not all our users will have an internet connection, we are also want to provide a locally installed fallback of the same output. Our product will try to access the server-side help first, but if there's no internet connection, it will open up the local help in their default browser.

Our developers want to know if there's a preferred way to install this type of local html5 output on a user's computer. We use a Wix installer for our product. They're investigating something called Heat for this local help install, but before we go that route for all our help projects, they wanted me to ask around and see what approaches others here are using and what you might recommend.

Another thing to consider. We also need to support merging other helps for different components (we call them add-ins) into our primary help. The user can choose to install or uninstall these different add-ins. Once installed, we'll install that add-ins' html5 help outputs as well. Those add-in helps need to get merged into the primary help.

Thanks in advance!

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I'm currently using an antique installer called Wise Installation Systems to grab the entire contents of my generated WebHelp folder and squash it down to create a self-extracting executable. When that's run, it checks for the location where the software is installed and unpacks itself in a folder into the software's installed location.

[Ioana_St]

We use something similar to what Jeff described. We have a help MSI and an application MSI. You install the application, then the help. When the help MSI is launched, it checks the registry to see where the application is installed and then deploys the help files in app_root/documentation.