Robohelp 9 WebHelp does not display in Google Chrome. Help!

[kregerj]

This may have already been answered, but WebHelp will not display at all on my Google chrome browser. I have RoboHelp 9, and using Google Chrome v.13.0.782.112.m. I checked my other browser, IE8, and WebHelp displays perfectly on there. Any suggestions?

[Peter Grainge]

Are you viewing the help from a local drive or a webserver? See Snippets on my site.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[kregerj]

I'm viewing webhelp from my local drive. I heard you can change a setting in the Chrome command line, in order to view files on local folder. Do you know how I can do this? I'm on XP pro OS.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Check out Bill Swallow's blog post (techcommdude) I referenced.

[kregerj]

Thank you, Jeff. I'll check it out.

[Peter Grainge]

Snippet 130 on my site shows the actual string for calling webhelp locally.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[kregerj]

It worked. Very simple fix, and appreciate your help. I did not want to go back to IE for my project. Now, let's hope the folks at Google will fix this problem.

Thanks again for your superb help.

[Peter Grainge]

Google have made it very clear they do not intend changing anything. It does only affect locally installed webhelp but nonetheless that is a pain as many webhelp outputs are installed locally.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[kregerj]

Ok, now I have another problem: When I generate and view the WebHelp output, everything appears fine, EXCEPT the webhelp screen does not have the 'previous' and 'next' screen navigation arrows (which should  appear in the horizontal box above the TOC.I then tried viewing in WebHelp Pro, and though the arrows now appear, they do not work. Is there a setting for this? Or is this another one of those Chrome issues?

[Captiv8r · Accepted solution]

Hi there

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with their function?

Click here to view

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[kregerj]

It worked, sort of. I added the browsing sequence, clicked the box to enable browse sequence, and yes, the arrows are now there. BUT, they don't work from WebHelp. Interestingly, the arrows appear AND work perfectly in WebHelp Pro output. What gives?

[kregerj]

Nevermind. I created a new single source layout, deleted the old one, and now everything works as it should. Thanks so much for your excellent tutorial on the browse sequence editor.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Versions of Chrome starting last summer busted all forms of local WebHelp (HTM or HTML files) to plug a "security hole" - they are unwilling to fix it. Your only workaround (provided you don't want to move your files to a web server (real or fake)) is to modify the Chrome shortcut to launch with --allow-file-access-from-files in the command line. See this blog post about the issue: http://techcommdood.com/techcommdood/chromewebhelp-issue-update-with-thoughts-from-a-hat-vendor/

[SpectrumCNC]

My issue is a bit different.  Latest Google Chrome 14.0.835.186 running on Windows 7 Pro (x64)   After inserting the string "--allow-file-access-from-files"  string to the Chrome Shortcut. we launch our WebHelp system (running on the local PC)  like this  file:///C:/Multi-DNC/program/webhelp/multi-dnc.htm and get this:

This system is generated using RoboHelp 7.0.3.1   The Multi-DNC Help project topics are fine, but there are (8) other embedded Help systems.  If you click on their intial topics, the sub topics appear and work correctly.  When the TOC topic compressed, the

"Loading, click here to cancel" reappears.  Will this work correctly in an updated version of RoboHelp?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I don't think it's got anything to do with RH; I think it's just spinning away trying to load the other content. How does it behave in other browsers?

[SpectrumCNC]

IE 6,7, 8, 9, Firefox 3.xx, Opera, Safari, Android browsers - all OK.  The issue is just in Google Chrome.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

What happens if you take one of the sample projects and create WebHelp for Chrome - does it have the same issue?

[SpectrumCNC]

My RoboHelp 7.0.3.1 does not have that feature.  But maybe that is the answer, if I update to the RH9 will this problem be resolved?  Do you use multiple embedded Help files in one system  in RH9 with Chrome?  If so do you have to compile a special Chrome version?  And have different versions for other browsers?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

You could try out the trial version on another machine with a copy of your project and see if makes any difference. I don't do multiple help files within my WebHelp.

[Peter Grainge]

JEFF

You are talking about creating WebHelp for Chrome. WebHelp is just that, it is not written for any specific browser so I'm not sure what you mean.

SPECTRUMCNC

Chrome was not supported in your version of RoboHelp and your version of RoboHelp was not supported on Windows 7. I think Jeff's suggestion to try this all out on a separate machine using the trial version of RoboHelp 9 is the way to go.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

No Peter, I was just suggesting that he try RH9 to see if it had any impact on the project when he tried it with Chrome. Frankly, I was suspicious that it was a RH issue at all - if RH9 had no effect, then the issue was likely to be something in Chrome. If it did fix it, then it's a RH7 issue.

BTW - I wasn't aware that any version of Chrome was supported - in which version did that change?

[Peter Grainge]

Chrome is supported in 9. I think the whole problem is the versions of RoboHelp and Windows.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

I just talked to a support engineer and they told me Chrome was not supported in RH9. I tried installing HM2GO but I am not sure how to form the URL, since my WebHelp index file is local (///file:C:/ etc.)

Any ideas?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Are you just trying to test it? If so, just invoke Chrome with the -local_file_access argument; or you can install a freebie local webserver to place the help file on.

[Guest]

I tried calling the index file using Chrome with the --allow-file-access-from-files argument but the frame contents still will not load. I was able to view it with a freebie local webserver, but that won't work for our customers looking to view help files installed with the product, will it?

Thanks for everyone's help