MadCap Software Forums

Hi, John (seer),

when I evaluated Flare in May 2006 I did not spot that FTS was missing for recursively nested CHMs.

I think the thing is that no tool supports FTS across recursively nested CHMs, because the HTML Help format itself does not support this facility. So, although you can recursively ...

Hi, again,

Unfortunately, the compression level in HTML Help files isn't customizable at all. This is another of those examples in which functionality that was available in the old WinHelp (.hlp) format was dropped from HTML Help.

Edited to add: if the size of your help files is an issue — and ...

Hi, Elizabeth,

You may be able to compress your help file a little more by recompiling it with KeyTools, which is available from here:

http://www.keyworks.net/keytools.htm

This is what KeyTools' help file says about the recompile feature:

The compression that HTML Help provides for .chm or ...

Hi, Scott,

I believe that you must be an administrator to run regsvr32 on Vista. Can you try the following?


On the Start menu, click All Programs and then click Accessories .
Right-click Command Prompt , and then click Run as Administrator on the context menu.
Type regsvr32 path_to /itcc.dll ...

Hi,

Am I right to conclude that...:

"The solution is to create a HHP file for the master project, whose [MERGE FILES] section identifies every CHM file at all levels.
Put that in a decompiled copy of the Master CHM, then re-compile that through FAR/HTML Help Workshop.
The CHM files must all be ...

The MSXML Core Services seems to already have been updated to version 6.0 Service Pack 2. The reference I see in the Control Panel is http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954459. The update seems to be from around 11 November 2008. Is that the same version that you have?

That's more recent than my ...

Hi, seer,

Flare (whether v2.5 or v4) does not support Search on CHM Help files nested to more than 2 levels.

Yes, but strictly speaking it's the HTML Help format itself that doesn't support this facility.

I have FAR v4.3 and HHW v1.31 and can open and edit the topmost CHM's HHC file.
However I ...

Hi, again,

Perhaps you need to upgrade the Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) on the client PC. The latest version is 6.0, I believe, which was delivered with Windows XP SP3. Use Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs to determine which version you have.

Do other help files on the client PC ...

Hi, Andrew,

I agree that there shouldn't be any problem with IE6. I think that all versions of IE from IE5 onwards have had XML capability.

Does this article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base help?

"XML page cannot be displayed" error message when you use Money Help

I'd also recommend checking ...

And Flare doesn't let me enter a target name.

If Flare doesn't permit you to nominate a target window for a Related Topics or ALink hyperlink then it may worth submitting a feature request . The HTML Help ActiveX control can accept a window name as a parameter for both of these commands.

And ...

Hi, jheidle,

Several like this: The HTML tag \"ç×sÿ8çÌœ™Ì™Ì$i“N?﯒œsæ9Ïù13ß<Ïsž¯\"¥D¡Þ— ( u@Ð]Q...\" is not a valid HTML tag (it does not begin with an alphanumeric character).

You'll typically get this error message if the folder path down to your HTML topic ...

Hi, Debbie,

I think this is happening because only the "Deleting destinations" topic contains the level 1 "deleting" keyword. If you were to add this keyword to the two other topics then, when the user double-clicks it in the Index tab, a Topics Found dialog box listing all three topics should ...

Hi, Marie-Claire,

Yes, those links that aren't just simple <a href="url"> hyperlinks are typically using Microsoft's HTML Help ActiveX control. You can set a number of different commands and parameters on this control to jump to other topic files (ALink, KLink, and Related Topics commands), open ...

Hi, again,

I think there's something slightly odd about the results that you're getting when you search for enter prov . This means "find all topics that contain both the words 'enter' and 'prov' (or minor grammatical variations of these words)". Therefore, I wouldn't expect this search to find ...

Hi, Rachel,

Is the search function completely broken, or can you get it to return some results when you search for single words or other search criteria?

Which options have you selected at the bottom of the Search tab, if any, and are you enclosing the search string in quotation marks (which ...

Hi, Inge,

It's also not possible with the Related Topics or Concept Links - or am I overlooking it?

This could be one of those instances where options that are available in tools like HTML Help Workshop aren't exposed in Flare. Perhaps that's understandable in this case, as even Microsoft's ...

Hi, wijnand,

First we will "fix" the TOC so that we remove this layer of unnecesary booklets.

You may want to try editing the master TOC file with FAR, available from http://helpware.net/FAR/index.html . This doesn't suffer from the same bug as HTML Help Workshop, which adds the Include ...

Hi, Marie-Claire,

Personally, I'd be inclined to leave the links as they are, as any problem that affects your help file will also affect the other help files on your users' computers. For example, many Microsoft help files use the same HTML Help ActiveX control for linking, so these files too ...

Hi (and welcome),

This typically happens when there is a mismatch between the language of your help file and that of the computer on which you're viewing it — for example, when you view a German help file in French Windows, or a UK English help file in US English Windows. Microsoft says that this ...

Hi, Inge,

Can you use an alternative method to link between the topics, such as a Related Topics link or Concept (ALink) link? These methods let you nominate a window in which to display the target topic, which I don't believe is possible with Shortcut controls. See:

http://forums.madcapsoftware ...

Hi, Seer,

Yes, this is a known limitation of the HTML Help format. The index and search functions don't work recursively across more than one level of help file (but the TOC function does). See "Summing Up" in this page:

http://helpware.net/htmlhelp/how_to_merge.htm

So, suppose that you merge ...

Hi, Paul,

Only the master .chm file needs to have a binary index (and a non-binary TOC). The slaves can have either binary or non-binary indexes and TOCs.

In other words, in a merged help collection, the settings in the master file always override those in the slaves.

Pete

Here's another thread that describes the same issue:

http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... f=8&t=7563

Pete

Hi, i-tietz,

You can use a Shortcut control to open a second HTML Help file. When adding the control to a topic, you specify hh.exe as the name of the program that you want to call, and you specify the file names of the target .chm file and target topic file as additional parameters that you want ...

Hi, Rachel,

This appears to be a bug in the HTML Help viewer for which there is no workaround. Sorry.

You'll notice the same problem in all other HTML Help files, so this isn't a Flare-specific issue.

Pete