.CHM deprecated?

This forum is for all Flare issues related to the Microsoft HTML Help target.
This target produces "CHM" files in the output.
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HelenF
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Joined: Tue May 18, 2010 2:24 am

.CHM deprecated?

Post by HelenF »

Hi, our developers have told us that the .chm format has been deprecated and want us to start producing our Help in another format. Is there a generally accepted successor to the .CHM format?

Thanks
Helen
NorthEast
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Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:33 am

Re: .CHM deprecated?

Post by NorthEast »

In short, no, there isn't a generally accepted successor or replacement to CHM.

Using Flare, your most likely option is to use a browser-based output like HTML5 help (which works fine locally or on a server).
This can be viewed with any web browser, or the app might have its own integrated browser control to display the help.

You can also produce DotNetHelp in Flare (like Flare's own help), but that requires installing a viewer so it isn't that convenient.
phriend_o_phlair
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Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2013 6:05 am

Re: .CHM deprecated?

Post by phriend_o_phlair »

Hi Helen. We just went though the same thing. We opted to go with standard WebHelp over the newer HTML5 WebHelp due to the fact that our customer base may not have the modern browsers necessary to view the slick HTML5 output. It should be easy to switch over in another year or two, though.

We didn't go with Dot Net Help due to developer time constraints as well as the viewer redistributable that Dave mentioned. Also, I found that the forums are really active and robust on the Web output side, which is great! Nothin' you can't get help with here! Hardly... :wink:

Couple of things:
  • Consider how you'll do help versioning. With the .chm, you'll probably have a super-accurate help file being built every night, or week, or whatever. With WebHelp, you have the advantage of being able to deploy at will, without being tethered to product releases. But you will need to figure out how you're going set up your help site/directories. I have a lot more to say there if you have questions. Our devs created an awesome dynamic thing to adjust the help calls dynamically for major/minor releases.
  • Consider the user's browser caching and your hosting expiry specs. Certain things get cached (like the table of contents with standard webhelp) so you'll want to know how to handle this if your system will be changing a lot.
  • Consider your deployment processes and plan carefully!
  • Consider traffic and server demands. We set our help site up on a subdomain to allow us to move the site around easier if there was a need to put it on a faster server or something.
  • Consider tracking your help usage via tracking code in your master page. We opted not to get Pulse because we have no need for all the social stuff.
Good luck! :D
HelenF
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Joined: Tue May 18, 2010 2:24 am

Re: .CHM deprecated?

Post by HelenF »

Thanks both. We already publish other documentation as HTML5 so the server setup is already done. It's looking like we'll make this another HTML5 deliverable.

Cheers
Sharpras
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Joined: Fri May 05, 2006 10:17 am
Location: Redmond, WA

Re: .CHM deprecated?

Post by Sharpras »

I am interested in what Dave Lee had to say:
... HTML5 help (which works fine locally or on a server)
How is that done?! If the Help menu points to a company web server hosting the Web-Help, how can it open locally if the internet is not connected/available?

We have an application that customers use both in an office (internet is available) and on the production floor where there is no internet connection.

Thanks,
Roger
NorthEast
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Re: .CHM deprecated?

Post by NorthEast »

Sharpras wrote:I am interested in what Dave Lee had to say:
... HTML5 help (which works fine locally or on a server)
How is that done?! If the Help menu points to a company web server hosting the Web-Help, how can it open locally if the internet is not connected/available?

We have an application that customers use both in an office (internet is available) and on the production floor where there is no internet connection.
The original question was about CHMs, so I was just making the point that HTML5 can work from either a local file system or a server (which CHMs can't).

As for your question, it's pretty straightforward to handle that in your application - your developers will need to test (ping) your online help on the server, and if it cannot connect then just open the locally installed help instead.
Sharpras
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Posts: 138
Joined: Fri May 05, 2006 10:17 am
Location: Redmond, WA

Re: .CHM deprecated?

Post by Sharpras »

Right. Thanks.
And of course, the less elegant method, putting both commands in the Help drop-down menu and have the customer choose.
vola_newbie2
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Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:53 am

Re: .CHM deprecated?

Post by vola_newbie2 »

Hi,

Thanks for your replies and comments, this helped me a lot.
I wanted to get rid of that old chm too but it is not possible.

We document a Microsoft Excel Add-in and if you want to embed your help in Excel, you must have a chm output :-(
If anyone has another solution to embed help in Excel, please let me know !
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