WebHelp does not render properly in Internet Explorer 7

[scottnesbitt]

I've been working on a WebHelp system using Flare 5. The WebHelp system is for a Web-based application which is deployed to a Web server as a .war file.

When testing the help with development, it didn't render in Internet Explorer 7 -- all that appeared were three blank frames. However, the help did work in both Firefox and Google Chrome.

When I double click the error icon in the bottom-right corner of the Internet Explorer status bar, the error dialog box lists the following problems:

'MCGlobals' is null or not an object, in the following files:

wwhelp.htm
Glossary.htm
Skin/Navigation.htm
Skin/RecentComments.htm
Skin/TopicComments.htm
Skin/Search.htm
Skin/Index.htm
Skin/BrowseSequences.htm
Skin/Toc.htm
Skin/Toolbar.htm
Skin/Blank.htm

Here's an example of the error dialog:

webhelp_ie.png

As well, the error 'documentElement' is null or not an object appears for the following files:

Glossary.htm
Skin/RecentComments.htm
Skin/TopicComments.htm
Skin/Search.htm
Skin/Favorites.htm
Skin/Blank.htm

Searching the forums, I found a similar issue someone was having with an HTML Help file - http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... als#p54651. However, the solution to that problem, and the other solutions I've tried, haven't worked.

Has anyone run into this problem with a WebHelp file deployed to a Web server? If so, how did you solve it?

Thanks!

Scott

[LTinker68]

There can be some bad displays if you have MOTW enabled but you're hosting the help on a web server. MOTW should only be enabled if the help is being viewed on the local computer.

Do you have MOTW enabled for that output? If so, try disabling it and rebuilding it and see if that works.

[scottnesbitt]

Thanks for the reply. MOTW is turned off.

I've also tried one or two other solutions that were mentioned on the forums, like changing LoadRemote to LoadLocal in the file in the file MadCapUtilities.js.

Scott

[scottnesbitt]

MadCap support suggested that we:

make sure that the server (WebLogic is setup to send xml files with the MIME type "text/xml"

Won't have a chance to do a test until next week, though.

Scott

[siggimus]

I have the same problem with IE 8, (tested in 7 and 6 with the same results).

All frames turn up empty, and I get those error messages

Building with Flare 5.0.1, the help is running on a server, MOTW off.

Everything works like a charm in FF and Chrome, and actually IE renders projects sitting on my local machine perfectly (with MOTW off - I have never turned MOTW on anywhere).


I believe Weblogic is set up to send xml files as application/json. If that is required for other purposes, does that mean Web help won't work in IE at all?

[RamonS]

You can always install Apache on the same box using a different port for serving up WebHelp. Takes 5 minutes to set up and should solve the problem within 10.

[siggimus]

Thanks!

One of the developers on my team suspected it might also be an issue with how IE handled the .xml & also .js files, so he "added this to web.xml in the help war" (whatever that means):

<mime-mapping>
<extension>xml</extension>
<mime-type>text/xml</mime-type>
</mime-mapping>

<mime-mapping>
<extension>js</extension>
<mime-type>text/javascript</mime-type>
</mime-mapping>

That worked & I'm happy

Sharing in case it might help someone out there.

[Madcap Guru]

Were you using a Weblogic server?

[siggimus]

Yes, we use Weblogic.

[DianeP5001]

WebHelp generated from Flare 5.0.1 is not rendering properly from an Apache web server. I do NOT have MOTW enabled. What do I need to enable/disable in my WebHelp target spec to render correctly in Firefox and Chrome? Am I experiencing the "utf-8" instead of "UTF-8" problem or is there more? I've already submitted an urgent defect to MadCap asking them to fix the following:

1. The encoding type is UTF-8, not utf-8. It does make a difference. encoding="UTF-8" is how the encoding attribute should always appear.
2. If the file has the encoding="UTF-8" attribute, then the editor that saved that file must also save it as UTF-8, not ANSI.
3. UTF-8 does not use byte ordering and, therefore, should not include the Byte Order Markers (). It is not properly handled because its use is not required by the RFC. One of the JavaScript files even has it twice, once at the beginning and once more in the middle.
4. When a file includes the unnecessary UTF-8 BOM, it should probably have encoding="UTF-8" not encoding-"utf-16" (Flare.app\Resources\WebHelp\Default.flwht\Navigation.htm being one example)

Is there anything else I can try short of manually editing my output files or finding another authoring tool?

[RamonS]

You may need to configure Apache to correctly serve up UTF-8. That is fairly easy and covered in many articles on the web, here are two that sum it up nicely (in regards to content, not layout ).
http://www.i18nguy.com/markup/serving.html#tip01
http://www.seapine.com/kb/questions/138 ... ck+Pro+Web

[trent the thief]

If anyone is having this problem, PM me with your email address and I will send you the perl script we're using here to correct the problem.

[pbaker01]

We are having the same issues reported above..

Problem occurs only when war deployed on WebLogic server (ver 10.3.3) and accessed using IE. There is no probem when accessed from Firefox.
I did change the web.xml but the problem still occurs.

Thanks in advance!!

Paul


Below are the errors that we are getting using IE

Webpage error details

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; WOW64; Trident/4.0; GTB6.5; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; FDM; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; InfoPath.2; MS-RTC LM 8; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET4.0C)
Timestamp: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:48:50 UTC


Message: 'documentElement' is null or not an object
Line: 55
Char: 1
Code: 0
URI: http://localhost:7001/wnbOnlineHelp/Con ... dCapAll.js
...
...
Message: 'MCGlobals' is null or not an object
Line: 954
Char: 1
Code: 0
URI: http://localhost:7001/wnbOnlineHelp/Con ... dCapAll.js

[trent the thief]

We are having the same issues reported above..

Problem occurs only when war deployed on WebLogic server (ver 10.3.3) and accessed using IE. There is no probem when accessed from Firefox.
I did change the web.xml but the problem still occurs.

Thanks in advance!!

Paul


Below are the errors that we are getting using IE

Webpage error details

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; WOW64; Trident/4.0; GTB6.5; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; FDM; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; InfoPath.2; MS-RTC LM 8; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET4.0C)
Timestamp: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:48:50 UTC


Message: 'documentElement' is null or not an object
Line: 55
Char: 1
Code: 0
URI: http://localhost:7001/wnbOnlineHelp/Con ... dCapAll.js
...
...
Message: 'MCGlobals' is null or not an object
Line: 954
Char: 1
Code: 0
URI: http://localhost:7001/wnbOnlineHelp/Con ... dCapAll.js

The script fixes that. It's on the way.

[pbaker01]

Thanks for the script.. Worked perfectly!!!!!
BRgds/Paul

[chhum]

Not sure if this is the sane problem or not but it could be.
Using Oracle HTTP Server (which is basically Apache)
Viewing using IE 8.
MOTW is not enabled.
Mime Type looks correct. Has a line for XML like
application/xml xml xsl
There is no .htaccess file configured.

The web help renders correctly in IE 8 when viewed locally off the hard disk.

When viewed via the URL it opens an empty frameset.
IE8 shows the following errors:
Webpage error details

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; GTB5; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Timestamp: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:32:11 UTC


Message: Expected ';'
Line: 7706
Char: 34
Code: 0
URI: http://myserver/Content/SkinSupport/MadCapAll.js


Message: Expected ';'
Line: 7706
Char: 34
Code: 0
URI: http://myserver/Content/SkinSupport/MadCapAll.js


Page source looks like this
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns:MadCap="http://www.madcapsoftware.com/Schemas/MadCap.xsd" MadCap:TargetType="WebHelp" MadCap:PathToHelpSystem="../" MadCap:HelpSystemFileName="Default.xml" MadCap:RuntimeFileType="Blank" MadCap:PathToSkinFolder="../Data/Skinnon_cs_help_skin/" MadCap:InPreviewMode="False">
<head>
<title>Blank</title>
<script type="text/javascript" src="../Content/SkinSupport/MadCapAll.js">
</script>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>


Been stuck like this for days. Any help appreciated.

[trent the thief]

Hi,

1. Does it work with firefox?
2. Is the URL being served by the middleware host or the httpd?

[trent the thief]

Also, which version of Flare?

[chhum]

Using Flare 6.1.0
It does occur on both Firefox and IE.
As far as I know we're only going to the HTTP server not touching the WebLogic instance though I didn't set the enviroment up so I can't be sure.

[LTinker68]

Not sure if this is the sane problem or not but it could be.
Using Oracle HTTP Server (which is basically Apache)

Are you building WebHelp or WebHelp Plus? WebHelp should be fine on any web server, but WebHelp Plus requires Microsoft IIS.

[chhum]

Just plain WebHelp

[DurtyMat]

having the same issue. would love to get the fix.

thanks for putting in the grunt work

[aconstant]

same here. let us know of fix or workaround, if possible, please.

[psvinayram]

Hi,

For me also, getting same javascript error 'MCGlobals' is null or not an object webhelp is deployed in war file in WebLogic 10.3.3 & IE7.

Trent, Could you also send me fix?

Thank you
Vinay

[PSISoft]

I am having the same issue. Where can I get the script that Trent mentioned?

Mehnaz