scrolling web page

[doc_guy]

Has anybody been able to capture a scrolling web page in Capture? I can't figure it out and wondered if anybody has pointers on making it work...

When I try to do the capture, I get a red outline around the screen object that will be captured, and regardless of whether I click on the application itself or on the Firefox tab that has the scrolling page, I just get what I can see on the screen. It doesn't scroll down and capture the \"hidden\" stuff.

And yes, I am using the \"Capture Window with Auto Scroll\" option from the Capture menu.

[programzeta]

I don't think it works with Firefox. I did get it working with IE7, though. I don't have IE6 on this machine or I'd test with that too...

Testing a little more, it seems to work with Windows Explorer. My guess is it will work with anything Microsoft and probably anything that uses the .Net Framework, though that's just a theory ;)

[RamonS]

I've tried it with various applications including Flare and I could never get it to work.

[programzeta]

With a little further testing it doesn't seem to work in XP at all. Quite puzzling...

I guess this is one of Microsoft's reasons for upgrading to Vista? o.o?

[RamonS]

No, that is one of the reasons to ask MadCap when a new version of Capture comes out that finally does what the current version promises.
By all gods there may be, don't buy Vista! Vista sucks! Vista is the worst piece of software that I ever had to endure using...well, trying to use. I can't understand the people who willingly pay money for this stinking pile of garbage. In comparison, Capture is to be considered flawless.

[doc_guy]

Should this issue be listed in the knowledge base as a known issue?

[SteveS]

With a little further testing it doesn't seem to work in XP at all. Quite puzzling...

I guess this is one of Microsoft's reasons for upgrading to Vista? o.o?

Much as enjoy Vista (Seriously, though, it does have some strong points) I can tell you it doesn't work under Vista, either.

I have a recollection that when I first used Capture it did work - not sure if it's something that a service pack/ update for Windows has broken or if it was the move to version 2 of Capture.

Bug report?

[Richard Ferrell]

I have logged it with our Developers..


Thanks guys..

[RamonS]

Which strong points does Vista have? It is bloated, slow, doesn't run a lot of software, is excessively expensive, is a resource hog, uses insane amounts of drive space, and after switching off eye candy and annoyances does exactly the same as XP...just by 1/3 slower. Oh, and the DRM and license police doesn't allow you to use your hardware the way you want. Unfortunately, I have to do QA on Vista, really makes me hate my job at times. If Vista is that great, how come that one year later less than 1% of the business desktops run Vista? Especially since it is the most secure Windows ever with consistent security patches on every second Tuesday of the month.
So, what are the strong points that would let one ignore all these deficiencies? Maybe you got a different Vista....

[SteveS]

Which strong points does Vista have? It is bloated, slow, doesn't run a lot of software, is excessively expensive, is a resource hog, uses insane amounts of drive space, and after switching off eye candy and annoyances does exactly the same as XP...just by 1/3 slower. Oh, and the DRM and license police doesn't allow you to use your hardware the way you want. Unfortunately, I have to do QA on Vista, really makes me hate my job at times. If Vista is that great, how come that one year later less than 1% of the business desktops run Vista? Especially since it is the most secure Windows ever with consistent security patches on every second Tuesday of the month.
So, what are the strong points that would let one ignore all these deficiencies? Maybe you got a different Vista....

Ease of networking (I travel a lot and networking is not a set and forget for me).
The search/run from the start menu (start typing an application's name and it's the top of the start menu - no mre navigating)
Native DVD burning (much as I like Nero it can conflict with Daemon Tools)
The UAC (when you run on the principle of least priveledge it makes life a lot easier)

Some of the eye candy is handy - such as window preview when hovering over a minimised application and the flip 3D thing.

Some of the sidebar gadgets are good, too. I know you can get similar from 3rd party vendors, but it's nice to have them as part of the OS.

I remember the release of 95 - it too had driver problems. You can't blame MS when 3rd party vendors don't provide drivers for their hardware to operate with the latest OS. Especially when its been released for a year, not to mention the beta versions that have been around for close on 3 years. That's like blaming GM because Firestone doesn't make a tyre for a car they released last year.

[RamonS]

The driver API specification was released not even a month before Vista hit the shelves and as far as I know it was changed twice since then. No wonder why there are no drivers. Microsoft doesn't make it easy.
In regards to networking, I don't have any issues in XP with networking on my laptop. I don't count in that I chose to use fixed IPs at home as I yet have to come across a DHCP server that really works reliably (Microsoft's doesn't).
Ah, DVD burning, I rather have an application where I can set options, but I guess it is in the way that one uses it.
UAC is the worst crap ever. I get UACs on Vista for the dumbest things like changing the screen font size - which on Vista requires also a reboot. If you want an OS that really separates what user accounts can do go with Linux. The UAC prompts are everywhere for every little piece of crap, but not for things like several delete operations. Since UAC is popping up for pretty much anything (and in some cases two or three times for the same action) it makes itself weak as users just click on Yes as soon as that thing pops up. UAC is also pretty dumb as one cannot set rules as to what is to be warned for and what isn't. Besides that, surveys show that UAC is the most turned off new feature of Vista. There are also bugs with UAC, especially when uninstalling applications. Any application, including those from Microsoft, are listed as from an \"unknown vendor\", which usually is supposed to ring alarm bells. That works OK for installations when the software manufacturers shell out several hundred bucks to get \"UAC certified\" by Microsoft. UAC is nothing more than a cash machine and a distributor of needless fear. I can't see any improvement in regards to security as the ultimate decision is with the user. Vista and UAC do not block obvious, harmful processes, the user has to do it. Also, several system processes run under full admin rights, so even if they do something bad due to hacks, virii or something the like you won't see the UAC as these processes are considered to be trusted.
Yea, the flip 3D thing, works fine even for apps and desktop OS entirely in 2D.
And the sidebar gadgets, the reason for people to pay up to get the Ultimate version. Unfortunately, other than the ones that came with Vista there are no new gadgets from Microsoft and based on what Microsoft claims there won't be any more. They did release a few as betas, but they are either useless or crash.

And in regards to your analogy, there are other tire makers than Firestone. There isn't any other x86 desktop OS monopoly besides Microsoft with Windows. And it is GM to blame when they don't provide specs on time to make the tires.

So, yea, the big achievement of Vista is eye candy. Took only five years to make that happen. Vista is a dud.

[SusanL]

I'm bumping this back up to the top. I have version 3.0.16 of Capture and it STILL does not capture scrolling pages in IE (my version is 7.0.5). My operating system is XP Professional, Version 2002, Service Pack 3.

I'm new to Madcap, having come from an Author-IT, Camtasia and Snag-IT environment. I chose Author-IT for my previous company because it was the only single-sourcing product at the time.

I started a job with a new company this week, and suggested Madcap Flare as a less expensive alternative to Author-IT. It also seems to be the HAT of choice these days, and I wanted my new company to have a commonly used tool. And the Madpak bundle seemed to be a good replacement for all three tools.

So far I like Flare, but Capture is falling short of my expectations. Luckily, SnagIt is inexpensive. I haven't worked a lot with Mimic yet, but I am hoping that I will like it as well as Camtasia.

I see this issue was logged with the developers early this year. Any timeframe on when it will be fixed?

Thanks,

Susan

[RamonS]

Welcome to the forums.

RoboHelp is around since forever and always was single source. I don't know how far back the decision for AuthorIT was, but it must have been then at least 10 years past if not longer....not that it matters anymore.

MadCap usually does not comment on when feature X or bug fix 1234 will be available. They don't do that to be nasty, but out of experience that if something comes up and they can't make that date people start knocking down their doors. And it doesn't add extra pressure to rush a bad fix out on that day and then have to patch the patch later.

I, too, wish that Capture at some point soon has the many features that SnagIt has as well. Given that Capture as well as Mimic are fairly new kids on the block the development is quite impressive. One has to keep that in mind when comparing it to a product that is around for years longer and thus had more time available to be developed. And Mimic is likely more comparable to RoboDemo/Captivate than Camtasia, but hopefully it, too, will at some point soon incorporate more features.

I think you will find yourself using all the tools as Capture and Mimic have features that are not available from the other tools and vice versa. So it will be possible to make screen captures using SnagIt at times and then insert them into Capture (now that Capture knows where the clipboard is), then use the result to include it into Flare.
Since there is no single tool that does it all and does it well I use a mix of tools myself picking out the strengths of each. I recommend you do the same.

[SusanL]

Welcome to the forums.

RoboHelp is around since forever and always was single source. I don't know how far back the decision for AuthorIT was, but it must have been then at least 10 years past if not longer....not that it matters anymore.

Thank you for welcoming me to the forum. Not to get into a flame war on HAT tools, but there are different levels of single sourcing, and Author-IT does it exceedingly well at a high level, and Flare seems to also do it well. Single-sourcing is not just taking a help file and spitting it out as a manual or vice-versa, which is what I recall RoboHelp doing. The XML files make the true difference, and in Author-IT I could reuse information down to the paragraph level (if I wanted to) in different topics.

To be fair, it's been about 8 years since I last worked in a RoboHelp environment, but at the time I knew it fairly well. My company used FrameMaker for the print output, and I liked both tools, although keeping them updated with the same information was a pain. When I joined my previous company in 2005, I was the first and sole technical writer, so I was allowed to choose my own tools. At the time, Author-IT came the closest to what I thought a true single-sourcing tool should be. It had a rather steep learning curve, but once I set it up, it was very easy to maintain the help and documents.

[RamonS]

Oh, I'm just arguing the "there was no other" part, not that it matters now and definitely not that I think RH was / is any better. You will see that the MadCap tools have a steep learning curve as well, but once you got past that it all really comes together nicely.

[Andrew]

I'm bumping this back up to the top. I have version 3.0.16 of Capture and it STILL does not capture scrolling pages in IE (my version is 7.0.5). My operating system is XP Professional, Version 2002, Service Pack 3.

Hello Susan,

I haven't tried SnagIt's scrolling capture, but I've used the one in HyperSnap. I've never seen this feature work reliably in any program.

[SusanL]

I just downloaded the trial version of Snag-It and captured a scrolling Web page within a few seconds. I'm sure Madcap will get it right eventually; TechSmith has been creating screen capture programs for a couple of decades. Capture is so new there are bound to be bugs; this is one of them.

[KDSTechwriter]

I don't think it works with Firefox. I did get it working with IE7, though. I don't have IE6 on this machine or I'd test with that too...

Testing a little more, it seems to work with Windows Explorer. My guess is it will work with anything Microsoft and probably anything that uses the .Net Framework, though that's just a theory

Well, it doesn't! I have IE 7.0.5730.11 and it doesn't work either. Nor does it work with Firefox. What OS do you have?

The thing is that before we ordered this software, I wanted to make sure Capture was doing that specific feature I had seen working great on Snag It (We were considering buying Snag It instead actually!)
So, the MadCap Software Sr Territory Manager put me on line with one of their developer and I was told the autoscroll feature was part of Capture V3 and doing exactly what I need it to do!
Well, I am definetly very disappointed, especially so since I had the opportunity to ask them directly about that specific feature on the phone ! Not telling the truth to customers is not serving this company!

[RamonS]

Call them back and ask to talk to that developer again. Nothing straightens out a developer more than a complaining customer.

[forfear]

This still doesn't work well

especially with IE 8 coming out sooon, this should at least work with a few browsers, Microsoft Office and even a scrolling topic in Flare.

[RamonS]

IE8 coming out soon? IE8 was released over a month ago.

[SteveS]

IE8 coming out soon? IE8 was released over a month ago.

...but it's not forcing itself on us. Yet.

[RamonS]

Did you check Windows Update recently? Next week is Patch Tuesday and with that the number of IE8 enabled (well, more disabled overall) PCs will go up. IE8 is here and people will be using it. There is no point in acting as if it doesn't exist. Now, if it would be at least worth the effort...IE8 has just marginally better standards support than IE5.5. Begs the questions which drunken monkey writes the specs at Microsoft.

[forfear]

..and the scrolling web page capture issues isn't disappearing overnight.

http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

[ltnunes]

I just found this issue in Capture v5. Reported it with the expected behavior as: Make it work like SnagIt.
I've never had this issue with SnagIt.