Index not working in Chrome?

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Dave Gehman
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Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:05 pm

Index not working in Chrome?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

My newly trialled WebHelp output, the index works in Edge, but not in Chrome. That is, in Edge, on the Index tab, if you click on a keyword, the right pane jumps to the topic where the keyword appears.

In Chrome, the keyword lights up, but clicking on it or double-clicking doesn't result in the right pane jumping to the topic.

Is this a limitation? Most of our users will be using any browser other than Edge, usually under corporate IT mandate.
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Tim Green
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Re: Index not working in Chrome?

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi David,

This is happening because you are testing your WebHelp locally without a web server. Once it is online it will work fine in Chrome, and you can also test locally in Chrome if Chrome is your default browser, so that the WebHelp opens in Chrome automatically after being generated by Help+Manual. Alternatively, you can let it open in your default browser and then copy the URL from the Address: field of that browser and then paste that into Chrome. Then it will work, because that uses the address of the mini web server that Help+Manual uses to open WebHelp automatically.

Actually, you will also find that Internet Explorer is affected as well: Users who open WebHelp locally without a web server with IE will have to click away an annoying yellow safety warning bar that cannot be disabled. This all has nothing to do with Help+Manual -- it is the same for all complex web pages opened locally.

Webhelp opened from a web server or on the Internet or an intranet is not affected. So if you are just testing locally and deploying on a server you will not have any problems with Chrome.

In Help+Manual we have implemented an integrated mini web server that is started automatically to display WebHelp when you display it automatically after publishing. This will then display in your default browser in the mini server and if that browser is Chrome it will work fine directly. If it is another browsers, you can then also test it in Chrome because the mini server will still be running. You just need to copy the 127.0.0.1... URL from the Address: bar of the default browser to the Address: bar in Chrome or any other browser to test there as well.

If you must open the help locally and without a web server in Chrome It is possible to work around it in a number of ways:

1: Use the new EWriter format supported by Help+Manual 7 instead. EWriter gives you all the benefits of WebHelp in a single file with its own integrated server and viewer. See here for details:

http://www.helpandmanual.com/help/index ... writer.htm

2: Use the new V3 Responsive skins from the Premium Pack 3 add-on. These use new technologies that allow local use without a web server at all in all browsers. See here for details:

http://www.helpandmanual.com/products_hm_pluspack.html

3: Start Chrome with the --allow-file-access-from-files switch in the command line.
This will work but it's not really something you can ask users to do.

4: Use a local web server and integrate it in your help system. There are a number of free mini web servers available with which this is possible, and they also make it possible to display Webhelp locally in Internet Explorer without a security warning.

Help+Manual's own mini web server is called HM2Go, and you can also integrate it in your WebHelp to be able to deliver it locally without a fully configured server environment. It is a single file less than 2MB in size. You can include this server with your own products and documentation free of charge and it even works on optical media like CDs and DVDs. Look up HM2Go in the Help & Manual help index for full details.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Dave Gehman
Posts: 575
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:05 pm

Re: Index not working in Chrome?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Whew! I hope that was boilerplate... otherwise, I've spawned an inordinate amount of work on your part. Thanks for the comprehensive reply.

I nixed eWriter because I thought that it was distributed with (or required installation of) an .exe.

FIrst, we work with often very strictly-controlled engineering companies and universities, and I doubt that their IT departments will allow .exes from external sources on their computer infrastructure.

Second, we don't want to ask our users to have to install anything to gain access to the help file. The help is being developed for a cloud-based application that doesn't requires anything on the user's environment except a browser.

Correct me if I'm wrong about the need for the local installation of an .exe.

Thanks again,
Dave
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Tim Green
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Re: Index not working in Chrome?

Unread post by Tim Green »

Dave Gehman wrote:Whew! I hope that was boilerplate...

Boilerplate, edited for the specific question. 8)
I nixed eWriter because I thought that it was distributed with (or required installation of) an .exe.
EWriter can be generated in two flavors: A single EXE containing both the viewer and the book, and with the viewer and the book separately. In the second case you then only need to install the viewer once and the books can be distributed as normal data files:

http://www.helpandmanual.com/help/index ... viewer.htm
Second, we don't want to ask our users to have to install anything to gain access to the help file. The help is being developed for a cloud-based application that doesn't requires anything on the user's environment except a browser.
If it's a cloud-based application then EWriter isn't the right choice anyway. You need WebHelp there, either hosted on your own web server or on the users' server. EWriter is a local documentation solution, like CHM.
FIrst, we work with often very strictly-controlled engineering companies and universities, and I doubt that their IT departments will allow .exes from external sources on their computer infrastructure.
Generally this is not a problem as long as you digitally sign your viewer, as with any other program, using a code signing certificate. Then you create an installer with a tool like the excellent Inno Setup (free, we use it too), which also uses the certificate to sign itself. But with a cloud-based application this need doesn't arise anyway, since WebHelp is what you need to be using.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
Dave Gehman
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Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:05 pm

Re: Index not working in Chrome?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Thanks again .
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