Index icons not active in WebHelp Chrome

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Lamda Wade
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2017 3:00 pm

Index icons not active in WebHelp Chrome

Unread post by Lamda Wade »

Help & Manual Newbie ...whew... nothing like trying to get files out of new software platform at 1:40 a.m. the day before vacation...

I could use some help:

(1) When opening my WebHelp files in Chrome, the index opens fully expanded with all section subheadings displayed. Clicking the icons (normally to "open" or "close" a chapter) does not work. Why?

Index works as expected in Explorer and Firefox?

(2) Also: full text search does not work in Firefox; only in Chrome and Explorer. (Yes, I have Pro version). I read elsewhere in this formum that this is because I need a webserver for the search to work; and that it will work once hosted on customer's PC.

Thanks!
Lamda
Last edited by Lamda Wade on Fri Nov 17, 2017 8:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Tim Green
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Re: Index icons not active in WebHelp Chrome

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Lamda,

Welcome to the forum and Help+Manual!

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:

https://www.helpandmanual.com/help/inde ... 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:

https://www.helpandmanual.com/products_hm_pluspack.html
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
Lamda Wade
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2017 3:00 pm

Re: Index icons not active in WebHelp Chrome

Unread post by Lamda Wade »

Lovely, Thank you Tim. Works just as you stated below. Thank you!
File off to customer, and hopefully I'll get to leave for vacation today!
Lamda
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