External PDF docs don't open

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Chris Latimer
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 2:38 pm

External PDF docs don't open

Unread post by Chris Latimer »

Hi - We can't open external linked PDF docs from the CHM Help File unless the PDFs are in the same folder as the program exe file. The PDFs are properly added to the Baggage file list. Specifically,
The program exe is in folder 1
The CHM Help File launched from the program is in subfolder 1.1
The external PDF files launched from the Help File are in the same subfolder 1.1
The Help File successfully launches from the program
But the external references do not open unless they are in the same program exe folder 1

Is there a way to designate what published output folder level to search in?

I didn't see this topic already covered in the forum.

Thank you.

Chris
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Tim Green
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Re: External PDF docs don't open

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Chris,

This is caused by an ancient bug in the Microsoft CHM system that has never been fixed or updated (actually, pretty much nothing in CHM has ever been fixed or updated since the original release with Windows 98). The CHM skins in the Premium Pack add-on include internal scripting that solves this issue, see here in the PP documentation for details:

http://www.it-authoring.com/info/pp3hel ... fixer.html

Otherwise there are only two ways to deal with this problem: 1) Put the files you want to link to in the same folder as the CHM, or 2) Put the files on your web server and link to them with normal Internet links.

Even though the solution in the Premium Pack skins works fine, I would generally prefer putting any external files like this on the web server unless there are doubts as to whether the user will have Internet access. That gives you ongoing control over the files (you can update them immediately if necessary) and you no longer need to include them in your distribution package. 8)
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.
Chris Latimer
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 2:38 pm

Re: External PDF docs don't open

Unread post by Chris Latimer »

Thanks, Tim - Sorry, I'm slow. To be specific, I enter the following in the File Link dialogue window space for "Relative path to export with?" (Using the folder names from my initial post)

/folder 1.1/

and leave the document name as-is in the File name entry box?

Or do I put the "/folder 1.1/" in front of the document name in the File name entry box?

Thanks for your help
Chris Latimer
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Aug 29, 2017 2:38 pm

Re: External PDF docs don't open

Unread post by Chris Latimer »

Tim - Got it. Entering the string below in the "relative path to export with" field worked.

.\folder 1.1\

Thanks for your help.
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