HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Please post all questions and comments regarding Help & Manual 7 here.

Moderators: Alexander Halser, Tim Green

Post Reply
Nataliya Solyanina
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:59 pm
Location: Russia, Moscow

HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Nataliya Solyanina »

Hi,
help me please. I am preparing my project in HTML format. I usually use Mozilla Firefox but Google Chrome does not give me the opportunity to display my project on the page when opened.
When I open my project on a local drive, Google Chrome gives a message:
Image
What's the problem with JavaScript in Google Chrome?

I'm trying to test my project using HM2Go, but I can't.
Image

I'm trying to understand how users will run my file-HTML project, which will be located on the network disk, if users use Google Chrome and not Mozilla Firefox?
I supposed that will create a shortcut to my file-HTML project on a network drive. This shortcut each user will run?
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23143
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Nataliya,

Welcome to the forum!

The only solution here is to put your WebHelp on your local web server in your network. Then you will not have problems with Chrome or any other browsers. For example, users who use Internet Explorer who open any kind of web pages containing scripts will always have to click away an annoying yellow security warning if the web pages are not on a server.

The HM2Go program is only for local access -- for example for putting WebHelp on CDs or DVDs, or for opening it on local computers. It cannot be used in networks -- you need a proper local web server for that.

This issue in Chrome does not only affect Help & Manual. It also affects Webhelp generated by many other help authoring tools, along with many content management systems and e-learning systems. It caused by a poorly implemented "security" feature in Chrome that breaks HTML standards as well as WebHelp.

If you must open the help locally and without a web server in Chrome It is possible to work around it by starting Chrome with the

--allow-file-access-from-files

switch in the command line. This will work, but every user has to do it and it reduces security, so I don't really recommend it. The only real solution for this is to use a local web server.

The alternative is to use EWriter eBooks, for which you can use exactly the same skins as WebHelp. These can be opened from network drives, but they only work on Windows computers because they are Windows EXE files (they contain both the book and the viewer in a single file).
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.
Nataliya Solyanina
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:59 pm
Location: Russia, Moscow

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Nataliya Solyanina »

Hi Tim,
thank you very much and thanks for the reply. :roll:
But please, tell me why on the local disk the Mozilla Firefox web browser after compiling through HM2Go also runs the page "Status 400:Bad Request"?
If I open the start page of my finished project from the folder, then everything is OK. But the startup page after the compilation fails.
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23143
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Tim Green »

Nataliya Solyanina wrote:But please, tell me why on the local disk the Mozilla Firefox web browser after compiling through HM2Go also runs the page "Status 400:Bad Request"?
If I open the start page of my finished project from the folder, then everything is OK. But the startup page after the compilation fails.
Note that when you have Help & Manual start your WebHelp in your browser automatically after publishing it is using HM2Go. If you then want to test in another browser you just need to copy the 127.0.0.1... address from the default browser into the Address: bar of the other browser, then it will also use it, because it keeps running as long as Help & Manual is still running.

What command line and URL are you using to start HM2Go? You may have an error there. You may also have a project configured with a default topic that does not exist, or no longer exists because it has been renamed or deleted. Check your default/home topic in Configuration > Common Properties > Language Settings. It must be set to a topic that actually exists in the help when it is published. Also check the link to your help if you are using one, to make sure that you are calling a topic that really exists.

Important: When creating URLs to WebHelp topics you must always use this syntax:

index.html?topicname.htm#anchor

By the way: Firefox is the only browser that will run WebHelp and similar web applications locally without a web server without errors. This is because it is the only one that is correctly programmed to allow access to all the files in the folder containing the HTML files. Chrome is really incompetently programmed in this regard: It stupidly treats all the files in the current folder in the same way as files on foreign domains on the Internet, and blocks access to them. That is why it doesn't work. :roll:
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.
Nataliya Solyanina
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:59 pm
Location: Russia, Moscow

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Nataliya Solyanina »

Tim,
What command line and URL are you using to start HM2Go? You may have an error there. You may also have a project configured with a default topic that does not exist, or no longer exists because it has been renamed or deleted. Check your default/home topic in Configuration > Common Properties > Language Settings. It must be set to a topic that actually exists in the help when it is published. Also check the link to your help if you are using one, to make sure that you are calling a topic that really exists.

Important: When creating URLs to WebHelp topics you must always use this syntax:

index.html?topicname.htm#anchor
by default, I'm running Mozilla Firefox, but I tried to experiment and copy the URL of my project from the browser string in another browser such as Google Chrome. But there is no effect.
Tim, in my project settings I have selected topic:
default/home topic in Configuration > Common Properties > Language Settings
here is my screenshot:
Image
By the way: Firefox is the only browser that will run WebHelp and similar web applications locally without a web server without errors. This is because it is the only one that is correctly programmed to allow access to all the files in the folder containing the HTML files. Chrome is really incompetently programmed in this regard: It stupidly treats all the files in the current folder in the same way as files on foreign domains on the Internet, and blocks access to them. That is why it doesn't work. :roll:
Yes, Google Chrome I don't like, I prefer to use Mozilla Firefox. :)
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23143
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Tim Green »

but I tried to experiment and copy the URL of my project from the browser string in another browser such as Google Chrome. But there is no effect.
Don't copy the URL of your source project if that's what you mean. That won't work. Publish your project to WebHelp and have Help & Manual open it automatically in your default browser. You will then have an URL starting with 127.0.0.1 in the Address: bar of your default browser. Copy that URL, leave Help & Manual open, and paste it into the Address: bar of your other browser and press ENTER. Then it will start in HM2Go.

The URL should look like this:

Code: Select all

http://127.0.0.1/C:/Users/Public/Documents/My%20HelpAndManual%20Projects/Demohelp/HTML/index.html?introduction.html
If it looks different then it is not correct.
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.
Nataliya Solyanina
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:59 pm
Location: Russia, Moscow

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Nataliya Solyanina »

OK Tim,
My actions step by step:
1) I set up the port, now it looks like this:
Image
2) Compile your project on a local drive. At home I have no servers.
3) After compiling a page of my project file is automatically started by using HM2Go and I needed to see your project in the browser.
But I see on the page this (Mozilla Firefox):
Image
Image
User avatar
Martin Wynne
Posts: 2656
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 3:21 pm
Location: West of the Severn, UK

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Hi Nataliya,

The file is showing "Not Found" because you have it entered in the address bar as Index.html instead of index.html

A web server is case sensitive. You will always end up in grief sooner or later if you use upper case in file and folder names on the web.

I keep making this point in relation to topic IDs in H&M but it falls on deaf ears. Plus we have to suffer the dreadful camelCase in javascript.

To stay sane, use

a..z
0..9
underscores

and nothing else.

regards,

Martin.
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23143
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Nataliya,

What Martin said... 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.
Nataliya Solyanina
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:59 pm
Location: Russia, Moscow

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Nataliya Solyanina »

Hi Martin, Tim,
1) I changed the register name page (index.html), but after compiling the browser page Mozilla Firefox still displays: "Status 404: File not found".
OK, Mozilla does not want.
2) Then I also did the experiment to make the default browser Google Chrome. I compiled, but the Google Chrome browser again displays the same thing: "Status 404: File not found".

I don't understand. :frustration:
User avatar
Martin Wynne
Posts: 2656
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 3:21 pm
Location: West of the Severn, UK

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Hi Nataliya,

hmm. :?

I suggest ditching the default folders which Windows/HM7 suggests for such things.

Create you own folder at C:\my_stuff\hm7_projects\my_project\output\ or some such. Set it as the output folder in the Publish dialog. And try again.

Martin.
Nataliya Solyanina
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:59 pm
Location: Russia, Moscow

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Nataliya Solyanina »

Hi Martin,

You almost guessed the problem causing all of this.
I did the experiment again and found that the directory name of the folder should not contain Cyrillic.
After compiling Google Chrome has launched a page of my project. :D
With Mozilla Firefox I have not experimented, but I think this should work.
It seems my problem was solved. :)
________________________
Thank you to everyone who helped me solve the problem with this question.
________________________
By the way, the problems with the Cyrillic alphabet I found even with the button "Bullets Style" in the text editor H&M. I can't make out the text using a bulleted list. I also wanted to create a post. :typing:
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23143
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Tim Green »

HI Nataliya,

You should not use alphabets like Cyrillic for things like style names, that would cause errors.
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.
Nataliya Solyanina
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:59 pm
Location: Russia, Moscow

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by Nataliya Solyanina »

Tim Green wrote:You should not use alphabets like Cyrillic for things like style names, that would cause errors.
Hi Tim,
Yes my mistake was that you could not use the Cyrillic alphabet. :naughty:
But now I know it.
Thank You once again. :roll:
User avatar
waldemar.hersacher
Posts: 456
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2003 10:06 pm
Location: Near Stuttgart Germany
Contact:

Re: HM2Go - mini server for local WebHelp

Unread post by waldemar.hersacher »

I did the experiment again and found that the directory name of the folder should not contain Cyrillic.
A thing I already mentions here:
http://helpman.it-authoring.com/viewtop ... 520#p56520

HM2Go cannot work with a root folder for the webhelp if it has if it has non-ASCII character even it is a valid Windows path.
Waldemar
Post Reply