"Action Canceled" MS update 896358 blocks CHMs

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Pieter Vantieghem
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Unread post by Pieter Vantieghem »

We want to store our chm-files on the server and I've read all the problems with the MS security patch, but we still encounter a problem.
We have edited the registry key and now we can view the chm-file correctly when we click it directly on the server. So the registry change seems to work.
But when we call our chm-file from our application, the chm-file opens with the TOC, but we get the 'Action cancelled' error (although it's the same file that just opens fine in explorer).
We thought there was something wrong with the call from our application, but when we put the chm-file locally, everything works fine... (unfortunately, putting the help locally is not recommended in our situation).
Anyone who knows what we can do?
Pieter Vantieghem
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Pieter,
But when we call our chm-file from our application, the chm-file opens with the TOC, but we get the 'Action cancelled' error (although it's the same file that just opens fine in explorer).
What's probably happening is you are using a different path to access the CHM from your application. For example, for Windows accessing the CHM via a mapped network drive and normally via My Network Places is two different paths and you would need to create registry entries for both to make both work.

Also, remember that the registry entries are local entries on the computer accessing the CHM. They must be made on all computers accessing the CHM over the network.
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Pieter Vantieghem
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Unread post by Pieter Vantieghem »

Thanks Tim for your quick reply.

We've tried several things but we haven't found the solution yet. I'll try to summarize it as clear as possible (makes it more clear for me too, because it's becoming a mess in my head :))

1) help file on local drive:
- file location: C:\temp\nl\help.chm
- registry settings: none
- opening help in explorer: works fine
- opening help from the application: works fine (but we can't put the help files locally)

2) help file on network -> connecting through network drive:
- file location: Z:\nl\help.chm -> the Z: network drive goes to \\server11\hd2\Help\
- registry settings: UrlAllowList = Z:\nl\;file://;
- opening help in explorer: works fine
- opening help from the application: works fine (but we cannot create such a Z-drive on every client pc of our customers)

3) help file on network -> connecting directly:
- file location: \\server11\hd2\Help\nl\help.chm
- registry settings: UrlAllowList = \\server11\hd2\Help\nl\;file://;
- opening help in explorer: works fine
- opening help from the application: nothing happens, the help file doesn't even show up.

So maybe our problem is not related with the registry settings, but with some limitations in our programming environment. When our path starts with a network drive letter, everything seems to work fine, but when the path starts with a double backslash \\, nothing happens.

To be clear: our programmers are using Uniface (from Compuware), maybe there are other Uniface-users on this forum who can help?
Pieter Vantieghem
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vanwerkum
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Unread post by vanwerkum »

IE7 RC1 gives an error "Navigation to this webpage was canceled" when viewing the CHM off our network. HHReg does not seem to help. Does anyone have a solution to this (apart from uninstalling IE7)?

IE6 when used with HHreg worked fine.
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Robert,
IE7 RC1 gives an error "Navigation to this webpage was canceled" when viewing the CHM off our network. HHReg does not seem to help. Does anyone have a solution to this (apart from uninstalling IE7)?
Thanks for reporting this. IE7 is a completely new ballpark and it's as yet unknown what ramifications the final version will have for HTML Help. Remember that MSIE is one of the main components of HTML Help, so it is quite possible that we will have new behaviors and problems to deal with. Among other things, it's possible that the rules and conditions for network access may once again be completely rewritten.

We'll have to wait and see...
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Robert,

On one machine with IE7 installed, try changing the General Security setting to Local Intranet Zone. Does it work then? If it does, it means that IE7 has added new security zone settings/keys to the registry that need to be added in HHReg. If this is the problem it will be very easy to fix.
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vanwerkum
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Unread post by vanwerkum »

Tim,

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking me to do. I changed the Local Intranet security level to Low, but that made no dofference.
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Robert,

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. What you need to do is use the "General Security" tab in HHReg. If you activate the "Local Intranet Zone" in this tab it will allow the computer to access all CHM files on the local network. This is not recommended as a general setting, but if it works it means that IE7 has some new Registry keys for CHM files that will need to be updated in HHReg.
Last edited by Tim Green on Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
vanwerkum
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Unread post by vanwerkum »

That did the trick.
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Robert,

Thanks for reporting this. This means that IE7 saves at least some of its CHM security settings in a different key. I'll let the development team know about this so that they can analyze it and update HHReg accordingly.
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Pieter Vantieghem
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Unread post by Pieter Vantieghem »

any ideas on my problem tim? I would really like to switch to H&M for all our help projects, but first we have to get it working in our applications ofcourse, otherwise it will be difficult to convince my boss :?
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Alexander Halser
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Unread post by Alexander Halser »

But when we call our chm-file from our application
What help call do you use in your application and: what kind of application is it? Win32, Web, .Net?
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vanwerkum
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Unread post by vanwerkum »

Tim Green wrote:Robert,

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. What you need to do is use the "General Security" tab in HHReg. If you activate the "Local Intranet Zone" in this tab it will allow the computer to access all CHM files on the local network. This is not recommended as a general setting, but if it works it means that IE7 has some new Registry keys for CHM files that will need to be updated in HHReg.
Tim,
This "fix" does not work with the latest Release version of IE7.
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Robert,
This "fix" does not work with the latest Release version of IE7.
Thanks for reporting this. This is already a known issue -- the problem is the Registry keys/values necessary for fixing it in IE7 are not yet known. Hopefully there are some; HHReg will be updated as soon as the information becomes available. :?
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Shane MacLaughlin
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Unread post by Shane MacLaughlin »

I have been following this thread for some time, and I am wondering if it is a bad idea to move from WinHelp to CHM for our new releases. I suspect most of our users would rather the quirkiness of WinHelp than the prospect of losing access to their help altogether, or compromising their security. We upgraded in-house to IE7 recently, and it wrecked the on-line help for a number of apps we use. On the flip side, WinHelp is a bit of a dog, and may be unavailable in Vista.

So the question is this, for new electronic documentation, that will most probably be installed on a network, which format would you run with;

WinHelp?

CHM?

Both, and allow the user to choose? Programmatically this is easier for us, but it adds an extra CD to the distribution, which is expensive.

Other formats??
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