Please help with program help files.

Factual Questions
1

I’m running winxp and all my help files, no matter what program, and that includes MS Office, have the indices on the left as usual, but display no text in the frame on the right. It’s just blank. Anyone have any ideas how to remedy this issue? Help appreciated.

2

Ok. One more time. Please?

3

Ok. I just tried to reregister some help dll and I get the same problem I’ve always had when I try to register any dll. When i type regsvr32 and then the name of the dll, it always brings open the file association dialog box. Even if I browse to to windows/system32/ and choose regsvr32.exe, I get “blah blah blah not found.” Help

4

I had a similar problem a little while back, and actually needed to modify my registry.

*** **Caution: *Editing the registry incorrectly can do some terrible things to your computer. Worst case scenarios include: frothing at the disk drives, and desire to eat small animals. Proceed at your own risk. ******

The easiest way to do this, is to copy the following text into a blank text file, and name the file “<something>.reg”. (The important part is to use the “reg” file extension.)



[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\HHRestrictions]
"MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000001
"EnableFrameNavigationInSafeMode"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions]
"MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000002

After the file is created, then double click on it. Windows will ask if you want to proceed with making changes to the registry (select OK). When that’s done, try opening a help file. (Close any currently open help files first, though.)

Let me know if this helps at all.
LilShieste

5

I tried that but got the error: the following file is not a registry script. The registry
script must be binary, etc…" Does that mean anything to you?

6

Oops - try adding this to the beginning of the file, and trying again.


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

Or, in its entirety:



Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\HHRestrictions]
"MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000001
"EnableFrameNavigationInSafeMode"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\HTMLHelp\1.x\ItssRestrictions]
"MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000002

LilShieste

7

Damn. Didn’t work. I had high hopes too. It is the .chm files that aren’t working. This ironically includes the help file that comes with MS Help File Workshop. I tried using this help diagnostic utility to reregister all my help-related dlls but it’s still not working. I downloaded this help file viewer and I was able to load a chm file, but i can only look at 5 topics before registering. :frowning:

8

Rats, I really thought that was going to work, too. (I was having the exact same problem you’re describing.) Well, we’ll get to the bottom of this one way or another.

You mentioned that you tried re-registering some of the DLLs associated with the compiled help files - have you tried running this little executable?

http://helpware.net/downloads/MJsDiag.zip (The zip file contains a single executable.)

It will apparently take care of registering those DLLs itself, and might be able to help you diagnose the actual problem.

On a side note, Google seems to indicate that a lot of people have encountered this problem, with varying causes. So, we might need to try a few things before we find the right solution. :slight_smile:
LilShieste

9

Yea that’s the diagnostic tool I ran. I’ve ultimately downloaded some freeware viewer for the help files. I’ve tried everything. Thanks for your help.