well that was back in about 1999 and I obviously didn't remember all the lessons from back then. today I was working with basically the same setup (minus MCMS) for Metalogix Software's SharePoint migration solutions.
I was creating a new CHM and found that Help Workshop will compile the file, but the result was, "This program cannot display the webpage".
I found the answer after looking at the broken .HHC file and a working file side-by-side. so here's my little test. can you see the difference?
this is a--greatly simplified--broken .HHC file:
<html>
<head>
<!--Sitemap 1.0-->
</head>
<body>
<ul>
<li><object type="text/sitemap">
<param name="Name" value="Foo Directory">
<param name="Local" value="Foo Directory/index.htm">
<param name="ImageNumber" value="1">
</object></li>
<ul>
<li><object type="text/sitemap">
<param name="Name" value="Topic1">
<param name="Local" value="Foo Directory/Bar.htm">
<param name="ImageNumber" value="11">
</object></li>
<li><object type="text/sitemap">
<param name="Name" value="Topic1">
<param name="Local" value="Foo Directory/Foo.htm">
<param name="ImageNumber" value="11">
</object> </li>
</ul>
</ul>
</body>
</html>
and here is a working .HHC file:
<html>
<head>
<!--Sitemap 1.0-->
</head>
<body>
<ul>
<li><object type="text/sitemap">
<param name="Name" value="Foo Directory">
<param name="Local" value="BarDirectory/index.htm">
<param name="ImageNumber" value="1">
</object></li>
<ul>
<li><object type="text/sitemap">
<param name="Name" value="Topic1">
<param name="Local" value="BarDirectory/Bar.htm">
<param name="ImageNumber" value="11">
</object></li>
<li><object type="text/sitemap">
<param name="Name" value="Topic1">
<param name="Local" value="BarDirectory/Foo.htm">
<param name="ImageNumber" value="11">
</object></li>
</ul>
</ul>
</body>
</html>
answer below...
- click for full-size image
answer: the help file directories must not contain spaces in their names. "Foo Directory" will fail, "BarDirectory" will work. now that's a gotcha that the app should catch and report.
BTW - this same error will appear if you don't select a "Default file" inside the Help Workshop project options. however, in that case, everything works once you click on a topic.
