compiled help file (.CHM) display in ASP.NET

[Sushil Prasad]

I am having problem in displaying the compiled help file. In asp.net app I
have link button labeled help. On the users click of this button i do the
respose.redirect to the url of the .chm file.
The error message on the web page i get is Action Cancelled. I do see the
left panel of help file that has the contents. The right panel is the one
that is not appearing.
Also this help file does display and work well when i browse it from the
windows directory but i get the same error as i get in asp.net application
when i browse it from the Internet Informaiton Service (IIS) manager.

Can someone help me on this. The help file was created by me.

 

[Lucas Tam]

I am having problem in displaying the compiled help file. In asp.net
app I have link button labeled help. On the users click of this button
i do the respose.redirect to the url of the .chm file.
The error message on the web page i get is Action Cancelled. I do see
the left panel of help file that has the contents. The right panel is
the one that is not appearing.

Could it be a security issue? I think CHM files are blocked by default.

Why not post the help in regular HTML format, but have the CHM files for
download?

 

[Juan T. Llibre]

Hi, Sushil.

Apparently, nothing can be done if what you want
is to open .chm files directly from the web.

There is a workaround, and that is to instruct your
users to save the file to disk and *then* open them,
after unblocking the file from Windows Explorer.

See this blog entry by Geoff Appleby :
http://codebetter.com/blogs/geoff.appleby/archive/2005/08/10/130491.aspx

There's a couple of additional suggestions in this KB :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/902225/

 

[Siva M]

Try this: After the .chm is downloaded, open its Properties dialog from
Windows Explorer (right-click on .chm | Properties). Click the Unblock
button and OK. Now, try opening the .chm file.


I am having problem in displaying the compiled help file. In asp.net app I
have link button labeled help. On the users click of this button i do the
respose.redirect to the url of the .chm file.
The error message on the web page i get is Action Cancelled. I do see the
left panel of help file that has the contents. The right panel is the one
that is not appearing.
Also this help file does display and work well when i browse it from the
windows directory but i get the same error as i get in asp.net application
when i browse it from the Internet Informaiton Service (IIS) manager.

Can someone help me on this. The help file was created by me.

 

[Sushil Prasad]

hi,
I dont see any unblock box on the properties page.. I have windws xp.. The
users to this app are using different versions of windows server and some
are even on windows 98. Plus not all users are knowledge enough to look for
the dwonloaded file and set property on it. I had hoped that the compiled
help page would display without doing a download just like a html page. i
guess i have to redo help in only html..

 

[Juan T. Llibre]

Sushil,

if you can live with a copyright notice and a link to the maker,
see the free edition of Data.Objects.Net, which lets you publish
chm files to the web.

http://www.x-tensive.com/Products/HelpViewer/

If you don't want that, but their Professional version
which doesn't have the copyright notice. It's 295 Euros :
http://www.x-tensive.com/Products/HelpViewer/Buy/

Other than that, you can also check out Easy CHM:
http://www.downloadseeker.com/3145.html

or CHM2HTML Pilot:
http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/CHM2HTML_Pilot/chm2html.html

Both of them convert CHM files to HTML.

 

[Siva M]

All downloaded files will have this button on the properties dialog (applies
to Win XP SP2 and Win 2003 SP1).

I have seen the same problem with .chm files many times and by unblocking
the downloaded file, I could see the contents fully. However, I am not sure
about Win 98.

Also, if the .chm file has # character in its name, then you will encounter
the same problem.

hi,
I dont see any unblock box on the properties page.. I have windws xp.. The
users to this app are using different versions of windows server and some
are even on windows 98. Plus not all users are knowledge enough to look for
the dwonloaded file and set property on it. I had hoped that the compiled
help page would display without doing a download just like a html page. i
guess i have to redo help in only html..