Help system - F1 won't work

Noisy_Van

Hello,

We have a solution for NAV 2013 for which I am attempting to implement user help using the NAV help system, but I need some help...

I have gone through the NAV Help Toolkit, and am using the HTML Help Workshop to aid in creating the help files. The toolkit comes with a sample project called "addin_a". I can compile this, add my own topics, etc just fine. When I copy the .chm and .hh files to the NAV server, it works fine. If I press F1 while on one of my solution's forms, it opens the appropriate help topic that I had linked. However, I don't want the .chm and .hh files to be named "addin_a". I have tried many ways of renaming these files, and nothing seems to work. Even updating every project reference in HTML Help Workshop doesn't do the trick. I also tried creating a help project from scratch with no luck. It seems that I am not doing the secret handshake to get the F1 help to work.

Does anyone know of any common mistakes I may be making here? Are there other/better tools I should be using for creating the .chm files?

Thanks in advance,
The Van

Dral

I also got to this Point, I'll be investigating further and let you know if I find out something..

Dral

This is strange.

You were following NAV_HelpGuide.chm file which is I presume in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 Help Toolkit directory where it says:

To integrate the new Help with Microsoft Dynamics NAV Windows client Help
Close Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

In Windows Explorer, open C:\HelpExample\addin_a\Processed.

In Windows Explorer, open the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Windows client Help installation folder. The installation location is typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\70\RoleTailored Client\en-US.

Copy addin_a.chm from the Processed folder to the en-US folder.

In Windows Explorer, open the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server locale installation folder. The installation location is typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\70\Service\ENU.

Copy addin_a.hh from the Processed folder to the ENU folder.

To restart Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server, choose Start, and then choose the Run button.

In the Open field, type services.msc, and then press Enter.

Under Services, open the shortcut menu for Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server, and then choose Restart.

Choose Start, and then choose Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

I used this Approach and I couldn't make it work.
Then I switched to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... 71%29.aspx and it worked. This Manual is in accordance with the http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nav/archive/201 ... erver.aspx
How I made it work with, let's suppose ABC Project, instead of addin_a:
1. Change the Project file Name to ABC (Folder Name)
2. Change the config files, from addin_a.config.xml to ABC.config.xml for example
3. Change the .hhk, hhp and the rest of the files in Source Folder from addin_a to ABC
4. Change the Content of those files to reference to your ABC Project instead of addin_a

At first glimps, the whole Manual is a bit awkward, for example, look at this:

After you have exported the object names and IDs, you can choose to convert the text file into the XML format that is used by Help Builder. This process also removes unnecessary data from the file. Help Builder supports object.txt as a string file and there is no need to convert.

And then the help Builder expects .XML file in the wizard?
Also, from the first Manual, what is the purpose of this:

Copy addin_a.chm from the Processed folder to the en-US folder.

, maybe for backward compatibility, if I use nav help Server for nav 2013 R2, he expects to find htm pages in web Folder, not old chm..
I don't have nav 2013 to test it, only R2, but honestly I don't know how you made it work in the first place.
Regards,