Epic Help use

AndyEsslinger · ‎Nov 28, 2006

Yo group!

Fresh back from a traditional American Thanksgiving feast during a long
weekend, I bumped into something irritating when I finally remembered
that I was having trouble with my Arbortext application before the
holiday.

Somehow I seemed to have missed a paradigm shift in the Arbortext Help
menus. All of the Epic versions have a Help shortcut on the Start menu
to run the help independently, but the different versions don't seem to
find the same things with the same search criteria. When Epic version 4
came out I could search for almost anything and get quite a few hits
(maybe too many).

While wrestling with Arbortext 5.2 help, I get almost no results, no
matter which key words I try to search I get a "NO TOPIC FOUND" dialog
with an OK button. I KNOW that the Epic help system had some sample
FOSI code for preparing a chapterized TOC, but I cannot find it
searching for "chapterized" "chapter contents table", and three or four
other terms. Then I start the help from an old 4.2x version and every
search term that failed on 5.2 brings up results of some kind and I
found the code I was looking for on the second search. The part that
bothers me is that 5.2 responded with "NO TOPIC FOUND =OK" about 20
times in the session and version 4.x help responded with "NO TOPIC
FOUND" only once.

Does anyone else get this different behavior of Help for the newer
versions or did my brain just fossilize at about version 4.2.3? I am
wondering if there is some logic behind the different behavior or if
there is a defect in my approach.

Are all of the Arbortext Help topics still available as PDF? Where can
I find them? Searching PDF using Windows Search might be fun for a few
days unless some adepter knows the magic incantation for understanding
how to search help in the newer versions.

I don't want any ACL code, JavaScript, or any incantation that involves
animal sacrifice. I just want to know why it is harder to squeeze
answers from version 5.2 than it is from version 4.x.

Thanks for your consideration,
-Andy

P.S.
Recent back surgery made me 25% less disabled than before the procedure.
I am now allowed to lift 10 pounds (a good hammer), so telling fat boy
jokes in the hallway may result in having your toes nailed down until I
decide if I am mad enough to donate your organs or too busy to take the
joke to heart. ^;p)

Everyone please have a wonderful week.
-Andy

\ / Andy Esslinger - Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.
_____-/\-_____ (817) 777 3047 LM Aero Ft. Worth F-22 TOD
\_\/_/ Box 748 Mail Zone 4285 - 76101

ChristopheLefeb · ‎Nov 28, 2006

Hello,

All I can say is that for me (with Arbortext 5.2 of course) :
chapterized => no topic found
chapter contents table => 36 topics

Christophe Lefebvre
LexisNexis France

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Esslinger, Andy W
EnvoyÃƒÂ© : mardi 28 novembre 2006 04:22
ÃƒÂ€ : adepters@maillist.arbortext.com
Objet : Epic Help use

Yo group!

Fresh back from a traditional American Thanksgiving feast during a long
weekend, I bumped into something irritating when I finally remembered
that I was having trouble with my Arbortext application before the
holiday.

Somehow I seemed to have missed a paradigm shift in the Arbortext Help
menus. All of the Epic versions have a Help shortcut on the Start menu
to run the help independently, but the different versions don't seem to
find the same things with the same search criteria. When Epic version 4
came out I could search for almost anything and get quite a few hits
(maybe too many).

While wrestling with Arbortext 5.2 help, I get almost no results, no
matter which key words I try to search I get a "NO TOPIC FOUND" dialog
with an OK button. I KNOW that the Epic help system had some sample
FOSI code for preparing a chapterized TOC, but I cannot find it
searching for "chapterized" "chapter contents table", and three or four
other terms. Then I start the help from an old 4.2x version and every
search term that failed on 5.2 brings up results of some kind and I
found the code I was looking for on the second search. The part that
bothers me is that 5.2 responded with "NO TOPIC FOUND =OK" about 20
times in the session and version 4.x help responded with "NO TOPIC
FOUND" only once.

Does anyone else get this different behavior of Help for the newer
versions or did my brain just fossilize at about version 4.2.3? I am
wondering if there is some logic behind the different behavior or if
there is a defect in my approach.

Are all of the Arbortext Help topics still available as PDF? Where can
I find them? Searching PDF using Windows Search might be fun for a few
days unless some adepter knows the magic incantation for understanding
how to search help in the newer versions.

I don't want any ACL code, JavaScript, or any incantation that involves
animal sacrifice. I just want to know why it is harder to squeeze
answers from version 5.2 than it is from version 4.x.

Thanks for your consideration,
-Andy

P.S.
Recent back surgery made me 25% less disabled than before the procedure.
I am now allowed to lift 10 pounds (a good hammer), so telling fat boy
jokes in the hallway may result in having your toes nailed down until I
decide if I am mad enough to donate your organs or too busy to take the
joke to heart. ^;p)

Everyone please have a wonderful week.
-Andy

\ / Andy Esslinger - Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.
_____-/\-_____ (817) 777 3047 LM Aero Ft. Worth F-22 TOD
\_\/_/ Box 748 Mail Zone 4285 - 76101

PLB · ‎Nov 28, 2006

Andy,

I do not have a direct answer to your question re. search in Epic 5.2
but it could be worthwhile to download and install the Epic Help Center.
Once installed, you can use the Help Center from Epic and it provides a
central search in all the documentation (online help plus other books
like programmers guide or customisers guide and even Javadoc).
The search engine finds results in the HTML but also in the PDF, so it's
very handy when you don't know where to search.
For example, searching on 'chapterized' gives back 462 results while
searching on 'chapterized AND FOSI' has 65 results (all 'sorted by
relevance' 😉

Two quirks I noticed:
- when you click on an item in the results list that corresponds to a
PDF document, it opens the PDF but stays at the first page so you have
to reiterate the search inside Acrobat to go to the actual hit(s).
- the HelpCenter does not work from Epic if you use Documentum adapters.
This is documented in the release notes but the reason is not given; my
2 cents that it's related to conflict between Java libraries...
The workaround here is to unzip the HelpCenter somewhere on your machine
then run the 'consumerui.jar' you will find in the top folder. At least
it's working here on Windows XP machines with standard install of Java
1.4.2 and 1.5.

Pascale

ptc-2916524 · ‎Nov 28, 2006

Pascale,

How do you get the "Epic Help Center"?
I quick look at the PTC web site didn't reveal it.

Allen

<table width="100%">
<tr valign="top">
<td width="40%">"LEBLANC Pascale"
<pascale.leblanc@swift.com>
11/28/2006 04:27 AM
<table border=">
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<td bgcolor="white">

Please respond to

<adepters@arbortext.com>

</table>

<td width="59%">
<table width="100%">
<tr valign="top">
<td>

To

cc

Subject

<td>Re: Epic Help use</table>

<table>
<tr valign="top">
<td>
<td></table>

</table>

<tt>Andy,

I do not have a direct answer to your question re. search in Epic 5.2

but it could be worthwhile to download and install the Epic Help Center.

Once installed, you can use the Help Center from Epic and it provides a

central search in all the documentation (online help plus other books

like programmers guide or customisers guide and even Javadoc).

The search engine finds results in the HTML but also in the PDF, so it's

very handy when you don't know where to search.

For example, searching on 'chapterized' gives back 462 results while

searching on 'chapterized AND FOSI' has 65 results (all 'sorted by

relevance' 😉

Two quirks I noticed:

- when you click on an item in the results list that corresponds to a

PDF document, it opens the PDF but stays at the first page so you have

to reiterate the search inside Acrobat to go to the actual hit(s).

- the HelpCenter does not work from Epic if you use Documentum adapters.

This is documented in the release notes but the reason is not given; my

2 cents that it's related to conflict between Java libraries...

The workaround here is to unzip the HelpCenter somewhere on your machine

then run the 'consumerui.jar' you will find in the top folder. At least

it's working here on Windows XP machines with standard install of Java

1.4.2 and 1.5.

Pascale

lhales · ‎Nov 28, 2006

Allen,

It is out there with the other downloads. I forget exactly where, but go
to the updates section in the downloads and it should (was for me anyway)
there. Unless you speak multiple languages, you'll only need the basic
(about 50 megs) file.

You have to install this separately and it currently does not run in the
stand alone mode, Epic has to be running. PG or John said they didn't
think of standalone when they built it up, but said that it would be
modified for 5.3 (as I recall).

The help center is nice, but a wee bit large and it duplicates much of
what is already available (though it is easier to find some things in the
help center).

Glad to see you are still out there. Take care and have a good holidays.

Lynn

lhales · ‎Nov 28, 2006

Andy,

I tried 'chapterized' as a search string in both 5.1 and 5.2. Both
resulted in "No topics found". I did a search for 'toc' and got 21
returns in both 5.1 and 5.2. Help 11990 is the code example.

I just think you over ate (I've seen your two fisted drinking [photo from
the San Antonio AUGI with TWO of the AUGI mugs in hand*]), and the extra
stuffing just pushed some of the knowledge out. :D. Glad you had a good
Thanksgiving.

Lynn

*Okay, so both were empty and he'd just picked them up from the table. One
was for him and the other for his wife who was his guest that trip. But
man it sure LOOKS bad. A few minutes later, they were both hanging from
his belt (so he could use both hands to eat).

ptc-923889 · ‎Nov 29, 2006

How do I download this Epic Help Center? Can you give me a URL? I can
never find anything useful on the PTC site, just endless promotional
material for products I don't want...

John Hanratty
Senior XML Analyst
LexisNexis UK

pbartlett · ‎Nov 29, 2006

Go to ptc.com, click on Support, click on "Order or Download Software
Updates." Enter your username and password. Then click on "Order or
Download Software Updates" (again).

In the dropdown, select Arbortext Editor. The third link down is
Arbortext 5.2 Help Center. Click on FTP (faster) or HTTP to download
it.

PG