CLIReference as CHM-File doesnt work.

[JensN.]

Hi @all,

since 10.7 some reference-documents has changed from pdf-format to chm-format. But the new documents arent usable in our environment, because they want to have a connection to the internet, which isnt allowed at the most departments. Are there any old-fashioned pdf-files anywhere? Or could the new chm-files changed to a pure-offline-version?

cheers, Jens

[Rocko]

I didn't have the problem, but since I prefer PDF, I used some freely available CHM2PDF converter tool to generate a PDF.

[JensN.]

That was one of my ideas also, but if i use an offline-converter (here at my desktop), it will generate an empty PDF. So i used an online-converter, but this generates unfortunately a PDF without a table of content.

cheers, Jens

[Rocko]

Try this one:

calibre - E-book management

IIRC it was the one I used, but I can't find it on my machine anymore.

[KaelLizak]

Hello Jens,

I'm sorry you're frustrated with this, and I understand why.

You should be able to "unzip" the .chm files to a directory with 7zip.  The table of contents does unpack into a nice HTML file, but it looks like something that could be easily modified with awk/sed/grep, perl, search & replace with regexes, or a macro in a decent text editor.  The entries for each particular command render fine in a normal web browser.

Once it's unpacked, you could leave it unpacked, and view it as HTML.  Alternatively, you could use something like Calibre* or PDFCreator‌*.

I'm not sure why the .chm files would require being online to provide content for your PDF generator.  Is it just those .chm files, or is it all of them?

Regards,

Kael

* I'm not endorsing those tools, they're just two of the more promising looking tools I've found after a quick web search.  It actually looks like there are a very large number of tools to cover this issue.

[KaelLizak]

Jens-Uwe Nixdorf‌,

Did you end up finding a tool which converted the .chm appropriately to a .pdf with a table of contents?

Regards,
Kael

[LLawton]

Hello Kael,

I'm confused: I'm trying to view the "IntegrityCLIReference_10_9.chm" file I downloaded with the extra documentation but I get nothing (screenshot below). This is the only Community exchange I could find on the subject. Internet connection is not an issue for me.

Is the file "IntegrityCLIReference_10_9.chm" supposed to be usable out of the box?

1) If yes, what am I missing?

2) If no, why is PTC delivering a documentation file that requires extra work? Does someone have an already transformed file that could be shared?

I did find the "isman.chm" file in my client's etc folder, but that only adds to the mystery: why two files and what are the differences?

Thanks.

[JensN.]

Hi,

still the same here. Didn't get any usable helpfile since 10.7. Kael Lizak‌‌‌: Sorry for not answering your post from last year, i got lost to do it somehow...

I used some of these chm-2-pdf-converters, but didnt get any really usefull result. The best result was a document with the complete information, but without any structure, index, table of contents and so on...

kind regards, Jens

[Rocko]

Here's what I currently use.

[JensN.]

Hi Roman Legat‌,

thanks for your PDF. I also tried again some of these converters, including calibre. It works, but the converted PDF isn't as useful as the old original pdf (like in Integrity 10.6). @PTC in common: Nevertheless: PTC sells a not so cheap tool like integrity with a claim as an enterprise tool, and my expectations are that they provide usable documentation with their enterprise tool. Since chm-Files doesn't work (without workarounds) in every environment, i expect to get some other documentation at least in parallel.

kind regards, Jens

[LLawton]

Thank you very much for the pdf, this helps a lot!

I agree with Jens and would like very much for PTC to answer my questions.

[KaelLizak]

Hi Laurent,

I'm confused: I'm trying to view the "IntegrityCLIReference_10_9.chm" file I downloaded with the extra documentation but I get nothing (screenshot below). This is the only Community exchange I could find on the subject. Internet connection is not an issue for me.

Is the file "IntegrityCLIReference_10_9.chm" supposed to be usable out of the box?

1) If yes, what am I missing?

I have no idea where you found that file.  It doesn't exist in my default install.

2) If no, why is PTC delivering a documentation file that requires extra work? Does someone have an already transformed file that could be shared?

I did find the "isman.chm" file in my client's etc folder, but that only adds to the mystery: why two files and what are the differences?

Thanks.

The isman.chm file is actually what I use to generate my HTML version.  If isman.chm looks like your image there, you can open a case to investigate why this is happening.

You could use the Help Center.  The reference one is here.  Of course, if you want something local to your network, you can get your server-local Help Center by pressing 'F1' from the Integrity client or admin client.  You can also download a .war file to install on a web server so that users could have local copies.

If none of those options are possible, you can create an Idea to request CLI documentation as a PDF.  CS154554 also explains how to use the man command to view the man pages from the command line, including launching the HTML help browser by using the -h argument.

Regards,
Kael

[LLawton]

Hello Kael,

To clarify:

- "IntegrityCLIReference_10_9.chm" is a file which "I downloaded with the extra documentation". It's in the package called "Integrity-10-9-Additional-Documentation" located under "PTC Integrity 10.9 Documentation".

- "isman" works for me, the screenshot was of the other file.

I should have done that before but only thought of if now: both files are identical according to Beyond Compare. Why one works and not the other, I don't know but it's not important anymore.

Thanks for the feedback and the links, they help.

[KaelLizak]

Hi Laurent Lawton‌,

Thanks for pointing that out, I missed that new file IntegrityCLIReference_10_9.chm.

I'm glad isman.chm works.

I can't comment on the black magic of .chm files, especially if Beyond Compare says they're both the same. 

Glad I could help!

-Kael

[JensN.]

Hi all,

just looked at the documentation for Integrity 11.0 (downloadable vie the PTC-Support-Portal), and it still contains a broken helpfile for the CLI-reference. I decompressed it and looked into the *.hhc and *.hhk-File, which probably should hold the html structure for the helpfile. At least in other chm-files from other software this is the case. One of these files doesn't hold any structure-information, so maybe this is the problem.

But another information is available in these files in it's rudimental html structure:

  <HEAD>

  <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Epic Html Help 5.0, Arbortext Inc.">

  <!-- Sitemap 1.0 -->

  </HEAD>

So it seems that another PTC-product, the "EPIC Html Help 5.0, Arbortext Inc" makes an EPIC Fail...

This problem still exists since severel years (at least since Integrity 10.7), and PTC doesnt seem to be capable to deliver this little peace of quality. It's a shame. If even such a small problem couldn't get a proper solution, what do you think will i believe what PTC will do with big problems? And for sure: i didnt see this as my duty to give this to the PTC Support. This is the job of the QA-team of PTC, which should scan this area in a regular manner.

kind regards, Jens

[JensN.]

A colleague of mine told me, that the CHM-file is working correctly when the file is located at a local drive, but it doesn't if it is located at a network share. Nevertheless i still have the same opinion as i stated in my last post.

kind regards, Jens