hh.exe can not display chm

[david]

Hello! everyone,

I have some chm files. Some chm files just open, but in
the right hand side window it displays "can not find
page"(like when the webpage can not be found). Any ideas.
Thx.

 

[Pete Lees]

David,

I have some chm files. Some chm files just open, but in
the right hand side window it displays "can not find
page"(like when the webpage can not be found). Any ideas.

You'd experience this problem if the .chm file name or the path to the
file contains a hash symbol (#), as described in Knowledge Base
article 319247.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319247

However, if this isn't the cause of the problem, here are a fairly
standard set of troubleshooting exercises to try:

1) Make sure that you have the latest versions of the HTML Help viewer
components installed by applying Microsoft Critical Update 811630,
which is available from here:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811630

2) Use MJ's Help Diagnostics to check that all the help viewer
components are properly installed and registered.

http://helpware.net/downloads/index.htm#MJs

(The only section of the MJ's Help Report that is relevant to your
problem is the one headed "HTML Help Run-time Components".)

3) Delete or rename the file hh.dat, which you should find in this
subdirectory:

\Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\HTML
Help

The hh.dat file stores user-specific information on all the HTML Help
files on your system (favourite topics, changes that you've made to
the size and position of a help window, etc.), and can cause the
files to misbehave if it has somehow been corrupted. Windows will
create a new version of hh.dat when you next open any .chm file.

4) Empty your Temporary Internet Files (TIF) directory. A full TIF
directory can cause HTML Help files to misbehave.

 

[Pete Lees]

David,

Do you know any way to convert chm to word doc?

This isn't straightforward, unfortunately, because each help topic is
stored as an individual HTML file inside the help file. Here are three
options:

1) Try the shareware tool ABC Amber CHM Converter, which claims to be
able to convert a help file to multiple document formats, including
DOC.

http://www.thebeatlesforever.com/processtext/abcchm.html

2) For a way to create a single HTML file containing all the topics
under a "book" heading in the table of contents, see:

http://helpware.net/FAR/far_faq.htm#chmtopdf

Of course, you can then load this HTML file into Word and modify it as
necessary.

3) Find someone who uses a help authoring tool like RoboHelp,
AuthorIT, or Doc-To-Help. These tools can import a help file and then
export its contents as a Word document.

 

[David]

Thanks. I can see it now. But some sample code on the
page just show ???. Do you know how can I fix them? I
appreciate.

 

[Pete Lees]

David,

Thanks. I can see it now. But some sample code on the
page just show ???. Do you know how can I fix them?

It's hard to say without looking at the help file, but, on the
assumption that you've installed Service Pack 4 (SP4) for Windows
2000, you could see if unregistering and then re-registering the HTML
Help ActiveX control makes any difference. To do this, open a command
prompt window and type the following two commands:

regsvr32 /u <drive>:\winnt\system32\hhctrl.ocx
regsvr32 <drive>:\winnt\system32\hhctrl.ocx

There is no need to do this if you haven't installed SP4 yet.

If this doesn't fix the problem, could you send the help file to me
off-list? Alternatively, if the file is more than 1 MB, follow this
procedure to send me the source of just one of the topics:

1) Open the help file and go to a topic that doesn't display properly.

2) Right-click the topic pane and select View Source from the popup
menu. This will open the source of the topic in Notepad.

3) Save the file and email it to me.