Known Issues Concerning Internet Explorer 7.0
This page should serve as a collection of known problems that have recently surfaced as a result of Microsoft's release of Internet Explorer 7.
No Local File Access
Symptoms: PDF button and Favorites tab do not function correctly in WebWorks Help 5.0 output stored locally.
Cause: It appears that there is a new definition of the security environment for local file access. The PDF button launches a local PDF file, and the Favorites tab attempts to access cookies on the local file system. If this access is denied, the tab is not displayed.
Solution: For now, there is no known way to work around the issue. The WebWorks output is functioning as designed, but Internet Explorer 7 (and possibly FireFox 2.0) is causing the misbehavior. Launching the helpset from a network location restores access to these features.
No Context-Sensitive Help
Symptoms: Calling context-sensitive help in WebWorks Help 5.0 output opens only the first page of the helpset (e.g., index.html) instead of launching the requested topic page.
Cause: IE7 removes the "query string" from URLs calling documents on the local file system. So, when you pass a reference like 'index.html?context=Group1&topic=MyTopic', the browser only sees 'index.html.' This does not affect server-based helpsets.
Solution: For now, there is no known way to work around the issue when calling local files with the URL string. The best way to ensure compatibility is to use the WebWorks Help API for context-sensitive calls. The API has recently been updated to resolve this issue by saving the query string information in a temporary file. You can find information on using the API, as well as a download link in our TechNotes article here: