Error on page - switch.htm - no content showing in WW5 help
The user described this problem with their WebWorks Help 5.0 output after an ePublisher upgrade:
I just installed Webworks ePublisher version 2008.1. I am trying to generate output using ePublisher Pro projects created with version 9.3 and FrameMaker 7.2. The output I get from ePublisher Pro opens a "switch.htm" file instead of the "index.html" file it used to. When it opens the "switch.htm" file, it does not display any content. The message bar at the bottom of the browser window displays a message that reads "Error on page."
The FireFox debugging tool showed these errors on launch:
syntax error before_unload(beforeunload )common.js (line 210) this.mCookiesDaysToExpire = ;\n options.js (line 9)
WWHCommonSettings_Object is not defined WWHSwitch_Object()switch.js (line 8) this.mSettings = new WWHCommonSettings_Object(); switch.js (line 8)
WWHSwitch has no properties onload(load )
The WebWorks.com diagnosis is:
This user's project had an override to a file called wwhelp_settings.fti in the Transforms folder. For version 2008.1, some new settings were added there to enable configuration settings related to cookies installed by the WebWorks Help 5.0 helpset. Since these settings were not present in the user's overridden copy of the file (and thus were absent in the project's Format Settings), the value of those settings was null. When the output was launched, the 2008.1-level JavaScript looked for a value for those settings, and, finding none, returned an error.
This illustrates the importance of following the recommended process for upgrading with projects containing overrides. If you have only modified a few of the default Format files, then you could end up with a combination of files from the new version and from your previous version. File references and dependencies could be broken, and you could get unexpected behavior in your output. To avoid this, consider these upgrade tips:
1. If you have overrides that won't be immediately migrated to the newest version, or if you have team members who may continue generating output with the previous version of the product for some time, it's a good idea to save stationery before you uninstall your current version. That way, users who remain on that version can continue to generate output using that stationery. Then, after you upgrade, you can also use that stationery on the new version, and you should see no changes in the output.
2. If you need to modify the style properties or other UI-based settings after your upgrade (but before migrating your overrides), then create an ePublisher Express project based on the previous version's stationery, and then change the extension of the WRP file to WEP and open it in ePublisher Pro. Then, you can make your changes and update the stationery, which will contain the new project settings but the Format and Target files from the previous version.
3. Eventually, you'll need to migrate any overrides to the newest version of the modified files to take advantage of any added features, fixed bugs, or performance enhancements of the new version. If only a few files are overridden, it might be easiest to start with a clean slate and perform the same overrides on the default files from the newest ePublisher Pro version (be sure to delete any files from the previous version at this point). With lots of overrides, the best option is to do a 3-way comparison with a tool such as Araxis Merge. For example:
- Compare your modified 9.3 stationery to the default 9.3 files to locate the files you changed and the changes that were made. Delete any unchanged files in your project.
- Compare the default 9.3 files to the default 2008.1 files.
- Migrate only the changes found in step (a) to copies of the corresponding files from 2008.1 (some overrides designed to work around known issues that have since been fixed may be ignored). d. Once the project has been updated so that all overridden files are compatible with 2008.1, open your Master Project and save as stationery.
4. Once everyone has upgraded to the newest version and the Master Project's overrides have been migrated, everyone can synchronize with the new stationery and continue working on the newest version of the platform.
For more information on the upgrade and override migration process, see these wiki articles:
http://wiki.webworks.com/DevCenter/Documentation/ePublisher_9.3/upgrading http://wiki.webworks.com/HelpCenter/Tips/ChangedFilesIn2008.1 http://wiki.webworks.com/HelpCenter/Tips/Araxis_Three_Way_Comparison
The specific solution to this issue is:
To add the cookie setting information to the wwhelp_settings.fti override, the following markup was added to the <Classes> section
<Class name="wwhelp-cookie-daystoexpire">
<Common value="1" />
<Common value="30" />
<Common value="90" />
<Common value="365" />
</Class>
Also, the following details were added to the WebWorks Help <Settings> section:
<Setting name="wwhelp-cookie-id" group="wwhelp" default="{WWAutomatic}">
<SettingClass name="automatic" />
<SettingClass name="string" />
</Setting>
<Setting name="wwhelp-cookie-daystoexpire" group="wwhelp" default="30">
<SettingClass name="wwhelp-cookie-daystoexpire" />
</Setting>The project must be closed and reopened to load the new fields in the Format Settings (or any other changes to the FTI files).