Troubleshooting

Can I use Anchor Links?

Anchor links to a set name reference (such as "#details") are supported again in UniHelp 3 and higher, but only in HTML help pages. Anchor links do not work in the Table of Contents, Index, or Context-Sensitive Help due to how the HTMLViewer control loads only FolderItems or HTML source code through its LoadPage method. Clicking an anchor link in HTML will not highlight the loaded page in the TOC. Due to the inconsistent behavior of anchor links in the HTMLViewer control across the different platforms, we recommend using standard relative links to help pages, and avoid using anchor links.

What if I encounter problems with the HTMLViewer on Linux?

Keep in mind that the HTMLViewer control is merely a wrapper for the native HTML rendering engine on each respective OS platform. When run on Mac OS X, HTMLViewer is powered by Apple's WebKit (the same library that powers Apple's Safari web browser). When run on Windows, HTMLViewer is powered by the Internet Explorer engine. When run on Linux, HTMLViewer is powered by GtkHTML, the same library that powers the native OS help browser for many Linux distros.

If you encounter problems with UniHelp on Linux where the HTMLViewer will not work at all, the most likely culprit is that the GtkHTML library is not installed in the Linux distro you are using. Check with your Linux documentation to find out how to download and install the GtkHTML library. We tested UniHelp extensively on Ubuntu, where the GtkHTML library was already installed as part of the default system.

Why won't my CSS styles work on Linux?

HTMLViewer on Linux used to rely on the Mozilla engine, but as of REALbasic 2006r3 and higher, HTMLViewer now utilizes the GtkHTML library, which has a better guarantee of being available on most Linux distros and doesn't incur the same installation problems that frequently occur with Mozilla. Also, the GtkHTML library has a much smaller footprint than the monolithic Mozilla engine. One major limitation to the Linux GtkHTML library is that it does not yet support CSS styles, so while CSS will work great on Mac and Windows, CSS will not display properly on Linux.

Known Limitation on Linux

On Linux, REALbasic's HTMLViewer.StatusChanged event does not fire properly, so the when your cursor mouses over an external URL, that URL does not get displayed in UniHelp's status bar on Linux (but it works fine on Mac and Win32).