Help links to URLs do not work in Firefox

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:18 pm

Was just using Help on the new RegEx function. When I clicked on PCRE and EasyPattern links, they both opened up in MSIE.

I always use Firefox, keep it up to date, and ignore MSIE as much as possible.

Any way of making Help links use default browser vs. forcing MSIE to be resident?
=====================
Thanks for the new RegEx, and for providing the Perl compatible syntax.

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:20 pm

Sounds more like an issue with your setup: My default browser is Chrome. When I click a link in Help, it opens a tab in Chrome, as I would expect.

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:15 pm

Firefox is correctly set as default browser.

Other HTM/HTML links open in Firefox. So, this must be a file association thing that may be wrong? What is the extension that I should be looking at for the links in the Macro Scheduler help file?

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:25 pm

No idea. This is all managed by Microsoft's help engine.

I just tried it on a PC running FireFox as the default browser and get the same issue as you - links open in IE.

But on two different PCs running Chrome as the default browser the links open in Chrome.

This suggests to me that FireFox has missed something during install. It has failed to install some handler or file association. Whereas the Chrome install has it covered.

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:28 pm

A Google search found me this:

links in .chm help files always open in IE
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... 8&t=426465

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:29 pm

And this:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &sk=t&sd=a

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:50 pm

Hi Marcus

Thanks for the links.
I had already found one of them before I got back here. The bad news is neither of them has a solution. They conclude that the use of MSIE is hardcoded inside the CHM file. But the reality, as you are showing with Chrome is that they are wrong. (Hmm, can you check your file association for Open CHM?) The answers on these postings are also provided by some well meaning end users, but not really knowledgeable about the real cause.

I do have an AddOn extension for Firefox that allows me to read CHM files. It is CHM Reader 0.2.3. I have used that for quite a while. When I open the Macro Scheduler Help file with Firefox (Main Menu: File/Open CHM Files), the Help file opens fine. When I click on a link that points to a URL, it opens correctly in Firefox just as I wanted.

I tried changing the association for CHM from hh to firefox. Two observations:
1. Double clicking on msched.chm starts Firefox but it prompts to Save the File before opening, then need to go to SaveAs box, etc......too many steps, not acceptable,
2. Opening Help from Macro Scheduler still opens in MSIE even though the association is for Firefox. So using association does not seem to be the method that launches the browser.
Either one of of those two errors would be unacceptable, so I set it back to hh as the default with file associations.

So my temp fix is to use Firefox to open the Help file until I can find the real fix from Mozilla. No idea about making a shortcut since I don't know what the executable will be!

AHA! Make a Macro Scheduler macro to open Firefox, do File/Open CHM Files/ enter the msched.chm name. Assign a Hot Key, and I am done!

Not what I wanted, but that's what this is all about. Thanks for making me think through to the obvious. Maybe someday I can come back with the correct Firefox fix.

jpuziano · Post by **jpuziano** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 11:19 pm

Hi Bob,

Interesting... The fact that Chrome handles this but not Firefox... certainly makes it look like a Firefox bug/deficiency.

Bob Hansen wrote:Maybe someday I can come back with the correct Firefox fix.

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/

Using the Search feature at the mozilla bugzilla site above, I searched with Product=Firefox
...for any open bugs containing chm and found only one (not this one) so you may be the first person to spot this Bob... you should put in a bug report.

A fix for this would be great for Firefox users. Thanks for posting about it.

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 4:13 am

I now think that the CHROME must have some underlying pinning to MSIE. Everything else I find says that parts of MSIE are hardcoded in hh.exe, the CHM executable file. I did find some info about a Microsoft Security Patch that messed up the CHM reader. I did try an earlier version of hh.exe but had the same results.

Anyway, I have started to play with a Macro Scheduler script. Am currently fighting a timing issue, and may not get back to it for a while. Here is the rough first draft of what I have so far:

Code: Select all

/* Comments:
Designed on March 2, 2009, by Robert M. Hansen. 
Sensible Solutions Inc.
215 South Broadway, Unit 308
Salem, NH  03079
http://www.sensiblesolutions.org

Purpose:
To open Macro Scheduler HELP file in Firefox.
CHM files with URL links open in MSIE vs. default browser.

Designed with 
    Macro Scheduler 11.1.05 
    Firefox 3.0.6
    CHM Reader 0.2.3 installed on Firefox
    XP-PRO SP2
    
Needs CHM Reader installed.
Uses Firefox current default profile.
=============================================================
*/

Label>InitializeVariables
Let>SK_DELAY=5
Let>vDelay=1
Let>RP_WAIT=1
Let>RP_WINDOWMODE=2

// Confirm CHM Reader AddOn is installed
GetEnvVar>UserProfile,vUserPath
Let>vProfilePath=%vUserPath%\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
RunProgram>cmd /c dir "%vProfilePath%\" > tmpAllProfiles.txt
RunProgram>cmd /c find /n ".default" tmpAllProfiles.txt > tmpProfile.txt
ReadLn>tmpProfile.txt,3,vProfileName.txt

// Extract Profile Name
RegEx>pattern,text,easypatterns,matches_array,num_matches,replace_flag[,replace_string,replace_result]
RegEx>^.* (\w.*.default),%vProfileName.txt%,0,,,1,$1,vProfileName
IfDirExists>%vProfilePath%\%vProfileName%\extensions\{6e098d65-7d2d-46d4-ada0-2f882a29f795},Good,Fail

Label>Good
// Message>CHM Reader is installed.  OK to continue.
// Wait>3
Goto>Begin

Label>Fail
MessageModal>Need to install CHM Reader
Goto>End

Label>Begin
// Start a separate Firefox
// Get path for msched.chm 
Position>msched.exe,%COMMAND_LINE%,1,vEndPath
Let>vEndPath=%vEndPath%-3
MidStr>%COMMAND_LINE%,2,%vEndPath%,vPath

// Create a temp htm file to start default browser
Let>vFile=%vPath%\temp.htm
WriteLn>%vFile%,vResult,Opening Macro Scheduler HELP file
// Let>RP_WINDOWMODE=0
ExecuteFile>%vFile%
WaitWindowOpen>Mozilla Firefox*
SetFocus>Mozilla Firefox*
WaitReady>0
WaitScreenText>Opening Macro Scheduler HELP file
Wait>%vDelay%

// Open CHM file in Firefox
Press ALT
Send>f
Release ALT
Wait>%vDelay%
// Send>h ...........(was sometimes firing Help Menu vs. Open CHM Files)       
//Release>ALT
Press DOWN*4
Press ENTER
Wait>%vDelay%

// Select CHM file
WaitWindowOpen>Open CHM File*
SetFocus>Open CHM File*
Press>ALT
Send>n
Release>ALT
Wait>%vDelay%
Send>%vPath%\msched.chm
Wait>%vDelay%

// Open the CHM file
Press>TAB*2
Wait>%vDelay%
Press>ENTER

WaitWindowClosed>Open CHM File*
WaitWindowOpen>Welcome! - Mozilla Firefox*

Label>Cleanup
DeleteFile>%vFile%
DeleteFile>tmpAllProfiles.txt
DeleteFile>tmpProfile.txt

Label>End

It works most of the time, but I have three intermittent areas.
1. Sometimes the DIR files are not running properly so it thinks that CHM Reader is not installed.
2. Sometimes, it does not complete pressing Open CHM Files from Firefox Menu.
3. Sometimes it does not complete pressing ENTER when opening the CHM file.
Would be curious to see if others are also having intermittent operations. Thanks.

I did get to use the new RegEx command, super tool!

(Since this is a Windows problem, not a Macro Scheduler problem, this should be moved to General Discussions Forum vs. Enhancement Requests.)

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:49 pm

I am now working with Mozilla on this issue. Reference Bug 481186, https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=481186

I will not busy this forum with the details, but may ask for some help at times, thanks.

I have opened up CHM files from four other products and they all behave the same way, I don't believe this is a problem of certain dlls, etc. missing from the compiled CHM files.
=============================

Marcus, could you let me know the version of hh.exe you are using that lets CHROME open up? Even better, can you send me a copy to load on my own system?

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:50 am

Bob,

It just occurred to me that this might be a Vista vs XP thing. When I tried it before on a PC running FF as the default browser it was an XP machine. On that PC the links in the help file opened up in IE.

On my machine, where Chrome is installed as default browser, I'm running Vista. Links open up open up in Chrome.

So I just installed FireFox on my Vista laptop and set it as default. When I click a link in the Macro Scheduler help file they now open up in FireFox.

So it looks like it's an issue in XP that was "fixed" in Vista (or the latest help system anyway). I guess in XP the help system is effectively hardwired to IE. In Vista they more politely allow the default browser to open the links.

This means you're probably not going to get very far with Mozilla support - there's unlikely to be anything they can do.

Guess you need to get with the times and upgrade to Vista

JRL · Post by **JRL** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:14 pm

mtettmar wrote:Guess you need to get with the times and upgrade to Vista

I have a Vista computer sitting under my desk. I was sure that Windows XP would go away and I'd be forced to become familiar with Vista for all new computers. I haven't fired it up for at least 6 months.

When I first bought it a couple of years ago it would not connect to my Windows 2000 Advanced Server server. I dinked with it for hours, read all I could find on the internet, nothing I did helped. Then, one morning, after an overnight automatic update, my connection worked. I thought great, Microsoft identified and fixed the problem. Then a couple weeks later, after another overnight automatic update, I could no longer connect again. Well that's not entirely accurate... actually the Vista computer does not even detect the existence of the Win 2000 server. A search for it brings back nothing.

Why would I want anything so fundamentally unreliable when Windows XP does everything any of my 100 users need to do? Besides that, from what I've seen, Vista brings nothing worthwhile to the table.

Bob Hansen · Post by **Bob Hansen** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:46 pm

Thanks for that info Marcus.

I wonder if the hh.exe has been modified vs. changes in the OS? Again, can you send me a copy of the hh.exe that allows default browser to open up?

Like JRL, my Vista has been archived, probably never to be resurrected. On new machines for my customers accounts I have them downgraded to XP at installation. Next move will be to Linux vs Vista/Longhorn/Windows 7. I have been sampling and playing with SUSE version for about a year.

I sure hope that Macro Scheduler will be there, don't know what I will do without it. (Are you listening ?)