Problem Installing CHM Help in Lazarus 4.2

[Curt Carpenter]

Recently used fpcdeluxeup to install lazarus 4.2 and FPC 3.2.2 on my Linux PC.   

I've followed the instructions in the wiki for installing CHM help, but get strange behavior when I press F1 to request help on something like "integer."   There is a delay with some compilation activity, and I end up with two LHelp icons on my screen and the message "Error starting LHelp IPC server" on my IDE.  Any idea what I've done and how to fix it?

 (I can't make the CHM option stick on Tools>Options>Help Options either if that matters.)   

[marcov]

Here it works on Windows with Lazarus trunk. I messed around a bit till it compiled lhelp (from within the IDE), and for the rest I only put the chm files in lazarus\docs\html

[dsiders]

Recently used fpcdeluxeup to install lazarus 4.2 and FPC 3.2.2 on my Linux PC.   

I've followed the instructions in the wiki for installing CHM help, but get strange behavior when I press F1 to request help on something like "integer."   There is a delay with some compilation activity, and I end up with two LHelp icons on my screen and the message "Error starting LHelp IPC server" on my IDE.  Any idea what I've done and how to fix it?

 (I can't make the CHM option stick on Tools>Options>Help Options either if that matters.)

The compilation can be expected if you used "Clean And Build All" at any point. Clean removes the LHelp executable - but Build All does not recompile it. So LHelp is recompiled on startup by the IDE. I always rebuild LHelp using LazBuild:

Code: Bash  [Select][+][-]

1. ./lazbuild components/chmhelp/lhelp/lhelp.lpi --ws=qt6

I have no idea about the IPC Server issue. Is your IDE installed in user space? As root? Just guessing...

Works fine on  OpenSUSE Tumbleweed + QT6.

[dsiders]

Here it works on Windows with Lazarus trunk. I only put the chm files in lazarus\docs\html

Don't you mean docs\chm\ for CHM files?

[marcov]

Don't you mean docs\chm\ for CHM files?

No. Lazarus said docs\html, and that worked.

[Curt Carpenter]

I uninstalled package chmhelppkg0.2.1 and I now have access to html help on via my browser.   Also see that the CHM option is no longer listed in the Tools>Options>Help window.   I could quit here and count my blessings, but would really like to get back to the CHM option (I miss the little lHelp icon and my browser normally opens in a full screen which is inconvenient).  Is anyone using the CHM help on Lazarus 4.2?   

I note also that if I delete the lhelp directory from my ~/.config directory, it is restored the next time I relaunch lazarus.

All suggestions appreciated. 

[marcov]

I don't use CHM that often on Linux. In what directory did you put the CHM files there?

The HTML help for the IDE and the CHM library documentation are two different things ?

[Curt Carpenter]

the CHM files are all in directory ~/lazarus/docs/chm exclusively. 

I followed the install instructions in the wiki, but note some slight differences to the instructions in
~/lazarus/components/chmhelp. 

With chmhelppkg0.2.1 installed, I was never able to get its selection to "stick" in the ide's tools>options>help>help options window.

Removing chmhelppkg0.2.1 allowed me to use the html help.

[marcov]

Try to put it in docs/html instead of docs/chm

[Curt Carpenter]

You mean just put all the .chm files in docs/html and re-install chmhelppkg0.2.1?  Or move all of the files now in the /docs/chm directory into docs/html and re-install chmhelppkg0.2.1? 

Appreciate the help, but I'm worried that I'll end up crashing lazarus all together.  Think I'll just go with the html and count my blessings.

[marcov]

You mean just put all the .chm files in docs/html and re-install chmhelppkg0.2.1?  Or move all of the files now in the /docs/chm directory into docs/html and re-install chmhelppkg0.2.1? 

Yes

Appreciate the help, but I'm worried that I'll end up crashing lazarus all together.  Think I'll just go with the html and count my blessings.

No guts, no glory :-)

[Curt Carpenter]

You mean just put all the .chm files in docs/html and re-install chmhelppkg0.2.1?  Or move all of the files now in the /docs/chm directory into docs/html and re-install chmhelppkg0.2.1? 

Yes

Appreciate the help, but I'm worried that I'll end up crashing lazarus all together.  Think I'll just go with the html and count my blessings.

No guts, no glory :-)

OK, I copied the files as suggested.  No luck.  Same problem persists.   It looks like html help gets installed no matter what, and trying to use
chmhelppkg0.2.1 causes neither chm or html help to work.

[dbannon]

Curt, there is an option in Lazarus, Tools->Options-Help->ChmHelpFilesPath that lets yo set the path to (?) almost anywhere ?  Please check it and see if it agrees with where you have put your downloaded CHM files. The files have .chm and .xct extensions.

Davo

[marcov]

(the .xct are not needed for help, just if you want to build a chm that links to a CHM, you need the .XCT)

[Curt Carpenter]

Curt, there is an option in Lazarus, Tools->Options-Help->ChmHelpFilesPath that lets yo set the path to (?) almost anywhere ?  Please check it and see if it agrees with where you have put your downloaded CHM files. The files have .chm and .xct extensions.

Davo

I tried that but no luck.  No matter what I do with chmhelppkg0.2.1 installed, I get two LHelp icons after a period of compilation and eventually get the message "Error starting LHelp IPC server." 

If I uninstall chmhelppkg, I can successfully access LHelp via my browser.  I think my problem may be that I can't seem to turn off the LHelp that is using the html files. 

Meanwhile, I note this from the  https://wiki.freepascal.org/Installing_Help_in_the_IDE

"HelpFilesPath" should be where you just put the CHM files. Leave it empty (recommended) to use the default, which includes $(LazarusDir)\docs\html and $(LazarusDir)\docs\chm.