How do I restore visibility of the Compiled HTML Help scroll bars?

[Breck_Carter]

I think this is more of a Windows 7 / Help browser question than a SQL Anywhere question, but...

How do I restore the full visibility of the right hand scroll bars in SQL Anywhere's Compiled HTML Help? The following screen shots show that the scroll bars on the right side of the V9 and V12 Help exist are not fully visible.

You can still click on them to scroll (see the arrows), but it's the scroll bar buttons I miss the most... without them it's hard to control scrolling, and I've had to resort to the mouse wheel for all scrolling.

FWIW the Adapter Server 6 Help has the same problem, but not dbeng50w.hlp from Version 5:

[former_SQLA_member1694871]

Just curious. What happens if you try decreasing the font size. I noticed in looking at the help file on my machine, that as the font size decreased, the horizontal scroll bar appeared and then was pushed off the page as the size of the font got larger.

I'm doing this test on an XP machine running SP3. Running in classic mode.

I wonder if it's not even a Windows 7 issue at all, but just an issue with HTML help in general.

HTH.

Jeff Gibson
Intercept Solutions - Sybase SQL Anywhere OEM Partner
Nashville, TN

[Former Member]

Hi Jeff, great insight. I tried what you did on my XP machine and am seeing the same anomalous HTML Help behavior Breck is indicating. Not sure how to solve for this anomaly other than resizing font/window until the scroll bars are restored (the HTML Help framework is not modifiable other than a very few customizable features). - Laura

[former_SQLA_member1694871]

Same thing happens on my Vista machine as well. I've got a Windows 2000 and a Windows Server 2003 machine I'm going to try out in the morning. My guess is they all will act the same way.

Breck. Did changing the font size make a difference in what you were seeing??

[VolkerBarth]

Interesting point: On my XP SP3 System (German Windows) using the 12.0.1 help, the right pane shows a horizontal scroll bar only very occasionally at all - even if I make the left pane very wide and use a large font ...

It seems to be shown more often when navigating to a new page (or when the previous page had displayed it, too). When just increasing the font size for the current pane, it's usually not shown.

However, both scrollbars seems to work correctly as far as I can tell. (Though other help files I've tested don't make the scrollbar(s) vanish as 12.0.1 does - they usually just disable them.)

May it be due to screen resolution, too? (I'm using 1280x1024, FWIW.)

[Breck_Carter]

Same behavior at all font sizes when using the HTML Help "Font" button. Also same behavior when I change the theme to Windows 7 Aero from the funky HP theme, also same behavior with Windows Classic theme. Also same behavior with the original Adaptive Server Anywhere 6 Help, which probably means it's caused by the Windows compiled HTML Help dll.

[VolkerBarth]

...and no default way to go back to the SQL Anywhere 5.5 WinHelp as WinHelp is no more supported on Windows 7 (AFAIK) 😞

(The number one reason to stick with XP:)

[Breck_Carter]

dbeng50w.hlp works OK on Windows 7, and the vertical scrollbar is visible there; see the original question for an additional screen capture. I can't remember, but it is possible I downloaded this http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=258aa5ec-e3d9-4228-8844-008e02b32a2c&dis...

[VolkerBarth]

Hmm, so you say I should dare to upgradeunload my system to Win7...?

Yes, I'm aware that WinHelp support can be added to Win7 - it's just not supported by default. (I know as I had to convert some older help files...).

[graeme_perrow]

dcx.sybase.com FTW!

[Breck_Carter]

dcx is nice but it is too slow... there will ALWAYS be a place for local content... otherwise, you would not sell a single copy of MobiLink 🙂

[Former Member]

Hello, we haven't seen this issue before; it's possibly Windows 7 related. We will investigate and post more soon. Thanks for reporting it! - Laura Nevin Manager - SQL Anywhere Documentation Team

[VolkerBarth]

@LQN: Isn't there a "PK conflict" with this user?

Just in case the administrator could help:)