Problem of the week 36

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Okay, next problem. And no google please.

This is a simple one. If you pinpoint the problem I won't even bother to give you the solution.

A few weeks ago I bought a book on C# programming. On the companion CD there was the complete book in CHM-format, which is very easy when searching for some text or code. Now I don't want to be a diskjockey changing CD's over and over so I created a folder called: C# Books and copied the chm file in that folder.
When I tried to open the file I got a warning that the file could not be displayed.
I work with IE 7.0 (but 6.0 gives the same effect) on a windows 2003, XP, 2000 or Vista platform.

What is the problem here?

 

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I won't spoil the fun right off the bat by answering.

 

Incorrect file associations? .chm isn't meant to be opened with a web browser?

 

This problem sounds like an incompatibility issue the file is not recognized in the format your trying to open it in. In other words the files needed were not copied onto the folder format.

 

I presume that on one of the CDs there is a CHM file reader app which runs automatically when the CD is inserted, so you would need to also copy the reader and run it prior to clicking on the CHM file.

best guess

 

No, that's not it. The file is local.

 

Well. it is a deriviate. CHM stands for Compiled HTML. If you look closely to an opened helpfile, you will find out it actually uses the webbrowser engine.

 

It is not some security issue. Other chm files open without a glitch.

 

But the file opens correctly from the CD!

 

No that's not it. All MS help files are CHM and so I have a reader on my system.

 

The file has the wrong attributes set?

 

Yes, from the cd they would because everything you need for that file is supplied on the CD.

What I belive onoski is saying " is that maybe some of the files needed for it to display correctly were not copyed over to your c# folder on your hard drive. This is what I'm wondering too. Or maybe some of the files were corrupted during the copy process?

This is fun, I like this game.

 

No, all attributes are correct.

 

Yes, but was not the problem. The file was not corrupted during the transfer and it was complete. In fact you could easily get the same error message. If you try to open a CHM file on a networkdrive you get the same message.
So, the file opens, but it does not display the contents.

 

You're just that bit sharper than me Sparky... by about four seconds....

Try it

 

Bullseye! Allthough the octathorp (#) is not an illegal symbol in paths and all other programs have no problem with it, the CHM-viewer has. The fix is simpel: just change the name.

 

Well crap, that one was not on my list at all!