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Server-based NetHelp

NetHelp can be deployed in any Web server and viewed in client browsers over the Internet or Intranet. There are no additional requirements for NetHelp on the server except for NetHelp Search functionality. NetHelp Java Search uses Java, so it requires Sun JRE installed on the server machine (Microsoft JVM is not supported, because Microsoft is ending support of MSJVM). For the same reason, to enable Search, NetHelp Java Search must be deployed either on a Web server supporting Java servlets (Tomcat, Resin, etc) or in Microsoft IIS (these two categories of Web servers cover all popular general use Web servers).

Note that Java is not needed on user machines to view server-based NetHelp in user browsers.

See the SearchType property for information on setting NetHelp search to Java.

Also note that Windows XP SP2 security block described in Local NetHelp does not apply to server-based NetHelp.

Deploying NetHelp in a Java servlet-enabled Web server

Deploying NetHelp in any popular Java-enabled Web server (such as Tomcat, Resin, etc) does not require any special steps except the standard procedure of publishing Web pages on the server. Just follow your Web server instructions for publishing content. For example, suppose generated NetHelp is in a ...\MyProject\NetHelp folder and you want to publish it in Jakarta Tomcat. Suppose your Tomcat folder is ...\jakarta-tomcat-5. Copy the NetHelp folder to ...\jakarta-tomcat-5\webapps. Start Tomcat, run ...\jakarta-tomcat-5\startup.bat. You can immediately see NetHelp in your browser. For example, on the same server machine you can navigate your browser to http://localhost:8080/NetHelp/default.htm

Deploying NetHelp in Microsoft IIS

To deploy NetHelp in Microsoft IIS you need to create an IIS virtual directory for your NetHelp (the standard procedure for publishing any content in IIS) and perform a few simple additional steps (these steps are not needed if you don’t need Search functionality in NetHelp):

1.   As with any server-based NetHelp deployment, Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) must be installed on your server machine.

2.   Copy C1D2HASPHandler.dll found in the NetHelp subdirectory of the Doc-To-Help installation directory to the server machine (does not matter to what directory, the directory where NetHelp is deployed is a good choice) and register it with

regsvr32 C1D2HASPHandler.dll

3.   Modify the platform.js file in the NetHelp directory. By default this file contains

var d2hServerPlatform = "jsp";

which means that NetHelp Search uses a Java servlet. Change it to

var d2hServerPlatform = "asp";

to use ASP instead.