Documentation for Fortran and C/C++ unreadable

rase · ‎04-21-2014

After the update of Composer XE 2013 SP1.179 the documentation is unreadable. The first line in the Help window shows

<html xmlns:MSHelp="http://www.microsoft.com/MSHelp/" lang="en-us" ....

It looks like the Help content is supposed to be displayed as HTML using a browser. Firefox, IE and Chrome are installed and usable. I tried to fix the problem by deleting and reinstalling the documentation files using the Add and Remove Help Content menu, as Steve Lionel advised me to do in a former post. But the funny text display remains. What can I do to get the proper help display? I use Windows 7 64 bit.

Steven_L_Intel1 · ‎04-21-2014

Please attach a screenshot of what you're seeing. I want to see which application is displaying the content. Use the Select Media button below, not the one on the toolbar here. Also tell me how you are asking that the help be viewed - there are several ways to do this.

rase · ‎04-21-2014

Thank you, Steve. Screenshot of the initial Help window is attached. VS2012 (German), last update of IVF

Steven_L_Intel1 · ‎04-21-2014

Thanks. This appears to be a known issue in Microsoft Help Viewer 2.0 caused by MSIE security settings. It is discussed in https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/764536/help-viewer-2-0-displays-raw-html-due-to-company-enforced-security-policy

Depending on what your environment allows, the following may fix it:

1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor (Start -> Run -> "gpedit.msc").
2. Under "Local Computer Policy", drill down to the following entry: Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Internet Explorer / Internet Control Panel / Security Page / Local Machine Zone. You don't need to worry about any of the other security zones, just "Local Machine Zone".
3. Locate the correct setting. If you're using Internet Explorer 8 or earlier, it's called "Open files based on content, not file extension"; for IE 9 and above, it's called "Enable MIME Sniffing".
4. Double-click the setting to open it, and change its value to "Disabled". (Note that "Not Configured" isn't good enough; in this instance, "Not Configured" has the same effect as "Enabled", which is not what you want.) Click "Apply", then "OK".

rase · ‎04-21-2014

The change of "Enable MIME sniffing" to Disable did not show any effect. Whereas the general Help in VS2012 displays the HTML pages correctly, the Intel Composer Help pages are displayed as raw HTML text. What could be the problem?

Is there a possibility to read PDF pages of the Language Reference Manual from an Intel website?

Steven_L_Intel1 · ‎04-21-2014

PDF, no, but you can view the documentation here.

I don't know what the problem would be if only the Intel pages display incorrectly. You might try a reboot first to see if that causes the change to take effect. In the meantime I'll ask our documentation team to see if they have any ideas.

rase · ‎04-21-2014

Thanks a lot for the hint to the URL which is the workaround I looked for. I restarted the system after the changes, I also set the parameter to Enable, just to test the possibilites. Nothing changed the display of the raw HTML text.

Steven_L_Intel1 · ‎04-24-2014

rase,

The problem you're encountering is a Microsoft bug that Microsoft fixed in later builds of VS2012. I see that Update 4 for VS2012 is the latest available - please check to see if you have already installed that, and if not, do so. You can check the version using Help > About. For example, here is what mine shows:

rase · ‎04-25-2014

Update 4 for VS2012 was installed. To be sure I downloaded update 4 again, executed it and clicked Repair. But nothing has changed with the wrong display of the Help pages. I plan to install VS 2012 and Composer XE on my notebook anyway. Let's wait and see was is going to happen with the Help files.

rase · ‎04-29-2014

The installation of VS 2012 and Composer XE on my notebook (Windows 7 32 bit) was successful. The Composer XE help files are displayed as expected. What bugs me when I compare the Help displays on my desktop (erroneous display) and notebook (correct display): on the notebook there is also documentation for Microsoft Help Viewer 2.0 which is missing on the desktop. For unknown reasons the Help Viewer 2.0 was not included in the desktop version of VS 2012 or Composer XE. Maybe V15 will cure the problem. In the meantime I can go along with the workaround by accessing the documentation using the WWW. Or I use the notebook when I am short of a www connection.

Steven_L_Intel1 · ‎04-29-2014

Intel doesn't provide any components of VS2012 (at present), so the help viewer and its documentation are entirely the domain of the Microsoft install.

rase · ‎05-17-2014

Update: After a new installation of Windows 7, MS Visual Studio 2012 and the most recent update of Intel Composer XE 2013 SP 1 (3.202) the C/C++ and Fortran documentation are showing up normally again. Most probably Windows 7 was damaged so badly that the correct display of the Intel documentation was blocked somehow.