Help acquiring Help files

[Raven_Singularity]

I tried using the Help "Update All Pages" thing, but it was going at dial-up Internet speeds on my 175Mbps download connection.  It was going to take several hours to update, and I tried to let it finish but I needed to turn off my computer and cancelled it.  Well, I had to kill it from the Task Manager, because it would not respond to Ctrl+Break, Ctrl+C, or hitting the QB64 [X] to close the app.  Totally non-responsive while updating the Help files.  Why didn't it just update Help files one-at-a-time and leave things otherwise fully functional?  At most break the one help page that is being downloaded.

At this point I have no Help files at all.  Is there an HTTP mirror I can download the Help files from at a reasonable speed?

[Raven_Singularity]

To be clear, I am getting "IDE Module Error: (module: ide_methods, on line: 2492)" if I press [F1] on a keyword.


Correction:

I am getting absolutely nothing when I press [F1] on keywords, no error, no help screen.

The above error occurs when I press [F1] on a variable type like: foo~&

[FellippeHeitor]

Go as you need them as I suggested at https://www.qb64.org/forum/index.php?topic=1232.msg104398#msg104398:

If instead you'd like to go downloading the fixed pages as you need, you can delete all the contents of the internal/help folder (they are all text files with the exception of one links.bin, which can be safely removed).

After you do that, launch QB64 and go to Help->Keyword Index. That'll download the main help page with the links to the new keywords added recently.

From then on, you can simply type a keyword in your program and hit F1 to download the desired help page.

After deleting the contents of internal/help it's important to go to Help->Keyword Index to recreate the index by fetching it from the wiki. That'll solve the IDE error you're reporting.

[Raven_Singularity]

Unfortunately, that has not worked.

I erased ./internal/help/*.*, then went to "Help > Keyword index", it said it was downloading a page, took about 20-30 seconds, then it displayed a completely empty page and said I could type to search.  I tried pressing "a" but the page remained blank.  Same module error if I F1 on a variable type, nothing if I press F1 on any other keyword.

[FellippeHeitor]

QB64 is timing out when downloading from the wiki on your machine. Firewall getting in the way maybe?

[FellippeHeitor]

Either way, here's my links.bin file and my index page, which are updated (I just did as I instructed you above, so the website is responding fine). These should be placed in your internal/help folder. From then on you should be able to view Help->Keyword Index and go from there.

If even then pages take forever and never load, there's definitely something in the way on your machine, likely your firewall.

[Raven_Singularity]

It seems my QB64 is no longer capable of downloading any Help files on its own.  Using your files, when I press [F1] on my foo~& it says it is downloading the page for LONG, but it never succeeds.  My QB64 used to download pages, though it has always taken 30+ seconds per page.  I don't see why Windows would suddenly start applying a firewall rule to the app after it was working for months.  I will check to see if there's anything blocking it, but I don't think there is.  It did create an empty .bin file when I told it to update, so it's not a file permissions issue.  It looks like an issue with the QB64 IDE itself, possibly due to being in an inconsistent state after I killed using the Task Manager while it was too-slowly downloading every Help page.

How long does it take you to download a Help page -- nearly instant, or 10-40 seconds?

[FellippeHeitor]

Nearly instant. What takes longer is the index I just gave you.

Is this 1.3 yet? If so, bear in mind it's a new binary entirely and your firewall may be having issues trusting it after the upgrade.

[Raven_Singularity]

I have never upgraded my QB64 since I started using it a few months ago.  It appears I am using v1.2.  I will upgrade to v1.3 and see how it goes.  Thank you!

By the way, I tried opening the keywords Help page that you gave me, and it comes out as gibberish characters then visible markup:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. ="toc">"text-align: center"><br> Alphabetical QB64 Keyword Listings <br><br> Â Â Â Â QB 64:Â  _AÂ _BÂ _CÂ _DÂ _EÂ _F _G _HÂ _I _K _LÂ _MÂ _NÂ _OÂ _P _R _S _T _U _V _W
2. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â <br><br>QBasic:Â  AÂ Â  BÂ Â  CÂ Â Â DÂ Â  EÂ Â  Â FÂ Â  G Â Â H Â Â Â  IÂ Â Â Â K Â Â L Â Â M Â Â N Â Â Â O Â Â P Â Â Â R Â Â S Â Â Â T Â Â U
3. Â Â V Â Â W Â Â XÂ Â Â <br><br>OpenGL: Â Â AÂ Â Â Â BÂ Â  Â CÂ Â Â Â DÂ Â Â  EÂ Â  Â Â FÂ Â Â  G Â Â Â HÂ Â  Â  IÂ Â  Â Â L Â Â Â M Â Â Â N Â Â Â Â O Â Â Â P Â Â Â Â R
4.    S     T  Â   V       <br><br> Symbols    -    References<br><br>{{small|Menu Created by Cyperium ]]></div>
5.  
6. <center>Go to Frequently Asked Questions about QB64</center>
7.  
8. "text-align: center">Go to keywords by Usage>
9.  
10. "text-align: center">Keywords beginning with _underscores are QB64 specific.>
11.  
12. "text-align: center">Keywords currently not supported by QB64>
13.  
14. "text-align: center">Keywords Not Supported in Linux or MAC versions>
15.  
16. "text-align: center">Keywords without the underscore at the beginning should work with both QB 4.5 and QB64.>
17.  
18. "text-align: center">For comments or suggestions about this WIKI goto the QB64 Forum http://www.qb64.org/forum/index.php.>
19.  
20. <center>Known QB64 Issues</center>
21.  
22. <center> If code examples only display partial code, use the browser Refresh button</center>
23.  
24. <center>Main Page with Appendix and Tutorials</center>

[FellippeHeitor]

That's fixed in 1.3 as well.

[FellippeHeitor]

Now it's all clear. Older version 1.2 was still trying to fetch from now defunct [abandoned, outdated and now likely malicious qb64 dot net website - don’t go there]. Get 1.3 to solve the download issue as well.

[Raven_Singularity]

I just checked and the QB64 download I was using is:

qb64_2018-11-01-14-33-43_2398884-master_win.7z

I'm not sure if that's the standard v1.2 or not, but either way, I'll be on v1.3 momentarily.  :-)

[Raven_Singularity]

Everything is working on QB64 v1.3!

I didn't even realise I wasn't on the newest version, do thanks again for pointing that out.


Edit:

After a few minutes, it's at 670/859 Help files downloaded.  It's doing about 1-5 pages per second now -- much smoother than 30-40 seconds for each page, lol!