This feature is available from the "Tools | Reports" menu and from the "Translations | Reports" menu in Fast-Help International.

Why would I need a Link Analyzer?

You may just want to see all the links for every page in your project or you may want to save yourself time in clicking on each link to make sure they work as expected. Running this report will check every link in your Topics and Popups pages. There are four kinds of links in Fast-Help, Topics, Popups, Internet links and WinHelp Macros. The last two types are not fully analyzed, in that Internet links such as urls or e-mail links are not verified. The link is checked to see that it is structured correctly but no attempt is made to connect to the Internet and trace a link. However, links to Topics and Popups can all be followed easily within your Project and these are all verified.

This is an example of a good link. The status will be "Verified OK" and it will have a green checked icon on the left:

The first column will either have a green checked icon to show it is a good link or a red icon to show it is broken. The second column shows the Type of link, Topic, Popup, Internet or Macro. The next column shows the text of the link as you see it in the editor. The next column shows the title of the page linked to or the url. And the final column is the status. In this case, "Verified OK".

Reporting only on Broken Links

If you check the check-box "Only report on Broken Links", the report will ignore all good links and only show any broken links.

What do I do about Broken links?

There are several reasons why a link could be broken. For example, if you copy text in from another project or MS Word, that contains links, these links will not work correctly as they will not be structured for on-line help. When you delete a page in Fast-Help that has links to it, Fast-Help will attempt to remove those links so that none are left orphaned. There are a couple of instances where this might fail, i.e. if the PC crashes or another user is editing that page at the same time. These are rare, but possible.

When you check your report, if you see any broken links, you will most likely want to open your report in a separate editor so that you can repair your links. You will find your report in the "Reports" sub-folder of your project. A heading above each section tells you whether this is a Topic or a Popup, and shows the page title. A broken link will look like this. All the text will be in red and a red icon will be in the left column:

The status can be one of the following:

The destination page no longer exists

This can happen if a Context String was changed and the changes were not correctly cascaded to all links. To resolve it, locate the link using the information in the report, double-click the link in the editor and then point it to the correct page.

This link no longer exists

This means the destination page has been deleted or never existed. This could happen with pasted links from MS Word. Please locate this link, click on it, then right-click it and select "Delete Link". Then re-create it.

This link does not link to anything. It may be a pasted link from MS Word.

These links may have worked in MS Word, but they are not compatible with the structure of on-line links. Please delete these links.

Fast-Help International Users

If you find any damaged links in your Translation please locate them and right-click and delete them. In the Original text on the right, you can select the original link and copy it using Ctrl+Insert. Then in the translation, paste it using Shift+Insert. Now copy the translated link text from broken link and apply it to the newly pasted link. You may need to switch in and out of Protected Edit mode on the Translation menu.