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SteveCTWriter
SteveCTWriter Calculating status...
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Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Jul 26, 2012 10:38 AM

My project crashed again (second time in 3 weeks) when I was editing a topic in HTML view.

 

Just like last time, I had just deleted the <?rh-glo-start> tag on one of the lines in the topic (this is leftover "junk code" as a result of having imported a help topic generated from a RH output by mistake).

Also just like last time, I couldn't open the project after it crashed, using all the hints and tools suggested to me earlier (see http://forums.adobe.com/message/4551128#4551128). Consequently, I had to go back to my last archived version from the night before (and lost a 1/2 day's work in the process).

 

I can't reproduce the problem on demand. However, both incidents occurred when I did a "Save Component" while in HTML view mode.

 

Perhaps as a test (or a workaround), I should try switching to Design mode before I do a save (if I am editing HTML code)?

622 Views   7 Replies   Latest reply: SteveCTWriter, Jul 31, 2012 5:20 AM
 
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  • Willam van Weelden
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    1. Willam van Weelden,
    Jul 26, 2012 11:35 PM   in reply to SteveCTWriter
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    Hi,

     

    I have noticed that RH sometimes freezes when you create such invalid HTML that even RH chokes. In those cases I found that thrashing the CPD and replacing the last modified topic with one from a backup normally fixes the problem. You would then only have to modify the last topic again.

     

    Greet,

     

    Willam

     
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  • Peter Grainge
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    2. Peter Grainge,
    Jul 27, 2012 12:05 AM   in reply to SteveCTWriter
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    When you switch from HTML View to Design View, RoboHelp does some code cleaning. For example, if you remove an opening span tag in HTML View, you don't need to remove the closing span tag, RoboHelp will do it for you.

     

    Concurring with what Willam has said, I suspect that somewhere along the line you made an unintended change and by not going back to Design View, you didn't allow RoboHelp to fix it. In the case RoboHelp could not fix it, you would likely have found something wrong in Design View that you could either fix or escape from by closing that one topic unsaved.

     

    See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

     

     

    @petergrainge

     
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  • SteveCTWriter
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    3. SteveCTWriter,
    Jul 27, 2012 5:28 AM   in reply to Peter Grainge
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    Willam/Peter - thanks for your insightful info. It confirms my theory that switching back to Design view before saving will most likely avoid these mysterious crashes. I did that for the rest of the day and had no more issues (after I restored my project, that is).

     

    The one thing that still perplexes me is why my project crashes so badly that even doing all of the recommended things of:

    • deleing the CPD and use the existing XPJ file to open it
    • using RoboHelp to browse to the HHP file to open it
    • removing the topic from the project folder that I did the HTML editing

    does not allow me to bring the project back up. Can one topic's code have the ability to totally corrupt an entire project to the point where it is unusable? (I guess so!)

     
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  • Peter Grainge
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    4. Peter Grainge,
    Jul 30, 2012 11:44 AM   in reply to SteveCTWriter
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    Yes it can be the case that you simply cannot reopen a project but mercifully it is not that common. It does not mean the other topics are corrupted though, just that the rogue topic is preventing opening. Deleting it in Windows Explorer should fix that as RoboHelp should open and just show the topic as missing. Not sure what is wrong here at the moment.

     

    You haven't started the thread with you version of RoboHelp. Also do you have all the patches applied.

     

    See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

     

     

    @petergrainge

     
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  • SteveCTWriter
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    5. SteveCTWriter,
    Jul 30, 2012 1:54 PM   in reply to Peter Grainge
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    I am using RH version 9.0.2.271 on a Windows 7 platform. I assume that this version has the latest patches, as when I run Help > Updates, it says all applications are up-to-date.

     

    I also (just today) experienced another one of my weird issues in RH where in one of my topics, the style of a certain text was overridden by a locally applied style (see my original post, halfway down in http://forums.adobe.com/message/4539747#4539747). Again, the "TABLEBODY" style was applied locally on top of text using "HEADING1" (the correct style). Likewise, this happened unbeknownst to me, until I saw it pop up on the Style Menu when my cursor was placed over the text. In Design mode, it correctly rendered it as "HEADING1", but in HTML mode, I saw the TABLEBODY" style applied along with "HEADING1". Because this was a brand new topic and I had checked the HTLM code before entering text, I can confidently say that RH generated this spurious code (vs. it being copied from another topic by me). In addition, it seem to have happened when I was adding content in the topic (in Design mode) right after I did a combination of key commands (like maybe highlight, delete, scroll?), but I'm not sure exactly what they were.

     

    Perhaps I ran into some obscure, keyboard shortcut that a RH developer left in as a way to generate code quickly? Whatever it is, I think it is a bug that I seem to be running into occasionally.

     
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  • Peter Grainge
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    6. Peter Grainge,
    Jul 30, 2012 11:47 PM   in reply to SteveCTWriter
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    Wouldn't Post 5 have been better placed in the thread where you first raised it? It might be worth copying that part of the post to the old thread in case someone can match a previous poist with this one and identify the problem.

     

    To deal with any bug, it has to be reproduceable and right now even you cannot do that at will. I don't mean that to sound unhelpful, it's just a statement of fact. Would it be worth doing the things you use keyboard commands for in some other way to confirm or rule out the commands as the cause?

     

    See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

     

     

    @petergrainge

     
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  • SteveCTWriter
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    7. SteveCTWriter,
    Jul 31, 2012 5:20 AM   in reply to Peter Grainge
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    Good point Peter. I'm going to add post 5 to the my other thread that talks about this same issue.

     
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