Robohelp 9 .properties file inserting non-printable characters @ export

[KellyBearman]

I have a mapped help file that I am generating for integration to an online application. When we export the .properties file from the Project Set-up pod, the mapped files appear to be fine, if viewed in Notepad (see below).

However, when this is viewed in a different text editor, you can see that RoboHelp added additional non-printable characters to the .properties file (see below).

We've tried generating this from different computers, exporting it to different locations, retyping the initial entry, and haven't found a solution to this issue.

Does anyone know if there is a fix available? Are we doing something wrong?

Thanks!!

Kelly

[Amebr]

It's probably the file encoding.

If you open the file in Notepad and Save As, you should see a drop-down list called Encoding - I think the displayed value is the current encoding.

Or use something like Notepad++, which will show you the encoding in the Encoding menu.

If the current encoding is causing a problem for a downstream app, try saving as ANSI, or check with the developers what encoding they require (they might need UTF-8, for example).

HTH,

Amebr

[TechWriterDale]

this seems to have worked to save it as Ansi! Thanks!... just wondering if there is a setting that we can do so it doesn't put those characters in there to begin with...is there a reason those characters are there? Again, THANKS!

[Peter Grainge]

Ask your developers if they think these characters could be what are known as BOM (byte order marks).

That is something can be seen in some files using the default encoding. There it can be changed by changing the encoding in the SSL dialog.

Maybe that explains it and if that is the cause, I don't know how you would prevent it here in Rh. I think you will have to live with your own solution.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge]

Where are you finding this .properties file in RoboHelp?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[TechWriterDale]

I'm working with her on this and the issue is that we are creating WebHelp and have context-sensitive help. The programmer wants the .properties for the context-sensitive help so we go to Project and select Context-Sensitive Help. Then right-click on Map Files and select Export Map Files and select Java (.properties). If we instead use the .h file, it has the #define information in it and he wants the format of the .properties file but without those special characters. Apparently we did this in a very old version of RoboHelp and it worked but we upgraded and now we have this issue. So, maybe we are going about this the wrong way. I'm not sure if it's that or if there is a bug. Thanks for any help you can give.