Snippet vanish if project hangs

[pjv]

Sometimes, my project hangs and I have to end it via the Task Manager. When I do that, any Snippet that I created vanishes from the Snippet pod.

However, there is still a placeholder type link to the Snippet in the topics. I see a couple of paragraph marks and if I position the cursor over the area where the Snippet used to appear, the name displays in a link box.

This is very annoying. I have to blow away the cpd file and then recreate the snippet, etc. etc. This process also means I lose my template files, which I use to provide last update footers in my topics.

Seems like the Snippet files are not very stable.

[Peter Grainge]

I don't think anyone else has reported this. It sounds more like something else wrong with the project and this is the side result. Is your project local, not on a network?

[pjv]

Yes, it is a local project. I was able to re-import the snippets because they were still on the C drive but it is something to remember.

This is an old project that has had corruption problems in the past. But at 900+ topics with See Also's and Indexing, I'm not going to recreate it. So, I'm struggling as to how best to use snippets without getting totally frustrated with existing project issues.

[Peter Grainge]

Not sure what to suggest. We know this is not a normal issue and we know this is a project that let's say "has its moments". The usual fix for that is trashing the CPD and you have done that.

Do any of the problem topics have these tags in the HTML?

<meta name=Originator content=ImportDoc>

<meta name=OriginalFile content="filename.doc">

How frequently does this occur, can you force it? I am thinking you could create copies of the project and trash a proportion of topics from each to see if just one then falls over, thereby enabling you to continue that process until you pinpoint an offending topic or cause.

Is some particular action likely to cause this?

[pjv]

Same problem still happening. Have wiped out CPD twice. Forgot to add that once I blow away the CPD and re-import the Snippet, I loss the "used in" feature. Which really sucks. I have a snippet in about 40 topics and if I want to replace it with actual text, it is bear to find.

Regarding Peter's suggestion. Did search in one folder and found the following in a HTML of a lot of topics.
<meta name=Originator content=ImportDoc>

I'm assuming this is caused by import of Word files into RoboHelp to create topics, which I do quite frequently.

#1 - How do I fix the problem in the existing topics? I can go folder through folder using find/replace tool and fix the individual topics. Will this then fix the snippet problem if I blow away the cpd to refresh?

#2 - How to do I stop that piece of html code from being inserted into the topics that I bring in from Word? Do I always have to do a manual clean up?

Finally, how do I file a bug log with Adobe about this?

[Peter Grainge]

1] Let me put it this way. I would expect it to.

2] You cannot stop so make it a standard step to remove it.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

[pjv]

What to be very clear as to procedure for resolving this snippet problem
#1 - remove the html code from all topics
#2 - Do I have delete cpd or will # 1 resolve the problem?

For future import of Word documents:
#1 - remove the html code immediately after import.
I'm assuming that I do NOT have to delete the cpd.
Reason for asking the question is that we use templates to put footer information, specifically date of last update, into each topic. When you blow off the cpd, you lose the templates and then have to import them. Unfortunately, not all of them will re-import and we have a lot of templates, which is time consuming.

[Peter Grainge]

Just removing the meta tags should be enough.

For work like this you should create a backup and try it. If it fails you trash the spoiled copy and revert to the backup.

For future imports, just remove the meta tags.

[pjv]

Here's what I did
#1 - Removed all the meta tags from the project

# 2 - reimported the 2 snippets and inserted the 1st into one topic and the 2nd into another topic. Based on the problems we had with snippents, I had coverted all of the links to text so I was starting from scratch.

#3 - Generated the project and viewed it. Everything looked fine. Even showed where the snippets were used.

#4 - Closed the project and reopened, the snippets were gone again. Leaving only the paragraph mark where they were supposed to be in the topic and the name if you hovered over the paragraph mark.

#5 - Blew away the cpd and xpj, which I hate doing because we lose all of our template files. We use templates to last updated info in the footer. ** Unfortunately, I can only re-import some of the templates that are in the project and NOT the most recent. If I leave the templates unimported, they show up as unused, which they are NOT. If you've got a suggestion for re-importing templates, please let me know because I've tried everything and we have templates going back to 2005. So re-importing is pain, especially as I'm never sure which template will come back into the project. ***

#6 - Reopened project and the snippets were there. Even showed where used.

#7 - Imported a Word document into the project. Removed the meta tag and saved. Then I inserted a snippet into that topic. !!! Snippet did not display --- only the paragraph mark and the link if I hovered. Nothing in preview mode. This change also occured in the 2 other topics where I had snippets. !!!

# 8 - Generated the project just to see if the the snippets would show in the generated file. Yes, it did.

#9 - Closed and re-opened the project. Snippets seemed to be there but still not showing in topics. When I re-imported 1 snippet, it appeared in the topic but was then duplicated in Snippet pod.

#10 - I then got some exception errors, which I only get after I try generating too many times. 1st -- "Instruction at .... referenced memory at ..... This memory can't be written. ---- and --- 2nd "The exception unknown software exception ... occurred in application at location ....."

#11 - When I reopened the project, only the 2 snippets were there and everything showed properly in the project.

At this point, I don't know what to do. I want to use snippets as they're a great feature. Unfortunatley, unless I spend hours that I don't have testing every possible scenario, I'll be opening and closing projects just to ensure that they're still there.

Not sure if this is a bug given that your suggestion for deleting the meta tag in all topics and any new ones did not work --- or ---- something specific to our projects that goes beyond the meta tag issue.

[Peter Grainge]

Thank you for numbering the steps. Number 10 is the one that worries me as part of it can be a sign of a topic that has been imported from an output and that will cause problems. Alternatively it could be a sign of some other issue and that is what is really screwing things up. Has that happened before?

What to do?

First see if those error messages come up again in the same situation. If they do, then that has to be first priority. If it is being cause by imported topics from an output, the topic will display red squares in the Design Editor.

With that out of the way, I think I need to see the project and there we hit a bit of a problem. For the next couple of weeks I have a deadline which is going to take up my evenings and weekends so there isn't much left. So here's the deal. You can zip it up and send it to me via http://www.transferbigfiles.com. At the same time, send me an email setting out very clear steps as to what I need to do to encounter the problem myself. Also include a link to this thread. I will have a quick look and we can but hope that identifies something. Beyond that though it might drift a little bit but I will do what I can when I can.

You can contact me via my site.

Are you able to install RH on another PC to rule out the PC being part of the problem? You could install the trial version on that but do patch it.

[pjv]

Peter
Regarding #10, we get only if we (myself and the other tech writer that works on these projects) generate the project mutliple times in the same (say 5 or 6) without restarting our PCs. We used to get it more often until I cleaned all of the special characters out of the file names (html and jpg). Not sure if it might be the long file names that we've got on certain topics (about 200 characters).

FYI - We don't have version control. So only 1 of us works on the project at a time. After we update, generate, and ftp to the application, we copy the entire project file up to a shared drive. When the other writer needs to use it, she copies it down from the shared drive to her local.

I will contact you via your site. I work at Goldman Sachs and there's issues with sending files that have proprietary info (i.e., screenshots) out of the office. We might need you to sign a non-disclosure. I'll talk to my manager about this.

Unfortunately, you need to have Admin rights to use PCs here so getting 3rd PC for testing might be difficult but I'll talk to my manager.

Paula V

[Peter Grainge]

1] Do both of you get the error if you work on it multiple times?

2] How do you upload when you have finished? File by file or zip it and move that. I have come across reports of file by file causing problems so always zip it.

3] Long file names could be an issue as combined with the path you could be hitting some windows limits. I would certainly make a copy of the project and shorten them to see what difference it makes.

4] If you look at my site you will see that I spent thirty years in banking so confidentiality is second nature. If you need a non-disclosure that's OK but I am in the UK so postal delays are going to drag it out. You won't find anything confidential on my site and I have had projects from banks and military organisations.

[pjv]

#1 - Yes, we do if we generate multiple times and not restart. We don't get the memory errors as often as we used. Think that's because of the major file name clean that we did.

#2) - We copy and paste the entire project up to the shared drive and then copy and paste down to local PC. We've been doing the copy/paste for 4 years now. I can try zipping it but will that make the problem go away in the future?

#3 - What's the maximum for file names? I can work on cutting those down. I'm assuming that long topic titles are not a problem.

#4 - I'm going to talk to my manager about the NDA, which I can email to you and then you fax back. Problem is the size of the file when zipped is huge and can get it out via GS's email. Hmmm.

[Peter Grainge]

1] That sort of point to the project but see 2.

2] Ever played Russian Roulette? People say you can play that for a long time. Would you recommend it? I cannot promise it will fix anything but it will not hurt, and it is quicker.

3] It's not just the file name, it is the whole path. I believe the limit is 255 but honestly if it is that long, there is something wrong with the structure.

4] Email me via my site before you speak to your manager. Just email a link to this thread and I will explain.

[pjv]

Peter

Went back into my project again. Tried importing a Word file, cleaning out the meta tag and then inserting one of the 2 snippets.
Although it seemed to be there as it showed where used, it didn't display properly in the topic (just paragraph mark).

When I tried to re-import that snippet, I got the memory error. So I think it was corrupted. When I deleted that snippet, everything started working perfectly.

No more funny inserts. Closing down and re-opening, the 1 snippet is still fine and shows where used.

Haven't tried adding a new snippet to see what happens but I'm thinking that MAYBE, I'm okay.

Will do some more testing later this week.

[Peter Grainge]

OK but do contact me when you are further forward.

[pjv · Accepted solution]

problem resolved. Followed Peter's instructions regarding removing html code from imported Word topics. Deleted cpd and regenerated project. Everything working fine. Have implemented procedure for cleanup of Word-based topics so snippets will not be affected in the future

[chrissy_tissy]

Hi Guys,
I am getting exactly this problem, but am not importing from Word and do not see the metatags that you see. I am just importing files from RoboHelp 6 and creating snippets in them as one of my first acts; once I've got the snippets and open the project in RH7, all of the snippets vanish from their pod as described above...
Environment:
There's nothing weird about my environment. I'm managing my files locally, and am VPN-ing into the machine. None of my projects are created by importing word content, and none include meta tags: Originator Content=ImportDoc.
What I see:
Same as abv: snippets in the "snippet pod", close the project, re-open the project, and there are no snippets in the snippet pod and there is no content in the topics where the snippet used to be (there is still a placeholder, but no content).
When I generate output from the project, the snippet is used in the output.
Fix:
(With thanks!)
Re-open project.
Import snippet back into snippet pod.
Close project.
Delete CPD file.
Re-open project.
Once I've done this, I can see all the "Used in" references again (these were not restored by the import) and no longer seem to be able to re-produce the issue in the given project. I thought I'd mention this because it has slightly different symptoms, but is the same pblm and same fix.

[Peter Grainge]

Thanks for posting this solution.