Baggage files in folder, in rhbag, NOT shown in Project Manager

[Guest]

We use RH7 and have significant numbers of baggage files per project. We import the baggage files, they show up, life is good.  We drag/drop to them all over the place.  Then you rebuild the .cpd file and more than 50% of them disappear.  They are still in the folder, they are STILL in the rhbag file.  They just don't show in the project manager, which makes drag/drop pretty darn tough.  Also leads to duplicates with slightly different names as authors try to 'fix' the problem.

I painstakenly add them back in...only to have them all disappear the first time I rebuild the .cpd.  The same ones stay...the same ones disappear.

What is the issue?  This is so frustrating and there is no good answer to provide to people.

Does anyone have a solution that works?  Does RH8 fix this?  Thank you!!!!

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Teri.

You say that the same files disappear so the obvious question to ask is what is different about these files? Do they have spaces in the file name? Do they use special characters in the file name? Are they from a specific application? Maybe this may help us get to the bottom of this.

As far as whether this happens in RH8, I am not a big baggage file user and even if I was I suspect the problem is related to the answers to the above questions.

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[Guest]

Hi Colum,

I'm sorry...I should have been more specific.

Our baggage files are .pdf, .xls, .doc. ppt in type.  ALL have underscores in the file names, NONE have illegal characters.  We are fanatic on that score.

Here is the top of the Baggage Files folder for one project (Bag1).  You can see all file types.

Here is the contents of the project folder where the baggage files are stored.  You can see that all the missing files in just this block. (Bag2)

I carefully put back in all the missing "a" files yesterday (files beginning with ls_a)...exited RH and then reloaded, they were all there.  Then I rebuilt the .cpd file and presto - they are gone.  The same jump occurs between ls_38a and ls_call.

Frustration is high.  Solutions are very welcomed!  Thank you for your interest  and your suggestions!!!

[Guest]

I should also have attached the rhbag file...sorry!  All my "ls_a" files are there...along with all the others I want shown too.  I just don't understand why the .xpj or .cpd file can't read this right.  ??

[Guest]

apparently you can't attach the rhbag.apj file!  here it is as a .txt file!

[RoboColum_n_]

Would it be that you have added the baggage files but not saved the project before rebuilding the .cpd file? I'm intrigued as to why this is occurring as I can't see anything untoward. Do the "missing" baggage files behave if you import them into a blank project?

Out of interest, why do you have to rebuild the .cpd file? Is it bloated?

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[Guest]

Colum, I not only save the project, I compile it before rebuilding the .cpd file!  I'm trying to cross every 't' that I can think of.

Yes, it becomes very bloated...this is a large project (2700 topics) and the .cpd file consistently creeps up in size.

I have not tried putting these same files into a new project - that's a good thought.  I will try putting them all in (250+) and see what happens.

I'm also trying renaming a baggage file, redoing the links to it, then rebuilding the .cpd and see if the 'renamed' file remained visible.  I'll have the results of that shortly.

I'll be back to you - thank you again for your interest!

[Guest]

I imported all 250+ baggage files into a 'test project'.  Saved, compiled, then rebuilt the .cpd and ALL of them display.  Very small project.

My trick of renaming two baggage files in the big project and seeing if new file names would fix the issue did NOT work.  They are still missing from the Project Manager view.

Its all file types.

It makes no sense.  ??

[RoboColum_n_]

It maybe that you need to think about splitting up this project. I counted your baggage files - at least I gave up after 350 - and I'd say that with the combined file sizes of these that you may be pushing at the boundry of what is acceptable. The 2700 topics should be OK as I've known much bigger projects that perform perfectly OK, albeit without the number of baggage files. This is just a hunch of course but the fact that you could import them all into a blank project OK does seem to back up this theory.

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[Guest]

Colum, if you count images and baggage files, we exceed 7,000.  Baggage files are 252 for this project.  We have no problem with images showing, just the baggage files.

I can add a new one and have a 50/50 chance that it will show after rebuilding the .cpd.  I'd understand better if it just cut off at an alphabetical point...proving that I just had too many.  But it doesn't...we have a smattering from all over the alphabet.

Dividing this beast would be nice, but all of this services one area and is cross linked like crazy.  Merged webhelp has its own issues and while we may end up there with this one, its not something I want to rush into.  I'm still learning the pitfalls of that daily!

[RoboColum_n_]

The number of files in a project is not in itself a factor in whether a project is too big. It depends on so many factors (e.g. links, bookmarks, DHTML, etc.). I've heard of projects with 10k topics. That said I used to work on a project with 500 topics, virtually no images but LOADS of bookmarks and links. The performance was utter, UTTER shite!

You may have already gone through this thought process but do all those files have to be inside the project. Could they be located externally on a server? You could link to them and this would have the advantage that you wouldn't have to update the file if it changed. Just a thought as I'm not sure what else I can offer

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[Peter Grainge]

Hi Teri

How's the supply of Dissident going? Any left in the cellar?

Last time you had a problem project, it was the number of images behind the problem. That didn't stop the images appearing but it affected the project in other ways. You say this project has 7,000 images. Isn't that the sort of level that gave you problems before? What is the number of images in the biggest project in the merge you finally created?

Maybe the symptom is the baggage files not appearing in Project Manager but that doesn't mean they are the cause.

What is the file size of this project zipped up? No I don't want you to send it, I want to compare it with the last one that gave grief and was over 100mb as I recall.

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[Guest]

Hi Peter!  Welcome!

the Dissident is gone...but I know where to get more..have to make a trip soon!

Its the same size of beast...268 megs zipped.  tons of images, 2700 topics, 252 baggage files.

So...you & Colum think there is a magical 'size' of all the pieces that the .cpd can hold together and even though the rhbag file lists all my baggage files, its not being read right because there are too many pieces?

If that's the case, I will have to learn to live with this.  There is no easy way to divide this thing se will need to teach everyone "file/navigate to baggage file/ linking"!

[Guest]

Colum, your suggestion of moving them out of the project has merit - we have a number of files stored offshore so to speak.  I guess I'll see if I can move more of these to that location and manage them remotely.  thanks!

[Peter Grainge]

Nobody can give you specifics as to what is too much, as I explained last time, but man those are big numbers. I am not going to say that is the cause but this project is twice the size of the last one that gave you grief.

What is the total size of the baggage files zipped, so that we can see the true size, out of curiosity?

My money is on images being the cause even though there is no logical connection.

The trouble with finding what does fix it is it involves copying the project before you start and that is no light task. You could try that and trash both CPD and XPJ like we did last time and then open the copy with the HHP file.

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[Guest]

Peter, the baggage files zipped are 38 megs.

Unzipped they are 76 megs.

There are 6613 images.

Fun in the fast lane!!!

[Peter Grainge]

Then I doubt it is that. Seems more like content and images.

Fast lane? I thought you were on the hard shoulder.

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[Guest]

Hard shoulder...and getting harder by the minute!

thanks anyway!!!