RH8 Files Go Missing from Project After Altering .cpd

[Guest]

Hello,

Using RH8 with HTML output. I maintain four separate projects, any one of which needs updating on a regular basis. The project cache file (.cpd) grows exponentially large with each compiled version. At one point last week, the .cpd file for one of the four projects was 26,256kb. This is large, but only 1/3 of the size of the .cpd file when all of the files were maintained as a single project (the .cpd could go well over 100,000kb)

The files were subdivided and new projects created about within the past 4 months. Since that time, it's become increasingly difficult to open, compile and save the various projects. Most recently, it was taking upwards of 45 minutes to open or close any one of the four projects (with the 26,000kb .cpd).

So I tried renaming the .cpd file, deleting the .cpd file, and as another option, checked the box under "Tools/Options" that automatically clears the .cpd file (cache) each time the project is opened. In each instance, clearing, deleting or renaming the .cpd also deleted about half of the files and folders in the project. It also deleted all of the baggage files.

At this point, I've recreated all of the folder structures and imported all of the missing files, including baggage files, and recompiled the projects. I can only anticipate this happening again (and again and again). Is there a known solution? Could it be that I'm somehow saving the files incorrectly, causing the .cpd to grow exponentially?

Thanks.

[RoboColum_n_]

Wow! They are big file sizes for a .CPD file. Are (or were) the projects ever stored on a network drive? If so, move them to a local drive.

Whilst occasionally the .cpd file bloat can be a problem it should not keep happening unless there is something else drastically wrong with the project. As an experiment, you could try creating new project and importing the topics into it. Does the same happen with this project?

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[Guest]

Colum,

Thanks for your response.

The master files ARE stored on my local C drive, but I move copies to a network drive for backup purposes. I work directly from the files on my C drive, of course, not over the network.

Three of the four projects are new projects. The .cpd file gets larger every time that I modify anything in the project. Is that normal? It seems that the error factor has multiplied exponentially since I migrated the one large project into smaller ones AND upgraded to RH8. The .cpd file is moderately stable for now, but I expect that in a month or so, it will be bloated again, as that's been its history. That file size I quoted was for just one of the four projects.

Although the projects are smaller now, the other problems are larger. The disappearing files resulting from modification of .cpd are just the tip of the iceberg.

Other issues: (all intermittent, and random, but happening repeatedly!)

RoboHelp application itself is slow to open, sometimes requiring reboot of computer before it will launch.

Projects are slow to launch, perhaps because of .cpd bloat.

Individual topics are slow to open (I added the BaseCSS_res.dll file per earlier note on this. Hard to tell if this helped due to other performance issues).

RH8 Crashes with no reason. Most recently, it's been crashing when I try to save an individual topic from the topic tab.

RH8 Crashes when doing drag-and-drop of baggage files. This is particularly nasty as it almost always happens when I need to place a lot of baggage files into a topic. (Yes, I am holding down the shift key when dragging).

My new computer has been analyzed, defragged, cleaned up, and beefed up by our IT support. RoboHelp was given a clean, new install. Windows patches are up to date.

I've used RoboHelp since 2002 and I find RH8 the least stable of all versions. For every hour I spend actually working on project content, I spend two or more hours dealing with RoboHelp issues.

Thanks for anyone's help or suggestions.

Helen Schmidling

[Guest]

Hello,

I am compiling projects for a monthly re-deploy - again. The .cpd file has crept up in size, to 11,052 KB, from 3,016 just one week ago. And ... the project keeps crashing. One of my four projects has crashed 9 times today ... although it was working fine just yesterday. Apparently, the "crash" causes the .cpd to implode, because yesterday it was 5,800 KB.

History again:

10/16 CPD was 3,016

10/22 CPD was 5,800

10/23 CPD is 11,052

I have modified files in this project, but not to the extent that it would cause this much "creep" in the .cpd. I don't dare DELETE or RENAME the .cpd because as previously noted, when I did that last week, I lost more than half of the project files, and had to rebuild. I don't have time for that today.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

[Peter Grainge]

Helen

How big is this whole project zipped up?

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[Guest]

Hi Peter,

It's just about half a gig. Or 467,363 KB to be precise. ZIPPED!

Helen

[Peter Grainge]

See my contact page. Use TransferBigFiles. Click their Advanced button and include a link to this thread.

I'll take a look as soon as I can.

What might help is if you make a copy and remove the contents of the SSL folder. Leave the folders, just trash the contents.

Also send me an email with some tips on easy ways of making it crash.

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[Guest]

OK. I finally got this one to compile and I'm working on the others ... so this will have to wait until end of day because I am now on a tight deadline.

Thanks.

Helen

[Peter Grainge]

Weekend is best time for me. If you cannot get it to me until after that, I'll look when I can. Not a problem for me.

The more I am thinking about it, 500gb means there is some seriously large stuff there and I suspect that is the root of it. However, let's reserve judgement until I have poked it about a bit.

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[Guest]

There are some seriously large baggage files in there.

[Guest]

Peter,

I need to get permission to share these ... and everyone's gone for the weekend.

Thanks.

Helen

[Peter Grainge]

OK. It might help you if you email me via my site before you seek permission.

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[Gravenstein]

Helen, do you still have your old backups? I would be very interested to know if your problem was actually your fpj file(s) rather than your cpd file. If you do still have a backup of your project that is just prior to when you deleted/renamed the cpd, could you please look at the fpj file related to the missing items and see if it does or does not list the entries properly?

The reason I bring this up is because our fpj dropout problem has manifested itself in the same way as you describe. The writer's project was slow to open. When he deleted the cpd file, half his folders disappeared. Turns out that the cpd file was not directly the culprit--his root.fpj file had been listing only half the folders for the two previous weeks. It wasn't until we tossed the cpd file that the problem became fully visible.

Thx,

G

[Guest]

G-

I do have backups. Also, I haven't deleted or renamed the .cpd file in a couple of weeks ... but this morning a new wrinkle surfaced. I opened the project as usual, everything was there, it looked fine.

I fixed a hyperlink to a baggage file (it was pointing to the wrong file) and re-generated the project. When I did that, about 280 broken links suddenly surfaced - all to files missing from the project manager (folders). The files were there in the project and then they were gone. In the SSL (WebHelp), the baggage files are visible but some of the hyperlinks to them do not work. But, all of the topics are visible.

In the process, the .cpd file grew to 16,244 KB. Still not as large as the 75,000+ KB when it exploded in mid-October, but getting 'up there' in size.

I don't have a "root.fpj" file, but I do have a "root.xpj" file. As far as I can tell, all of the files are in the root.xpj. I'm hoping that I don't have to go back too far into the archives, because I modify files every day, and deploy the new package with all changes once a month.

So, I don’t know how to respond to an issue of "root.fpj."

On hold until tomorrow, for now.

Helen Schmidling

Education Editor

Banfield, The Pet Hospital

P: 503-922-5547

F: 503-922-6547

www.banfield.net

"Treating Your Pet Like Family"

[Gravenstein]

Are you sure that isn't "root.fpj", not "root.xpj"? Every project has a root.fpj file, while the xpj file is of the form projectname.xpj.

If you really do have a root.xpj instead of root.fpj, I think that might be a source of some of your problems with the project.

G

[Guest]

I don't have any .fpj file. Is it concealed inside something else?

Helen Schmidling

Education Editor

Banfield, The Pet Hospital

P: 503-922-5547

F: 503-922-6547

www.banfield.net

"Treating Your Pet Like Family"

[Peter Grainge]

Gravenstein

Helen does have an FPJ and the two folders that go missing are missing from it after a crash. However, it is not as easy as adding them. One of them contains sub-folders with her baggage files and they re-appear on recreating that the parent baggage file folder when the sub-folders also reappear. At least, until the CPD needs to be rebuilt again when the folders remain but without the contents in PM.

That bit I have to investigate further. Send me an email via my site please.

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@petergrainge