Project Manager's "HTML Files (Topics)" tree does not match what's supposed to be in project

[Guest]

Some kind of corruption occurred, and now the set of files known to the Project Manager (in the "HTML Files (Topics)" tree) is only a subset of the files that actually exist in my local directory. The TOC for my project shows a red X over many, many of the topics because they are just missing from the Project Manager. How do I get the Project Manager to find the files that are on the disk? The files on disk (and checked in with RoboSource Control) are complete and in fine condition, but I can't figure out how to get them back into my project.

I even tried to re-add some of the missing topics by re-typing them 😞 , just to see what would happen, and RoboHelp has the nerve to complain that file names arleady exist!  In other words, RH8 has an internal list of the missing files somewhere! but at the same time it refuses to show them in the Project Manager and in the TOC.

Can you help me?

[Peter Grainge]

Sure. Go back to the screen where you created this thread and take a look at the announcement.

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[Guest]

OK. So I read your message and requested the DLLs, but in the meantime, ... is there a particular file that is corrupted? Should/Could I use RoboSource to revert to an earlier version?

[Guest]

Peter's out of the UK, and it's pretty late there, so I'll put in my .02 USD.

There is a file that you might try replacing with an earlier version. It's the root.fpj file. As the name suggests, it lives in your project folder at the root (not tucked into any subfolders).

.fpj files are just text files with a different extension - they list the topics in a folder so that the .cpd (the database file for your project that keeps track of what's supposed to be in there) can find them. Your topic files are still in their Windows folders, but the project can't "see" them.

First, BACK UP YOUR PROJECT FILE. Make a clearly labeled .zip. You don't want to rely on RoboSourceControl to put this back if it fails.

Second, find a backup copy of root.fpj that has all the files in it - or as close as possible. You won't know if absolutely everything is in place just by looking, but you can open .fpj files in Notepad, save them as .txt, open them in Word, and compare them. (If you don't have zillions of topics and folders in your project drive, that may be overkill.

Make sure RoboHelp is closed. Use the RoboSourceControl application (it's there in your All Programs list) to open your project and check root.fpj out of RoboSourceControl. Copy the backup root.fpj into the project folder (overwriting the truncated root.fpj), and check root.fpj back in.

Now open your project and give RoboHelp a few minutes to find everything.

CAVEATS: 1) I don't know how to roll back the root.fpj version in RoboSourceControl. I hope you have a backup you can get to.

2) If you have topic folders inside your project folder, each one of them has an .fpj file also. In a very few cases, we have lost folder .fpj entries as well as root.fpj entries. The fix is the same, only at the topic folder level.

Good luck!

[Guest]

I actually found an older root.fpj and reverted to it (by finding and viewing it in RoboSource, and pasting it on top of the newer one directly in the file system sans RoboHelp, and checking it back in .. or something similar). But that didn't work and might have created a worse mess.

Can I just create a root.fpj by hand, listing all the folders that I have in the local directory, and then create a foldername.fpj in each folder, listing the .htm files that I have in each folder? Is it as simple as that? Can/should/could/might that work? Or should I wait for the patch DLLs that Adobe is offering? I am in a major jam.  It is pathetic that my files look intact and complete in RoboSource and  I can't get them into RoboHelp. Advice?

[Peter Grainge]

Methods like that were tried while Adobe were working on the fix. In theory they should work but in practice we found it was not reliable. Opening RH Projects describes how I got things working again, albeit then with the risk of them going wrong again. This is not meant to sound harsh but the simple fact is that if you want to experiment with other methods, you are in the same position I was, having to hack around to find out what will work and what will not. You may find a simpler solution but its your call on whether you want to spend hours on that, and maybe find a simpler solution, or just go with what worked for me and seems to have worked for others.

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[Guest]

I have a complex project, so the procedure in your article http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/opening/opening_projects.htm looks tedious. Are the two new DLL's supposed to fix the problem as the alternative to performing the procedure?

[Peter Grainge]

The new DLLs do not fix the damage, they are designed to stop it happening again. That is why I suggest going to the last good backup if you have lots of broken links, precisely because the job is tedious.

You may have made extensive changes to some topics since the backup. You can import those into the backup AFTER any fixes there have been made.

With the new DLLs installed, all you have to do is right click each one and select Restore. How many broken links have you got?

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[Guest]

I have several hundred broken links (missing files).

I am converting the project from one large TOC to another, and I was using Project Manager to move the 500(?) topics to new better-named folders. So I guess the CPD file was under stress because of dragging topics around in the Project Manager. I suppose 2/3 of my 500(?) topics disappeared, such that they do not exist except as reference names on the TOC entries. I am in a major jam. Who can I pay to fix this?

When you say "backup", do you mean making a copy of the local directory? I don't know if it's dumb or not dumb, but I never made a copy of the local directory (but of course, I can). I just relied on the RoboSource thing to keep all files safe. So what do you mean by "You may have made extensive changes to some topics since the backup. You can import those into the backup AFTER any fixes there have been made."

I'll take another close look at your procedure in a few minutes, but in the meantime I'm thinking .... who can I pay to fix this?

Thanks.

919-280-1003

[Peter Grainge]

I think we might need some input from a source control guru (Gravenstein, where are you?) but I think what you need to do is get the whole project checked out so that you have all the files in the project on your local drive.

Then I would have thought you would be able to right click and select restore.

Else can you not just go back to an earlier version from source control?

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[Gravenstein]

I think you have run into an unfortunate case of the "perfect storm." As I see it, you have the following factors working against you:

1. An extended RH/RSC activity (the 500-file transfer), that likely timed out partway through, leaving RH/RSC out of sync.

2. The DLL bug that caused fpj files to lose track of their content.

3. No backups of local files for reference.

Issue 2 is probably confusing issue 1 somewhat. And I do understand why you wouldn't think to back up your local copy of the project. However, doing so ca be SO useful that I would encourage you to do so regularly.

Question: Is your RSC server backed up regularly? Worst case, you can restore an earlier copy of your DB. In fact, that might be the simplest solution for you:

1. Talk to your IT staff. Make sure that the latest state of the RSC DB is backed up, in case the restore doesn't work.

2. Have IT restore the DB to its state just prior to when you moved the 500+ files.

3. Replace the faulty DLLs.

4. Back up your local project. (Create a zip of the project folder, and put it somewhere.)

5. Discard your CPD file, or better yet, delete the entire project.

6. Download the restored RSC project to your PC.

7. Open the project in RH. If it looks OK, close the project, and make a local backup.

8. Open the project and resume work.

Of course, that approach depends on having a backup of the DB from the right date.

This is not the only way to approach the problem, but I suspect it's the simplest and easiest.

HTH,

G