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Robo 8 Topic files not displaying in project manager

New Here ,
Nov 02, 2009 Nov 02, 2009

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I am working on a project upgrade and have made new topics in Robo 8 project.  When I view the topic files for a particular folder in the Project Manager view only 1/2 of my topics are displayed..  When I look in the folder (behind the scenes), all my topics are there, just not displayed in the Project Manager.  What do I need to do?  Thanks!.

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Community Expert ,
Nov 02, 2009 Nov 02, 2009

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Reimport them and then zip up the project before doing anything else.

Then rename the CPD and reopen the project. If it is OK, then watch out for a flickering cursor when you move it over the Topic List on opening. That seems to be a sign of impending doom.

Zip up the project again and repeat as above.

Post back how you get on.


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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New Here ,
Nov 02, 2009 Nov 02, 2009

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Thanks for your response.

I should have added I have not published this project yet.  Does that make

a difference?  Also CPD?

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Community Expert ,
Nov 02, 2009 Nov 02, 2009

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Barbara

It might be better if you post direct to the forum. Emailed replies from you seem to get munged.

It does not matter that you have not published. The CPD file will be found in the root of your project.


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

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Contributor ,
Nov 03, 2009 Nov 03, 2009

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I also need help with this RoboHelp 8 beast!

We upgraded from RoboHelp 5 to 8 a few weeks ago. RoboHelp HTML has been working fine for me until yesterday. I was working on a project that several weeks ago I converted from RoboHelp 5 to 8:

Yesterday RoboHelp was very slow. With every click I made in the application, there was the flickering hourglass appearing. I could not do editing, so I stopped working on the project that day.

Then today - the same slowness. Then I noticed that there was a message to upgrade to 8.0.1, which I did. But then when I opened the project that I'm working on, many of the topics in the TOC had a red x on them, and they wouldn't open. Plus, when I tried to view some topics with images, for some images, only a red x appeared. For other topics, the images appeared fine.

I've done some researching in my project and in Windows Explorer about what seems to be the same for all of these missing topics and images. It seems that these missing topics and images are in the "top level" folder for this project. Could it be that Word 8 cannot find a file in the top level?

Should I move these files down to the "lower level" folder, where RoboHelp seems to be able to find and use these items?

robo_Lostfiles.gif

Note: RoboHelp version 5 had no problem finding topics and images wherever I placed them.

Thank you, RoboHelp 8 colleagues for any helpful insights! My project deadline is approaching, and I need to get this RoboHelp 8 animal to start behaving.

Jan

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Community Expert ,
Nov 03, 2009 Nov 03, 2009

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Jan

Please see Opening RH Projects on my site.

If you are only missing topics in the root folder, you could try opening the root.fpj file in a text editing and manually adding them following the structure you see there. Do that with RH closed and backup the file before you start, better still backup the whole project.

When you have done that, open the project and see if all is well. If it is, then close it and backup again and with the backup somewhere safe, rename the CPD file. Open the project and check it is still good. If it is, then you should be OK but see my article and keep backing up until the cause of this problem is known. If there are missing files again, then you will have to try using the HHP method I describe.


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

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Contributor ,
Nov 04, 2009 Nov 04, 2009

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Thank you Peter for your suggestions and resources. After many hours of our trying different methods to recover a clean version of my RoboHTML project (in an attempt to solve the "missing files" problem) here's my report on what seems to NOT work, and what seems to work in my case:

What didn't work:

- Unfortunately, editing the root.fpj file in NotePad is NOT the right approach for my project, as I would have had to key in over 500 topic names.

- Another attempt that didn't work: In RoboHTML I selected Tools>Options>"Clear cache (CPD)..."
  Then in Windows Explorer, I renamed the CPD file.

  Then I opened the clean backup version of my project using the xpj file.

  But the missing files were still missing.

What worked:

- The best solution seems to be:

  a. Copy the clean, backed-up version of my project folder to the C drive.

  b. (Not sure if these steps are necessary, but to be cautions, I did the following:
       Closed RoboHelp; rebooted the PC; and in my browser, in the Tools>Internet Options,
       I deleted the temporary Internet files.)

  c. I opened RoboHelp HTML.

  d. I made sure that Tools>Options>"Clear cache (CPD) etc" was NOT ticked.

  e. I opened the project by selecting File>Open and then selected the .hhp file.
      When prompted to use the .xpj file, I selected No.

  Wonderful news! The project once again had the clean table of contents, and there seem to be no missing topics or images!

  Question: Now that opening the hhp file gave me a clean project, in the future, can I just open the xpj file?

- Another approach that may also work, but may be more time-consuming seemed to be:

  a. Copy the clean, backed-up version of my project folder to the C drive.

  b. (To be cautions: Close RoboHelp; reboot the PC; and in my browser, in the Tools>Internet Options,
       I deleted the temporary Internet files.)

  c. In Windows Explorer, rename the CPD file for the project.

  d. Open RoboHelp HTML.

  e. In RoboHelp HTML, go to Tools>Options, and make sure that "Clear project cache (CPD...)" is checked.

  f.  Open my project using the xpj file. (The TOC still shows the red x's at this point)

  g. Go to the folder the second layer down, right-click and select IMPORT, to move the missing files from the top-layer folder to the second-layer folder.

  h. Then clean up the TOC by deleting the files with the red-x, and then dragging the correct files from the Topic List to the correct place in the TOC.

  This seems to also recover the missing topics and images. Although this seems to work, it would have taken a lot longer than the first solution.

Jan

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Community Expert ,
Nov 04, 2009 Nov 04, 2009

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500 topics in the root of your project! Not good.

Editing the FPJ(s) is more for when things are not badly broken. I will make that clearer in the topic.

I will also make it clear that once the project has been recovered with the HHP method, the XPJ can be used thereafter.


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New Here ,
Nov 04, 2009 Nov 04, 2009

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Wanted to update you on how I tried to correct my project and how I too came up with more missing files.

I opened the cpd; asked me what program I wanted to open in; I selected internet explorer which apparently it did not like because after I did that more files came up missing.

When I went to reopen my prior zip file it also came up with cpd in internet explorer and more files missing. All my topic files are in my subfolders just not all displaying in project manager.

I have not published my project yet.  I keep working on my project even though files are not displaying in project manager.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

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Community Expert ,
Nov 04, 2009 Nov 04, 2009

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The CPD is the project's database and there is no way that IE or any other browser will interpret it, wreck it maybe but not interpret it.

The way you could have recovered the project is in my Opening RH Projects topic but that is designed to get the topics showing again in Project Manager. It relies on data in internal files. By continuing to work you have amended those files so you will likely have a bit of a mess to sort out.

I suggest the first thing is to back up now before any more damage is done. You can try following the procedures in the Using the HHP File section but the fact that you have not generated an output may mean it will not work. The method relies on the HHP file and that is not likely to know about the folders and files you have because you have not published. Worth a try but don't be too hopeful. It might have some information and you can then import whatever is missing.

How many topics have you written? I am wondering if it might not be simpler to create a new project and import all the topics from the existing one.


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New Here ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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An update; I have generated successfully after I entered each new topic file into my project, that has never been an issue and still isn't.  That has always been successful.  I tried to make a new project so I could import topics.  I get the following error.....The file name is invalid the '" character cannot be used in path.  I have my projects in a folder on my C drive that has a ' in the folder name.

Still am maintaining topic files under one folder but now no topics show under the other folder I have in my project.

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LEGEND ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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Hi,

You may want to rename the folder with the '. Only use a-z, 1-9 and underscores ( _ ) in filenames. See also http://htmlfixit.com/tutes/tutorial_HTML_File_Names.php for some more info.

Greet,

Willam

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Explorer ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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We are also having this problem.  We have 4 RoboHTML licenses.  We have about 8 Robohelp projects. ALL of them have this problem.  The problem started sometime within the last 2-3 weeks.  Before that, all the topics were fine, all the projects were fine, everything was linked, no problems.  Then, one day, we open the projects and they ALL have broken links.  What changed?  The only thing I can think is that an Adobe update was run which made all of the projects BROKEN.

When is ADOBE going to fix this problem.

Why is ADOBE telling users to work around problems that are CAUSED BY ADOBE?

This is shoddy programming.

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Community Expert ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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Sue

I am sorry but I really don't see that approach as being helpful. I understand your frustration as I too have suffered the problem.

Are you working for a software company? Is the software entirely bug free? Ours isn't but our customers know we respond to what they find. Adobe is doing just the same. You are using RoboHelp HTML so did you look in that forum? If not please do so where I have posted an announcement.

http://forums.adobe.com/community/robohelp/robohelp_html

There you will see Adobe believe they have now found the cause and are working on the fix. I am guessing you would prefer that to be tested or will you be forgiving if it causes bigger problems? Of course you would not any more than I would so we have to allow some time for that.

Adobe is made up of people doing a job like you and me and sometimes things do go wrong. Once the scale of the problem became apparent, other work was abandoned immediately to put resource into reacting to the alerts. I have been getting emails originating well into their evening.

Also please note Adobe  were not telling you to use the workaround. I spent many hours researching how to recover everything and I chose to offer it  to everyone, instead of just my guys. I did so to help people carry on working. No one is telling you have to use it, neither Adobe nor me.

No it is not an ideal situation but I can assure from my contact with the Adobe folks that they pulled out all the stops and I think we will soon see something.


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Explorer ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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I don't know Peter, I thought I was being quite helpful.  1) I pointed out that ALL of our projects are crashing.  2) I pointed out that it was nothing that we did that caused them to start crashing (some of them had been idle).  3) I pointed out that the only thing that the projects have in common is that they are being used by people whose computers have been updated.

Yes, maybe I shouldn't be so adamant that ADOBE fix the problem instead of insisting that the USERS fix the problem.

Hmmmmmm... Let's see.  Three weeks ago all my projects were working.

Today, none of the projects are working.  They all have a zillion broken links.  Some of the projects haven't been opened in months.  They are all needed in a production basis.  We don't need them today thankfully but we will need them in the near future.

Sure, I can go in and follow the advice provided, which I thank everyone for going to the trouble of researching and providing on the forums.  After all if it were not for the forums I would now know that this was not some issue unique to the 4 users here at our company.

Yes, we are a software company.  We wouldn't dream of telling our customers "Oh, sorry the automatic update destroyed your production files.  Here is a work around which will take you about 3 hours per file (or am I missing something?)"

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Community Expert ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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It was the tenor of the post that I was getting at.

Confidentiality stops me from divulging the exact cause but I can say it is nothing to do with updates.

You are putting glib words into Adobe's mouth making it sound as if their attitude is one of couldn't care less. Also, as I said before, Adobe have not said "here is a workaround", I provided that. They have worked long hours precisely because they do care.

At this stage I don't know what work the solution will entail or even if it will entail any work. I am confident Adobe will do their best to minimise that.

All I am asking is that you wait until Adobe release the solution and judge them on that, not judge them now on misconceptions about the cause and their attitude.

Do you have unopened copies of the projects that are now showing problems? If you do, then for those projects you don't need right now, keep those safe. For those that you do need to work on, try my workaround on just one. It should not take three hours. I think once we had the steps in place, it was less than an hour for a five thousand topic project.


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Explorer ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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Yes, we have a large number of projects and they are backed up weekly.  All affected.  Trust me, I am going to make sure we do not lose the backup disks from before we opened them.

When was this problem first discovered.

Would have been nice, as a registered owner of 4 licenses of Robohelp, to receive an e-mail from Adobe with some sort of a heads up.

I have still not heard from Adobe about this issue.  Do they care about their customers?

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New Here ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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Greetings,

I had the very same problem with four projects I'm working on, this happened right after I upgraded to 8.0.1

Solution was to use the Repair Broken Links function, all is now fine.

Hope this helps !

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New Here ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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Where do I find Repair Broken Links function?

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New Here ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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Did I say Repair Broken Links ? My bad, it's RESOLVE Broken Links. See attached screenshot for details on where to locate it (under the TOOLS menu).

resolve_broken_links.png

Another possibility is to look under Broken Links, right-click on each error and choose RESOLVE - that second solution however, will force you to navigate back to the Broken Links tab for the next operation. The first solution I indicated, remains in the right screen.

Hope this Helps !

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New Here ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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I don't have any broken links in my project.  My issue is topics that I have created are not displaying in Project Manager but when I look in subfolder they are there.  Can't get them to display in Project Manager.

Thanks for your replies...

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New Here ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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We have been having this problem as well.  The only thing that has worked thus far is to fix the .fpj files.  Backup the project first.  Then, in each folder that contains topics which are not appearing in Project Manager, open the .fpj file with Notepad (uncheck the "always use this program . . ." checkbox).  The file will look similar to this in the Notepad window:

FPJ in notepad screenshot.jpg

Following the structure for your subfolders and topics (the red outline is one of my topics), type in the missing subfolders/topics, as appropriate.  Then, save the file.

After I did this, I opened the project with the .xpj file and everything was as it should be.  I didn't rename the .CPD or anything else.  This may be time consuming if you have a large number of topics missing, but until Adobe fixes their mess this seems to be a possible solution.

Good luck,

Dave@WriteWay

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Community Expert ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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Barbara

What Dave has covered might well solve your problem. It is also covered in Opening RH Projects on my site along with other solutions.


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New Here ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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Actually Peter, I got my files back I think by trial and error.  I discovered my c drive file I had my files on under Robo 6  had a character in the address.  I never had an issue with Robo 6 nor with Robo8 until earlier this week.  I placed my robo files in another folder without this character and imported topics again... viola...I see my files again.  Although other users here have experienced the same issues of files missing and I will pass along your latest suggestion.

I thank everyone so much for all your time and trouble.  I do agree with other notes in that I like Robo but it can be most frustrating at times.  Hopefully this one question I posed will help get this problem solved!

Thanks again.

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Contributor ,
Nov 05, 2009 Nov 05, 2009

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Thanks again, Peter, Adobe, and all of the other community experts for "holding the ropes" for us, as we work though this temporary storm -- It shouldn't be long before "Houston" has a solution. (I apologize for the mixed metaphor.)

Meanwhile, one more question --

The hhp-converted version of my project is working great now, except for  -- When I preview a topic during development, and I click a spot on an image that has image maps, the popup boxes are cut off. Here's an example:

             popupcutoff.jpg

The good news is that even though pop-up boxes are misbehaving in development mode, after I generate the project, the popup boxes display correctly.

If you have any ideas, please let me know. Thanks again.

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