RH8 crashes when accessing Tools | Options with help project open

[LisaR18]

Hi all,

We just upgraded to RoboHelp 8 (8.0.2.208) and we're having a problem with RH crashing when we try to access Tools | Options with a help project open. (It does not crash when we access it with no help project open.)

Is there a fix for this? We downloaded and installed all of the updates that seem to be available, so we're a bit surprised that this hasn't been fixed in one of these updates yet. Do we just live with it?

Thanks,

Lisa

[Peter Grainge]

I don't have access to all the bugs reported but I haven't seen anyone else report that so I doubt there is a fix.

You say it crashes with a project open but is that any project or just one? Try with the samples you will find at

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 8\RoboHTML\Samples\en_US

or

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2\Adobe RoboHelp 8\RoboHTML\Samples\en_US

Still the same?

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[LisaR18]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your response. We actually have three help projects, so I tested this with all three (not just the one I normally work in), plus the two sample projects under C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 8\RoboHTML\Samples\en_US, and here's the verdict:

• CCC sample -- no crashing
• Web Graphics sample -- no crashing
• Our help project #1 (the one I normally work in) -- crashes when I access Tools | Options
• Our help project #2 -- crashes when I click the Tools menu (crashes before I can select an option under Tools)
• Our help project #3 -- no crashing

In case this is helpful, this is the information in the error signature for the #1 help project (3rd bullet):

AppName: robohtml.exe
AppVer: 8.0.0.203
ModName: mdbms.dll
ModVer: 8.0.2.208
Offset: 000e572c

Since it works fine for the samples and one of our help projects, there must be something about the other two that is causing the crashing, except Tools | Options is supposed to apply to the entire application (all projects), so I'm not sure why it would matter which help project I have open.

I appreciate any further insight....

Thanks!

Lisa

[Peter Grainge]

Try the oldest trick in the book.

Back up the projects. Rename the CPD only. Reopen the projects.

OK now?

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[LisaR18]

Hi Peter,

Thanks again for responding. No, unfortunately, not okay now, and in fact this has caused another problem.

We actually know all about deleting the CPD file and allowing RH to rebuild it. As soon as we found out today that we could access Tools | Options with no help project open, we did so and selected the "Clear cache (CPD file)" check box, forcing RH to always delete it for any help project we open. (We decided this new RH8 feature would be a good idea, since there are four of us accessing these help projects using source control -- Visual SourceSafe, specifically).

Despite already having this check box selected, I followed your instructions, with these results:

• Project #1 -- No change. Still crashes when selecting Tools | Options. (It rebuilt the CPD file correctly and got files with no problems, even though the check box was selected AND I renamed/deleted the old CPD file.)
• Project #2 -- Not only is it still crashing, but now it's not rebuilding the CPD file correctly (this problem is new and wasn't happening before I tried your suggestion). I keep getting a "CPD file is corrupt" error and the project does not "get" files from source control, even though I keep launching the project (in RH 6, we would delete the CPD and then need to relaunch the project twice before it would get files; now it won't get them at all). I thought this might be because the Clear Cache check box was selected, so I unselected it, and I'm still having this new problem. No matter what I do, I can't get it to "get files."

Any further ideas?

Lisa

[Amebr]

We had the "corrupt cpd" issue in RH6, but it might be the same for RH8.

Check that you have an rhvariable.apj file. If you don't, create a text file with that name and paste the below content into it. If you do have the file, open it in a text editor and if it's blank, paste in the below content.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rhpml majorversion="3" minorversion="0">
<variablesets/>
<variables/>
</rhpml>

[Peter Grainge]

Any progress Lisa?

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@petergrainge

[LisaR18]

Peter and Amebr, thank you for your responses. I apologize, I have been in back-to-back meetings today with more coming. I have

had little time to return to this problem. I will have more time tomorrow, but in the meantime ....

• Peter wrote: I did say to back up first so you should be no worse off than you were.
  
  Actually, my backup appears to be corrupted as well. When I replaced the backup, I continued having the problems. Someone else on my team just reported to me that she was having problems with the CPD corrupt file message about two hours before I heard from you and started deleting my CPD file. So we may be dealing with two separate problems here. I'm hoping this does not mean that the copy out in VSS is affected, but it sounds like it might be.
  
• Peter wrote: You also had not mentioned source control.
  
  I apologize for neglecting to inform you about this. I know this was vital information. Sorry...
  
• Peter wrote: You said you had upgraded to 802 but I am wondering if what you did was upgrade to 800, hit this problem and then upgrade? If the project was opened prior to 802 being applied, then what you may have encountered is the bug that caused 802 to be issued.
  
  We upgraded a little over a week ago to version 8.0.0 and immediately upgraded our help projects. We were unaware that two updates already existed. (Adobe RH did not automatically look for updates immediately after installation; some apps do this, apparently this one does not.) We then experienced the problem with the Tools | Options menu. We found out (a few days later) that two updates exist, when the last person on our team to upgrade miraculously received an update notification just after installing 8.0.0. (Why she did and the other three of us did not, I don't know.) We all updated to 8.0.2 but continued having the Tools | Options problem.
  
• Amebr wrote: rhvariable.apj file .... If you do have the file, open it in a text editor and if it's blank, paste in the below content. ...
  
  I was able to open this file and see that it is blank, but it is read-only because it is in source control and cannot be saved. I don't know what I can do to paste this code in, or whether that would help this problem. Peter, have you heard of this file and whether it might help solve my problem? I'm afraid to try too many different things at this point.

Peter, I found and printed your Opening RoboHelp Projects topic, will read it, and work further on this problem tomorrow. Thanks again for all of your help.

Cheers!

Lisa

[Peter Grainge]

The rhvariable file was a RH6 problem that we have not seen since then so with no disrespect to Amebr, I would put that one on the back burner for now. My money is on you having been caught by upgrading without the patches.

I'll await further reports when you have had a chance to look at things.

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[Amebr]

If you do try the rhvariable.apj fix, just manually check the file out and in using the source control app. RH should be closed when you do it.

Out of curiousity, does your project #3 (without crashing issue) contain the variable file?

[LisaR18]

Hi Peter,

Here's an update. I read your Opening Projects topic carefully and implemented what I could of your steps. Unfortunately, I've already upgraded this project to version 8, updates 1 and 2, so much of the damage has already been done. I managed to get the project to reload by turning off the Clear Cache checkbox, and then manually deleting the CPD file again and relaunching the XPJ file repeatedly (about three times) until it got files. I continue to get the CPD corrupt message.

Once I got into the help project, I selected Tools | Options, and was able to access it with no crashing.

I then followed your topic instruction of running the Unused Files report. It listed many files, including RoboHelp project files that I would not have expected to find there and do not how to import or whether they should be imported (I have listed them further below). Other files are obsolete topics and graphics files that were on my C drive but apparently had been deleted long ago (we've had problems on our team with some people not informing everyone that topics or folders have been renamed or deleted and having us sync the help projects on our C drives and manually delete these obsolete files via Windows Explorer, so this was not a complete surprise). Two topics listed should not have been and I imported them. I had the primary author for this project sit with me to figure out what needed to go and what needed to stay.

At one point, I was trying to access an index entry for an obsolete entry that had to topic, and the help project crashed. I got the CPD corrupt message again while trying to relaunch the project. As before, I deleted the CPD file and had to repeatedly relaunch and get files. When I finally got back into it, I again tried to make some needed changes to the index, but this time, RH didn't check it out of source control. (In other words, I made the changes, then tried to check it back in, only to find it was never checked it out.) Also, selecting Tools | Options and then crashing resumed.

At this point, I decided it was time to discard the C drive version of the project and try bringing it down from VSS. I backed up this corrupt project (I backed it up before I began the day, as well) first. After getting a fresh version of the project down from VSS to my C drive (having selected the Recursive and Build Tree options), I again got the CPD corrupt message and no get files dialog box, so I had to relaunch it several times. Then I tried making a change in a topic to see if it would check it out, and it does not check the topic out of source control. Finally, one of the unused files (a new one added about six weeks ago) that I had to reimport is again showing as unused with broken links. This is about the third time I've had to reimport it.

To recap, these are the outstanding problems:

• Tools | Options --> Crashes
• CPD corrupt message, does not get files until you launch the help project several times
• Six-week old file is left out of project and needs to be reimported every time I successfully get into the project
• New problem: Topics and files are not being checked out when I make changes to them

At this point, I'm at a loss of what to do, short of reverting to a pre-RH 8 version of the project, and reconverting it to 8.0.2.

I appreciate any further thoughts you might have. The list of unused RoboHelp project files I mentioned earlier are below.

Thank you, Peter,

Lisa

Unused files (present on C drive and in VSS, but RH project says they're unused):

• rhextdocauxdata.apj
• rhstylemapping.css
• help_printedformat_rht.dot
• $rhvariable$.htm
• ehlpdhtm.js
• In the en_UK and en_US folders:
  • <helpprojectname>.ign
  • robohhre.lng
  • <helpprojectname>.phr
  • <helpprojectname>.stp

[LisaR18]

Update: I just replaced this messed up project #2 with the original version that I backed up elsewhere, and the problem is still occurring. I wonder how this can be?? This is the version that was working correctly (getting files) before I started messing around with deleting the CPD file?

I beginning to think I might need to just trash project #2 from my C drive and bring it down from VSS again and start over. We've had so many problems with this RH8 upgrade, I'm beginning to seriously regret that we upgraded. RH6 was not perfect, but at least we had a system down for fixing problems quickly. This is new territory.

If you have further thoughts, I appreciate them...

Many thanks again and best regards,

Lisa

[Peter Grainge]

Using the check box to clear the cache is the same as renaming or deleting the cache so you had done that before I suggested it and I did say to back up first so you should be no worse off than you were. You also had not mentioned source control.

You said you had upgraded to 802 but I am wondering if what you did was upgrade to 800, hit this problem and then upgrade?

If the project was opened prior to 802 being applied, then what you may have encountered is the bug that caused 802 to be issued.

Take a look at Opening Projects on my site and see if what is there gets the show back on the road.

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[Peter Grainge]

Meant to say I am about to shut down the PC as it's getting late here. Back tomorrow hoping not to hear from you, because it is all fixed.

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