Do NOT see all of my "see also" keywords in See Also pod

[pjv]

I have a bunch of "see also" keywords defined in my FlashHelp project using RoboHelp 7.  Out of the 20+ see also keywords that I've defined, only 1 defined displays in the See Also pod list.

When I access a topic and select the See Also tab, I see the keyword(s) associated with the topic.

If I try to add the keyword to the See Also list via the entry field in the See Also pod, I get a message that the keyword already exists.

I created the See Also keywords and then associated the topics via the See Also pod, I don't understand why they're no longer showing in the See Also pod.  It is very hard to determine what keyword a topic belongs to if I can't see the list of all my See Also keywords and associated topics via the See Also pod.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

I'm thinking perhaps this will be a ticklish one for you to resolve.

I think I'd begin by attempting to insert a See Also control in a topic. As you are saying the keywords aren't being listed in the pod, they likely won't show in the selection box for inserting the control. So you might just choose one of the words you see. Then edit the control to reflect the keyword you need. Assuming this works, you would then be able to click it and see which topics are using the keyword in question. You would then be able to remove the keyword from those topics. Once the keyword was removed, perhaps RoboHelp would allow you to add it back in via the dialog.

Is the project on a network or anything? Seems odd it would suddenly just drop words from the list.

Cheers... Rick

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[pjv]

The only problem is that the Keywords are not showing in the See Also pod. Project is not on the network. Also, I have 4 other projects where the keywords work fine and display in the See Also pod as expected.

So it is only this one project that has a problem with viewing the existing see also keywords in the "Pod" view.

If I check my topics, keyword appears in the selection list in the topic properties dialog. I can also run the See Also report to view all of the keywords and their associated topics.

The keyword(s) also display in the selection and selected fields of the See Also button that I've inserted in related topics.

When I add new keywords via the See Also pod, they are available for selection even after I close and re-open the project. It is just the 24 out of the original 25 keywords and their associated topics that do NOT appear in the See Also pod. What is really weird is just 1 of the original 25 keywords never disappeared from the Pod.

I've got a feeling that I should use the See Also report to create new keywords and associate topics via the See Also pod band then update the See Also buttons in each topic. Fortunately, there are only 151 topics in this project but I'm not pleased as this will tedious plus it adds more time to the project maintenance function.

Paula Valentine, Consultant

Controllers Technology Project Office

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Tel: (800) 323-5678, ext. 25038 or (212) 902-5038

[Captiv8r]

Hi Paula

I'm a but unclear on what is being expected here. You stated a situation. I stated a possible workaround to fix it.

Is your reply simply intended to say "Thanks, but I'll continue with the keywords not showing"? Or are you just wanting to grouse about the keywords not showing. If that's the case, you are free to do that and that's cool with me and I really don't care either way.

But if so, I'll mark this one off my mental watch list so I don't waste any more time with it. Of course, if you really want to resolve it, I'm happy to try and assist with that too. I just need to know which path you are following.

Please advise... Rick

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[pjv]

I'm grousing because I tried your suggestion about inserting a See Also button (i.e., control) into a topic and then selecting an existing keyword but nothing happened in the See Also pod.

I've attached a screenshot of the See also pod and the list that appears when I insert a See Also button. The existing topics show the See Also keyword in their topic properties. The See Also buttons work perfectly in the generated help. It is the fact that the "pod" is not showing the existing keywords that is so frustrating because I'd like to know what See Also keywords are in use and have the ability to edit the associated topics in the future.

Is there a data file that contains the keywords and their associated files in RoboHelp? Can it be re-generated based on the topic properties?

Paula Valentine, Consultant

Controllers Technology Project Office

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Tel: (800) 323-5678, ext. 25038 or (212) 902-5038

[Captiv8r]

Hi again

I'm guessing you somehow missed the crux of what I tried to say earlier.

Yes, I'm fully aware that the topic properties accurately list the missing keywords. What is the big mystery here is that although things seem to work, the words aren't listed in the See Also pod. What I proposed earlier was a process that may settle everything.

I do believe there is a single file that holds the See Also keywords. That file is named rhakeyword.apj and should be found in your project location. However, given the fact things just work in the end, I'm not optimistic that editing only this file will correct things. My educated guess tells me that since you cannot add the keyword and RoboHelp tells you it exists, you will see it when you edit the contents of the file.

Certainly you are free to try that and see. My gut says that more is involved in this.

Cheers... Rick

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[pjv]

Rick

I just checked the rhakeyword.apj in the project, I'm only seeing the 4 new keywords and the 1 original (total 5).

Paula Valentine, Consultant

Controllers Technology Project Office

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Tel: (800) 323-5678, ext. 25038 or (212) 902-5038

[Captiv8r]

Hi again

Before you do anything, I'd suggest closing the project in RoboHelp as you may end up confusing RoboHelp. You said you see the one original and I'm not sure if that means the missing keyword is there or what exactly that means.

You might try some copy/paste hokey pokey to insert any "Missing" keywords. Then close and save the file and re-open the project in RoboHelp.

Cheers... Rick

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[pjv]

Original means "Welcome section" keyword, it is the only keyword from my original entries that remained in the See Also pod when I realized that there was a problem. The 4 other keywords I've added in the last couple of days.

There about 20 other keywords that were in the original project that show up in the See Also button (control) selection list that are not appearing in the apj file.

Paula Valentine, Consultant

Controllers Technology Project Office

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Tel: (800) 323-5678, ext. 25038 or (212) 902-5038

[pjv]

As you suggested, I closed out of RoboHelp before I edited the apj file. I renamed the existing file before I imported the revised apj file and re-opened RoboHelp. I also removed the renamed file from the project.

What's weird is when I re-open RoboHelp project, I'm still seeing the 5 keywords. So something in this project is clobbered in regards to the See Also pod functionality

Any other suggestions? I could blow away the cpd file and re-open with hhp but then I'd lose all of my templates that contain the revision dates in the footer.

Paula Valentine, Consultant

Controllers Technology Project Office

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Tel: (800) 323-5678, ext. 25038 or (212) 902-5038

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Here's the thing. The See Also keywords are stored in a few different places. Certainly they exist in the file I mentioned earlier. But they also exist in the .CPD file. Not only those two places but also as some code in each topic associated with keywords. So if one item is out of sync, it's usually not as simple as fixing one location. That's why I suggested listing all the topics assiciated with a keyword. That's what inserting the control was intended to do. Provide a list of all topics using a specific keyword. Then you could edit each topic to eradicate the keyword reference. Once you were certain the keyword was not in use by any topic, RoboHelp would then likely allow you to add it back in using its own mechnaisms.

RoboHelp projects are often like little ecosystems. You make a change here and it affects things in other places.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[pjv]

Thanks I figured that's the problem. I've been using RoboHelp since 1993 and I know there's lots of place where files are stored. I figured it was worth the shot as it didn't take much time to edit the file. I've put the original apj back into the project.

Can you please clarify what exactly you mean by "insert the control" - step by step? To me, it means insert a See Also button in the topic. If you mean add a keyword to a topic's See Also tab, the existing keyword(s) already display but I can add a new keyword if that's what you want me to do. Not sure how that

The only way I can see all of the topics associated with a keyword is to print the See Also report. I definitely can't insert any of those original 20 or so keywords into the See Also pod, I get an error message that it already exists even though it is not showing in the See Also pod's keyword list.

Paula Valentine, Consultant

Controllers Technology Project Office

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Tel: (800) 323-5678, ext. 25038 or (212) 902-5038

[Captiv8r]

Hi again

So you have been using RoboHelp almost as long as I have! LOL

Okay, indeed what I meant was that you insert a See Also control. My thought with that was that the control dialog may have pulled from a different source than the See Also pod does. So it may have actually listed the missing keywords. By choosing one, I didn't think it would make the See Also pod begin showing the keyword. My thought was that if you had no clue which topics were associated with the keyword, but things worked in the end, you could generate or compile and see which topics were listed when you clicked the control. Then you could work backward from there to banish the keywords (manually) from the topics. Then perhaps RoboHelp would finally allow you to insert the keyword.

I'm wondering if it's worth making a backup copy of the project, then clobbering the CPD to see if the See Also pod finally reveals the missing keywords.

Cheers... Rick

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[pjv]

Yep. I started with Doc-To-Help in 1991 and then moved over to RoboHelp, which I've been using ever since.

I tried what you suggested with inserting a See Also and yes, the missing keywords were there. The easiest thing for me is to the use the See Also report, which does show the missing keywords and all their associated topics. I can use that as the baseline for fixing the keywords manually through the topics or See Also pod.

However, I'm thinking I should try and blow away the cpd file before going through the manual process. I just hate losing the templates because I use them to insert footers with revision dates into the topics. However, in this project, the footers aren't as important because it is just a knowledge base and I'm not tracking edits to exist topics.

Paula Valentine, Consultant

Controllers Technology Project Office

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Tel: (800) 323-5678, ext. 25038 or (212) 902-5038

[pjv]

Rick

Figured out what to do to clean up the See Also, it isn't pretty but it works. It isn't too bad for me because I've got all my topics organized with process-related folders that correspond to the See Also keyword.

I noticed that when I removed the See Also keyword from all of the associated topics, it remained selected or available for selection in the See Also (design-time control) button list. So I decided to do the following, since I didn't have that many topics and I wanted to remove some of the topics that were specified as See Also:

1 - For each topic in the folder that requires a See Also keyword, access the See Also tab in Properties dialog and delete the "keyword." Make sure that all of the keywords are deleted via the topic properties dialog and save all topics.

2 - Open the See Also pod, re-enter the keyword that you deleted from all of the topics and then re-select those topics.

You don't need to worry about the re-linking via the See Also button because the previously selected keyword is the same as the keyword that was added in the See Also pod.

Paula Valentine, Consultant

Controllers Technology Project Office

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Tel: (800) 323-5678, ext. 25038 or (212) 902-5038

[Captiv8r]

Hi Paula

Kewl beanarinos! Thanks for sharing that. It may help others that encounter a similar situation.

Cheers... Rick

[EileenPalsson]

I'm having a similar problem in a legacy help project: A-keywords show up on the See Also tab of the See Also Properties dialog (under See Also keywords in project:). However, (1) they are not listed in the See Also pod, (2) they are not listed on the See Also tab of the respective Topic Properties, and (3) the many "see also" controls in the project (in this particular case the output is CHM) are not working. (And yes, I have run the "Related Topics from Javascript Call" script provided by Praful Jain. Everything works fine in a very similar project that I have for another project. It's just this one that has lost its keywords somehow.)

The project's rhakeyword.apj file is basically empty -- as it has been for years, and the "see also" controls certainly worked then.

Now I understand from reading the above that "see also" keyword information is stored in several places. Does anyone know of any automatic or semi-automatic way of restoring the keywords? This project contains 1100 topics, most of which contain (or should contain) "see also" keywords, so redoing this manually would be very much a last resort.

Thank you!

Eileen

[Captiv8r]

Hi Eileen

About the only thing that comes to mind that is remotely close to a "Quick Fix" is to try clobbering the .CPD file and let RoboHelp rebuild it. See if that changes anything.

Cheers... Rick

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[EileenPalsson]

Thanks, but yeah, that's the first thing I tried. (I should have said so.)

/Eileen

[ReactionAtWork]

I'm having the same problem and I think I know what caused it. I imported a load of existing RoboHelp HTML topic files into a new project. The files contained exisiting references to See Also keywords (i.e. from the old project) in their code . The topics imported perfectly... except that RoboHelp didn't add the topics' SeeAlso codes as new keywords in the See Also pod. Neither did it add them to the rhakeyword.apj file, which is not surprising as I think this is just the coded copy of the See Also pod. However, it did add them to the .CPD file, as evidenced by a full text search, where the keyword name appears in plain text amongst all the binary crap! 

Despite the topics' See Also keywords not appearing in the See Also pod, the project built OK (I'm using CHM help) and the See also links worked correctly.

To fix the problem, I used to the "nuke-the-CPD-file" option, and the pesky 'hidden' See Also keyword disappeared from the project, allowing me to recreate it the 'proper way' in the See Also pod. Interestingly, after having done this, importing the topics again worked quite nicely, with RoboHelp correctly adding them to the matching See Also keyword that I'd just recreated.

So, as long as the SeeAlso keyword already exists in the project before you import the files that reference that keyword, you'll be OK.

So it seems it's just another bug in the topic import routines; I will report it formally to the RoboHelp bugtracker, so perhaps in a decade or so Adobe might fix it.