Snippets use lost in RH8 conversion

[Guest]

We upgraded to RH8.02 last week.  Almost all of our projects have Snippets and while the Snippets are shown in the View/Pods/Snippets panel fine...almost all of them no longer have any topic references.  A few survived, but 99% of them are stripped.

There isn't a setting in the conversion process...I don't know what we could have done wrong...but this is going to be a nightmare to fix since RH7 is gone from all devices.

Surely there is a 'fix' for this...I don't see anything on the forum about Snippets being corrupted.  Can someone please offer a solution?  I need to restore these ASAP...these are regulatory statements required by law!

The snippets preview in the Pod, but when you look at the Properties/Used In panel nothing is listed.  There should be tons....

  !!!!!

[Peter Grainge]

According to Chris de Burgh, Patricia is the best stripper in town, now you are telling us it is RoboHelp.

I upgraded the RH7 project you sent me and the properties show all the Used In files. Sounds like something went wrong in the conversion.

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@petergrainge

[Guest]

Good morning Peter!

I agree...something went 'wrong'...but how do we recover easily?  Reconvert?  We're having a lot of things 'go wrong' in RH8 and I wonder if we installed all the right pieces!  Do you have to install the Source Control piece if you never use that feature?  Crazy....

[Peter Grainge]

Given that I converted that project OK, that is what you should try first, reconverting the same project.

If it still falls over, then try an uninstall and reinstall, without source control if you are not using it.

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@petergrainge

[Guest]

We didn't install the Source Control piece, but I'm wondering if its needed for some reason.  Our problems are growing in leaps and bounds!

1.  snippets didn't convert cleanly in ANY project we converted, running Tools/Update DHTML causes RH to crash on all projects.

2.  We can't drag/drop baggage files to a 'click here' statement - they will not 'drop' on top of a highlighted word.  Just blank spaces.

3.  Memory errors/RH crashing on a large number of topics when you attempt to edit/save....needless to say...this is the 'biggie'!  And we all have at least 2 GB RAM and most have 3 GB.

4.  I've had RH8 removed and reinstalled, and RH7 put back on in addition to see if that helped.  not so far.  And of course none of us has the software, we can not install/uninstall without IT personnel.

I ask about the install because my 30 day free trial software worked great!  Its the "installation package" our company put together that is making me nervous.  I wonder if we just didn't put it all together right.

Peter, I'll try reconverting the project I sent you again - good suggestion.  I can't believe all 10 projects with Snippets just happened to have the same conversion issue the first time...and won't the 2nd, but I'll try.

Thanks for helping!

[MergeThis]

You say: "Its the "installation package" our company put together that is making me nervous.  I wonder if we just didn't put it all together right."

Indeed. I would force them to allow you to uninstall then reinstall manually, with full Admin rights.

Good luck,

Leon

[Guest]

Thank you Leon,

I know that the IT person installs with full rights...but does it have to be done with the actual PC owner having full rights?  I seem to recall this about RH5...or was it RH7...?  Anyway, I've sent this to IT and have asked them to reinstall.  But if our install package is not right...this may not be our solution.  Lots of activity here right now, thank you all for chiming in that we need to check our installation!  I forwarded this string.

[Guest]

In a file that crashes RH8 every time (simply a listing of the 'whats new in this release) I noticed the the topics

I dragged with RH8 have code different than the block I copied in from the old RH7 version of the same file:

in RH8 the code is:

<?rh-implicit_p ?><a href="LS/OB/Miscellaneous/ls_power_of_attorney_poa_guidelines.htm">LS
   Power of Attorney (POA) Guidelines</a>

and in RH7 the code is:

<p class="Address" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt;"><a
   href="LS/Blue/Blue_Chip_Services_Workevents_DI.htm">Blue Chip
   Services Workevents DI</a></p>

Do I need to worry that these are not all the same?  Every time I try to edit this file it crashes RH.

[MergeThis]

Yes, RH 8 is the first version to use XHTML, so your code will be different from that in RH 7.

As to the crashing, I'd expect that there's some corruption in this topic, not related to the different code. 'Twere it me, I'd use the scorched-earth method. Strip everything in the topic (in Design mode), copy that into Notepad, then paste the straight text into the topic and re-format.

Good luck,

Leon

[Guest]

shoot...I was so hopeful!

ok...that's probably what I need to do.  Everytime I try to edit this I die.  Thank you!

[Peter Grainge]

Teri

I don't follow why you are pursuing this when so much points to a bad upgrade following a bad install. I would wait and see what problems, if any, you have after a good install.

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@petergrainge

[Guest]

Peter, I agree.  But I'm using this thread as support for a new install.  That is a huge undertaking here (55 pcs involved) and not done without compelling argument that it is needed.

We've just discovered that a Microsoft security patch installed in June appears to have affected the Snippet conversion.  This is like untangling a bowl of noodles!!!

[Peter Grainge]

Surely if the MS patch was responsible, others would be reporting trouble?

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@petergrainge

[Guest]

Running the upgrade of a project on a device without it resulted in all Snippets converting.  Probably something else...but...

IT is looking for the cause and those patches are definitely of interest.

[Peter Grainge]

Can IT specify the patch they think is responsible?

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@petergrainge

[Guest]

Leon, just tried your scorched earth path...got about 8 links connected and then RH crashed.  wonder if the drag/drop activity exhausts memory....??

[Guest]

I'd like to hear more about that MS patch issue too. I noticed problems with Word file links into RH8 right after Microsoft issued a bunch of security patches. Those patches pretty much eliminated OLE objects, and it's my pet theory that they've ruined the handle RoboHelp had on Word files.

[Guest]

Susan, unfortunately we deployed 13 pathes in June and he's not sure which one it was.

I,  on the other hand, got the 30 day trial package directly from Adobe again and reinstalled RH8.  BEFORE taking the 01, 02 patches I converted a project from RH7.  And all the snippets correctly converted.  Then we applied the two patches and I did another project and none of the snippets converted - they turn to <placeholder code instead.  They show in the Editor...look fine, but don't compile so you are unaware that you have problems.

I'm going to experiment with that in our lab today.  We did deploy a MS security patch the same day (last Thursday) that we installed all the RH software and that is beginning to look very suspect.

If I can get specifics on the MS patches, I will be sure to share.  Thank you!

[Peter Grainge]

Teri

Can I confirm that what you are going to do is upgrade from 7 to 8 with the two RH patches applied, once without the Microsoft patch and once with it?

If you can validate that it goes OK before the patch and goes wrong after the patch, then post here with the MS patch details and I will report it to Adobe.

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@petergrainge

[Guest]

Hi Peter,

Yes, I am going to test upgrading from 7 to 8 in these scenarios:

1.  8.00 with the MSFT security patch from last Thursday - test converting projects and our known issues

2.  8.00 without the Thursday MSFT security patch

3.  8.02 with ....

4.  8.02 without ....

I will send details on the patch if that proves to be a factor.

I'm guessing you have 8.02.  I tried reconverting the Ann07 project I sent you and it comes up with all 3 snippets having no topics.  I'm going to try that again on the lab machines and see if I get different results.

We are having such crazy errors...the latest one is that popup windows are not appearing next to the link in ONE project only - they appear in the upper left corner.  And if on 'auto-sizing' they are too small and don't have a scroll bar.  If set to 'custom sized...' and left at the default sizing, they appear with a scrolling bar when needed.  One project.  Needless to say,  I will be testing that one!  It also has about 50 snippets with extensive use so I'm looking for clean  conversion.

Turns out our install set was from a CD from Adobe, via a 3rd party, so it really should be ok.  But we have one user who did not have 7, so this was a complete new install,  and today we discovered that she cannot create a new  blank project (error message below), let alone open an existing one.  So...gremlins abound! 

Will post results as they develop, thank you all for your comments and support!