RH8 project won't open

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Report · May 25, 2011

Well, I extracted everything and tried to open xpj and it

didn't get beyond the starter page.

Report · May 25, 2011

Does Peter have any suggestions in his Opening Projects page on his website? Can you open any of your other projects or the sample projects?

Report · May 25, 2011

yes, I can open other projects with no problem.

The project seems to choke on the xpj file when it's trying to open and then

just hangs there.

Gloria

Report · May 25, 2011

Hi there

When you deleted the .CPD, where exactly did you find it?

Cheers... Rick

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Report · May 25, 2011

Again, can you tell us exactly where the CPD is found?

Cheers... Rick

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Report · May 25, 2011

here it is. isn't it always in this location? why would it be elsewhere?

Report · May 25, 2011

My reason for asking where the CPD is located is because it reveals exactly where your project is located. Yours appears to be okay, although if it were my own project, I'd be rearranging things by creating a folder off C:\ named Projects and storing each project inside a folder as a subfolder of the Projects folder.

The thing is, folks are free to store projects anywhere they wish. Many store the project on a LAN (Network Drive) and that leads to many of the issues you are reporting. Fortunately, for you, this isn't the case.

Cheers... Rick

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Report · May 25, 2011

So any ideas about how to open my project? I've look at Peter's site under Opening Robohelp Projects, but I've read it over and over and I'm not sure I know what to do.

I did DELETE the cpd file at first; whereas Peter says to RENAME it. So even though I deleted it, it's back.

frustrated

Report · May 25, 2011

Deleting or renaming the .cpd is the same - it gets recreated anew each time it's missing. Have you applied all the RH8 patches before trying the "bad" project? Finally, your .xpj file may be damaged beyond repair - try following Peter's recommendations using the .hhp file.

Report · May 25, 2011

Rick,

Now I have 2 cpd files because I renamed the file. Is that normal?

frankly, I don't find Peter's directions about Using the HPP file very easy to use.

Report · May 25, 2011

Yes.

Nope, they aren't - but because your .xpj file is probably pooched (highly technical term), you probably have little choice unless you've got an older backup to try.

Report · May 25, 2011

okay I took the plunge and tried to open the hpp file but it's hanging too

Report · May 25, 2011

Sorry to hear that - you may end up having to rebuild this project from scratch.

Report · May 25, 2011

Gloria

The only reason I suggest Renaming is that sometimes people are uncomfortable about deleting a file. If you rename the file, you will have two CPDs but the XPJ will only look for the new one that will get created with the project name.

You say you don't find my instructions easy to follow. They are designed to work for several versions of RoboHelp and attempt to cover all scenarios. You said you are a visual person. I'm sorry but in a scenario like this you just have to sit down and methodically work through instructions such as those I have provided. It's an old fashioned approach but the design of the wheel is old fashioned but heck, it still works.

I don't think I have seen a situation where a project will not open from the HHP file. When you try that, you will get prompted as to whether the XPJ file should be used. You must click No to that. Is that what you are doing.

How big is that zipped back up of your project?

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@petergrainge

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Report · May 26, 2011

Okay, I see part of my problem. There are duplicate project files

in different places: in c:\ My Robohelp Projects and c:\documents and settings\my documents\ My Robohelp Projects. Also, the xpj file was in the latter. So I moved it to c:\ My Robohelp Projects. In addition, I compared the list of documents in the two c: areas. I moved the xpj file to the c:\ My Robohelp Projects.

And there was a folder with the same name of my project within my project file, which is Callout Guide, so it was c:\ My Robohelp Projects\Callout Guide\Callout Guide. I inherited this project and did not want to make any changes at first since the project was generating and working, until yesterday. So with the duplicate folder, Callout Guide, I copied all the files from it into the first Callout Guide folder, which was c:\ My Robohelp Projects\Callout Guide.

If you're still following me, I believe I have all the files I need in the correct folder. So I opened the xpj file, which opened but is missing all the project files. I know the files are there but I need to point something in the right direction. And all the topics are x'd in red; when I try to search it can't find the file. Here are two screen shots:

Report · May 26, 2011

Hi there

Likely you are mistaken. Unless you (or someone) specifically took steps to create it, there would never be a C:\My RoboHelp Projects. What many believe is that RoboHelp creates a "My RoboHelp Projects" folder as a subfolder from C:\, when in fact it is normally found in someplace like:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserNameHere\My Documents\My RoboHelp Projects

This is only one of the many reasons I recommend creating a simple "Projects" folder off the root of C and placing all your projects in subfolders of that.

Cheers... Rick

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