RH8 fixing broken links

[luviola10]

In RH8, I'm trying to fix broken links. I find the topics, then they move from the Broken Links folder to the correct folder but then the topic still looks like it has a broken link! Can anyone advise? here's a pic

[RoboColum_n_]

Have you saved your project? They still appear as broken until you do.

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The RoboColum(n)

@robocolumn

Colum McAndrew

[luviola10]

Yes, I have saved it, well at least I have clicked the Save All button. This

is the project I was having a lot of problems with until this morning when I

was able to recover it from a backup file. All the files seem to be there

and I'm trying to fix 20-odd broken links, which is where I'm having the

problems now. The project takes about 5 minutes to open and a couple times I

got an error from Windows before it shut down. Then Windows asks if I want

to see an Error report, to which I reply No.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I'd be rebooting my machine if you're getting a Windows error thrown up. Try saying yes to the error submission & see what may come back from Microsoft about the cause of your error.

[RoboColum_n_]

If you right click on the broken link, click the Explore menu item. This opens a Windows Explorer window at the location where the files should be. Check that they are there with the exact same file name as is in the topic properties.

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The RoboColum(n)

@robocolumn

Colum McAndrew

[luviola10]

Colum, okay I did this. And what if the file points to the fpj file? I

attach what mine looks like.

[Peter Grainge]

You cannot attach files. Use the camera icon and insert the image in your post.

Difficult without the image but are you saying you have a link to an FPJ file? Why?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[luviola10]

Here is a repeat of what I sent plus the image that was missing:

And what if the file points to the fpj file? I attach what mine looks like.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Can't make out your screen shots - too poor a resolution. Try doing a few closer up.

[Captiv8r]

Hi Jeff

Screen shots are fine. You just need to know how to view them.

What I see is an empty folder, hence only seeing the FPJ file. There is a FREE! FPJ included with each folder in RoboHelp. The folder is devoid of topics, which totally explains the broken links. The topics aren't there!

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Ah - I see what you mean Rick - if I viewed it via the web interface, even the expanding of the image wasn't making it clear. If I looked at the attached image file directly via my e-mail, then the image is sharp.

[luviola10]

Rick, Jeff and Peter,

Yes the fpj file is empty but there is another file named Ranger_Help directly above it. The fpj file is named Ranger_Help_. Is this causing a problem?

[Captiv8r]

Hello again

Unfortunately you are totally misunderstanding things. Please allow me to try and explain better.

ANY folder in your project is going to have an FPJ file inside it. This is a "behind the scenes" file that RoboHelp uses to keep track of the files that are part of the project.

In the image you provided, there are two folders in the project location with similar names:

Ranger_Help

Ranger_Help_

Only the Ranger_Help_ appears to actually be part of the project because the other folder Ranger_Help isn't appearing in the image capture showing the project inside RoboHelp. So unless something screwy happened, you should not find an FPJ file inside that folder. Then again, you may find one. It all depends on what happened.

Personally, I'd look inside the Ranger_Help folder and see if the files representing the broken links are inside. They may well be. And if so, I'd copy them to the Ranger_Help_ folder and see if that resolves things.

This project is beginning to resemble a bowl of spaghetti!

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[luviola10]

thanks, Rick. I wondered what I should do becau

se you are right, the files I want are in the second folder. However, a bigger probl

em (maybe not but it's very annoying) is that it takes about 7 minutes to open the project now.

If I open the project again and resolve these last remaining broken links, with the project go back to opening in reasonable time? or is that another issue? I don't have another project of the same size (300 topics) to compare it to right now...

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

I'm sure the missing files *MIGHT* impact opening time, but I'm skeptical.

Anyhoo, after you get things back in order and the project seems intact, I'd try clobbering the CPD and see if that makes a difference.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[luviola10]

thanks, Rick. And when I'm ready to clobber the cpd, do I do that INSIDE Robohelp or where? I recently found out that I should never do anything with files outside of RH.

[Captiv8r]

The CPD is flexible. You can tell RoboHelp to bonk it if you want or you can close the project and bonk it yourself. When the project is re-opened, RoboHelp will see that it's gone missing and bake you up a fresh one on the spot.

If you want to tell RoboHelp to do it, click Tools > Options> General and enable the option as shown below:

Otherwise, just hunt it down and clobber it using Windows Explorer. It's one of the very few times you will ever be advised to do something with files outside of the RoboHelp application.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

That one is safe to kill outside RH - but it's easier to just set your RH to reset it each time you open a project up. It's in Tools > Options > General Settings.

[luviola10]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the heads up about the fpj files in RH.

But why the extra folder with just the fpj file in it? I wouldn't think Rh could create folders as well as files. So my previous author must have created two folders with the same name...hmmm

[Captiv8r]

Hello again

My guess is that at some point RoboHelp had the other folder in the project along with the topics. Something went kapow and caused RoboHelp to lose track of the folder. For example, it's a common situation where folks are unaware of the fact RoboHelp has issues on a network. They begin working and suddenly RoboHelp chokes and pukes. When this happens, it sometimes loses track of a folder. The person may have known the folder was there and attempted to re-create it. Because it existed already, RoboHelp gagged again and issued a dialog stating that it was unable to create the folder. So a variation of folder name was used by the author.

When a folder is created by RoboHelp, RoboHelp adds the FPJ so it can track the files inside the folder.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[luviola10]

RH Project is fixed!!! Thanks to all of you who contributed your Robohelp wisdom.

[luviola10]

Even if you

click on the image to make it larger?? If not, can you advise me how to make it larger

inpaint?

[Captiv8r]

No need to change anything.

Watch this video to see how to view the images more clearly.

Click here to view

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Cool - I didn't know that you could right-click to isolate the images via the web interface. Thanks Rick!