RoboHelp 8 Crashes when applying Conditional Build Tags

[hemtya]

Hi Peter,

When I apply conditional tags, RoboHelp crashes.

History: A large project with several conditional tags - worked fine in RH6. When upgraded to RH8 the conditional tags freezes the webhelp generation with msvrc80.dll error. Works fine in RH8 without applying conditional tags, but I HAVE to apply the tags. All other projects have no problem with conditional tags - just this one crashes.

Read all (well, almost all) your suggestions on this. Incorrect table format seems to be the cluprit. What do you suggest? How do I locate the illformed table? It is a large project.

I looked at your snippet on this. My project:

(a) contains conditional tags

(b) does not seem to have any <td_null> tags.

I have to urgently release this with the conditions tags - what are my options now? The size of the zipped project is 63 MB.

Hemtya

[hemtya]

Update: The help generation crashes with the following error:

[Peter Grainge]

See this thread.

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2677866#2677866

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@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge]

I searched in these forums for "msvcr" and got a few results. Other causes could be your anti-virus software or installing an upgrade without first removing the previous version of RoboHelp.

Go to http://forums.adobe.com/community/robohelp and enter just msvcr (not the full name) in Search RoboHelp Forums to access the other posts. There are three search boxes, do use the bottom one.

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@petergrainge

[hemtya]

Peter,

The case you pointed to is not resolved. Actually, it is the same issue we are talking now. I have taken over Linda's responsibilities and dealing with the same issue.

I am going to try your other pointers.

Thanks for helping.

Hemtya

[hemtya]

Peter,

The other recommendations I see are:

1. Table cells - I do not see a <td_null> tag in my project

2. Multiple versions - This is very likely. I uninstalled the previous versions and re-installed RH8. The issue still exists. Should I use a registry cleaning software to clean the registry?

3. Antivirus issue - This could be a problem. Should I uninstall the Antivirus software? I have McAfee.

I will try removing the antivirus and update you on the results.

Can I replace the faulty dll just to get through the issue for now? Not sure where it looks for within the RH directory.

Again thanks for your help,

Hemtya

[Peter Grainge]

I thought Linda had fixed this by creating a new project. If the problem only occurs in one project, then the solutions you list are probably not relevant.

I think the td null issue was RH6 specific.

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@petergrainge

[hemtya]

Peter,

I believe the one I am working on now is the recreated project, without the conditional tags. I reintroduced the conditional tags. Perhaps the files in this project are corrupted? But this happens only when using the conditional tags.

Is there a way to recreate a project by importing everything (topics and references intact) from an existing one without having to do anything manually?

Hemtya

[Peter Grainge]

Is it just this project that is a problem? If it is, then you do need to be 100% sure that you are working on the project Linda rebuilt, my doubt there is I thought she had fixed the problem by creating a new project.

If you are sure and the project is still crashing, I can't see the point of creating another project unless you want to be working with a known quantity.

Back up the project and then start some poking around. Is it the case that with no CBTs in the project, everything works just fine? If it is delete them all from a copy project and then add one back in, one of the previously existing CBTs. Try adding that to another topic and to some text in a topic. If that crashes, search for all references to that tag using a multi file find and replace tool.

If you can repeatedly use that tag, move on to another until things go belly up. Then you know where the problem is.

How big is the project zipped up with the outputs removed?

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@petergrainge

[hemtya]

Hi Peter,

Yes, I confirmed. I am working with the recreated version. My guess is, initially it was thought that the conversion resulted in an error when the actual issue was in applying conditional tags. I was recreated, worked fine without the conditional tags, but crashed with the same error when the tags were introduced.

We have three RH projects converted from 6 to 8, with conditional tags. The other two work fine - we have a problem only with this one.

I tried the following:

1. Remove all the tags and introduced them one by one - it crashed on using the tag.

2. Introduce a tag in a different name - it crashes.

3. I imported a topic from this project into a trial setup. The conditional tags also got imported and compiled fine with the tag applied. So nothing wrong with the tag name or such.

4. On the dll front, I searched for the dll in my computer. I had 7-8 occurences and two did not have the right size (which I bellieve is 612 KB). I downloaded the dll (from one of the sites) and copied to the location - didn't work. Not sure it was a good idea, but I did it anyways.

The project compiles fine when conditional tags are not used. The mere presence of the tags does not create any problem - it crashes only when used in building.. Text or entire topic - conditional tags crash the webhelp generation in the 'Updating Files' stage. I am thinking is there an offending code in the project (in one of the topics) that is processed only when using conditional tags and flares the dll issue? And all this happened only after upgrading to RH8 - it was working fine in RH6.

It is around 38MB without the output folders.

Thanks for your time and help,

Hemtya

[Peter Grainge]

Please contact me via my site. Do not send the project.

Please mention your forum name and include a link.

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@petergrainge

[lemonlime618]

I have read this forum and I'm curious of the outcome.  I have created a project in RH8 (only) and am getting the same issue with applying conditional tags and crashing during the "updating files" point of the WebHelp build.    I am considering work arounds, but would really LOVE to be able to utilize the conditional tags feature.

[Peter Grainge]

I assume you have the patches applied.

In addition to what is in the thread, have you looked at Using RoboHelp 8 on my site?

Do you get the same problem with the sample project? Click Open on the RoboHelp Starter page and then click Samples in the ribbon on the left.

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@petergrainge

[lemonlime618]

Thank you so much for replying so quickly!  I was able to apply a conditional tag at the topic level for the Features sample and WebHelp built correctly.  So now I assume I will need to check HTML code (not my forte) for a possible culprit.  I can use all the guidance you can provide here.

Grazie! Karen

[lemonlime618]

Oh = and yes - I have the latest patches.

[Peter Grainge]

Prego.

Make a copy of the project

Create different build expressions to see if you can identify a particular tag as being the cause.

If that doesn't work, trash a few topics at a time until it stops crashing.

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@petergrainge

[lemonlime618]

Hey - Hey - We're getting somewhere!  I have 3 build tags - 2 crashed RH8 - but 1 worked!  The build tag that worked has 27 topic level applications.  One of the tags that crashed RH has 3 topic level applications and the other (the one that I need to work) has 1 topic level and 6 content level applications.  I'm not seeing a 'pattern'.  What should I be looking at for the 2 tags that didn't work?

bonjour! K

[Peter Grainge]

I doubt it will make any difference but try renaming one of the rogue tags.

Next try Tools > Options and tick Convert RoboHelp Edited Topics to HTML.

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@petergrainge

[lemonlime618]

You're assumption was correct.  Changing the name of a rogue build tag doesn't work.  I also turned on the  Convert RoboHelp Edited Topics to HTML and tried to create new build tags. I can't get any other tags to work - even the tags that were prebuilt (print and online).  Is there a way to copy a working tag?

[Peter Grainge]

Working with a copy of the project you could try copying rhbuildtag.apj from another project using Windows Exploer.

Then open the copy project and add the tags you have used with EXACTLY the same names.

I think though it is more likely the problem is to do with the application of the tags. For that you need to keep deleting topics until things start to work.

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@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge]

Have you tried deleting the CPD?

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@petergrainge

[lemonlime618]

So - I'm finding my results a bit bizarre.  BTW - yes I did delete the CPD file _ without affect.  I approached my "weeding" differently than you suggested, as "deleting" topics gives me the ebee geebies.  I did find a culprit topic by applying only the working build tag topic by topic.  Oddly enough - the culprit topic MUST have the conditional expression applied in order for the Build (layout generation) to succeed.  In other words, the topic with the "wanted" tag is not letting me remove the tag!  So, I may need to copy this topic with a different filename and work it out that way (unless you have an easier method).

Thanks so much for hanging in with me while I troubleshoot!!!!!!!!!!!

Sincere appreciation, Karen

[lemonlime618]

MYSTERY SOLVED... In conclusion, the primary stinky of that culprit topic just happened to be a table that had merged cells in it.  Guess that "issue" is still a problem for RH8.

I am a very happy camper.  Getting this issue fixed will save a ton of time in the long run!!

Thanks again Peter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Peter Grainge]

Very odd as we haven't seen that problem for a long time. Anyway you have the show back on the road just in time for the weekend.

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[hemtya]

Hi Karen,

This gives some hope! I am the original poster of this thread and still have the problem unresolved. So I appreicate any hints you can give me. My project is a monster, with over 10,000 topics - troubleshooting has not really been easy.

The topic with merged cells, did you have the conditional tag applied at the  topic level or the content level? Was  the content in the merged cell applied the conditional tag.

Would you be kind enough to share the the html code of the merged cells - to have an idea of what I should be looking for - if you still have it around that is! I tried looking for it before, but did not have any luck.

Thanks, Hemtya