Problems converting Robohelp 7 to Robohelp 9

[MRERVIN]

I recently upgraded to Robohelp 9, and tried to take my files with me. The first attempt ended with all of my Robohelp 7 files corrupted and unusable. I recovered from backup, and tried importing one by one. Each time, the system hangs and the files end up completely corrupted. Anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions? I really don't want to have to do the whole thing over...

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

What files? Are you talking about a project? Make sure that you are fully patched in RH9 before opening up a copy of your RH7 project. What messages are you getting? See Peter Grainge's site (grainge.org) for info on going from earlier versions of RH to RH8/9.

[MRERVIN]

Jeff_Coatsworth wrote:

What files? Are you talking about a project?

I tried doing the whole project, which resulted in complete file corruption. I also tried importing individual .htm and .htt files, both of which caused Robohelp to crash.

Jeff_Coatsworth wrote:

Make sure that you are fully patched in RH9 before opening up a copy of your RH7 project. What messages are you getting? See Peter Grainge's site (grainge.org) for info on going from earlier versions of RH to RH8/9.

I'll check out his site and double-check the patches. Thanks.

[Peter Grainge]

What do you mean by "I tried to take all the files with me"?

How exactly are you upgrading the project?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MRERVIN]

I first tried to open the Robohelp 7 project in Robohelp 9. I received a message that this would convert the files and that I should back up the files just in case. I said OK, and after about 10 minutes I got a message that the conversion was unsuccessful and the files were corrupted.

I then tried to import individual .htm files (from the backup) into a new Robohelp 9 project. (My thought was that the original project might be too large to import--there were 300+ documents.) The files appeared to import correctly, but when I tried to view them, Robohelp crashed.

I then tried importing the .htt files first (thinking that the crash might be related to the absence of the template on which the .htm files were based). This caused not only Robohelp, but the entire computer to shut down.

Thanks,

M. Ervin

[Peter Grainge]

Wow! I haven't seen a RoboHelp crash cause the computer to also close down. Also 300 topics is far from large. It must be something within them.

I'm assuming that your project is local and there is no source control involved here.

As a first step please open a sample project and make a few simple changes to ensure it works correctly. If it does, post back and I will send you a simple RoboHelp 7 project that you can test the upgrade process.

That will not actually solve the problem but it will establish it is project related.

Does your project have links to any PDF files?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MRERVIN]

The system crash was new to me, too! I can't remember the last time a program caused my whole computer to shut down...Although it remembered that Robohelp was the problem after restart and asked to report the crash to Windows.

Local project, no source control. I am using customized .css and some of the DHTML (expanding hotspots and drop-down hotspots). I have three different builds set up (two WebHelp Pro outputs and one PDF output), and one external link, but that's as sophisticated as I've gotten with the project.

I tried deleting the .cpd, and reopening, but that's been running for three hours now and I have little hope. It's hung on "Fetched style sheets". I checked that the BaseCSS_res.dll was in the right spot (it was) and even changed from a Windows XP computer to a Windows 7 computer.

I am able to open and edit both the sample projects that came with 9 and to create a new project. I'd love to give your sample project a try.

Thanks for all the help,

M. Ervin

[Peter Grainge]

I have just emailed you a small project. Sometimes firewalls will block RoboHelp projects. Post to the forum if you don't receive it in the next hour and I will send by another means.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge]

Were you able to open the sample project I sent?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MRERVIN]

Sorry, left work before I saw your message.

I was unable to get the attachment, as my email was smart enough to remove it for me. Is there a way to PM another email address for you to try?

Thanks,

M. Ervin

[Peter Grainge]

I have emailed you a link that should enable you to download the file. That usually works OK.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MRERVIN]

There has to be something wrong with my original project. That upgrade was successful and took less than a minute.

[Peter Grainge]

Please tell me you have a backup from RoboHelp 7, a copy that you have not attempted to upgrade. How big is that zipped up (after removing any outputs)?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MRERVIN]

I do have a recovered copy. It's 11 MB zipped. Want me to try to send it?

Thanks,

M. Ervin

[Peter Grainge]

Yes. See the contact page on my site for instructions.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MRERVIN]

I sent it without the !SSL!. Let me know if I need to include the !SSL!.

Thanks,

M. Ervin

[Peter Grainge]

Nothing I have tried so far has worked. Earlier on you said "The files appeared to import correctly, but when I tried to view them, Robohelp crashed." Do you mean you imported all the files and then tried to view or just as soon as you imported a few you tried and it crashed?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MRERVIN]

I individually imported the .htm files under the Account folder into a new project. They appeared to import fine, but when I tried to view them, Robohelp crashed.

[Peter Grainge]

Did you import ALL the files before you attempted to view ONE? This is looking like one of those nasty problems where you have to import perhaps one folder at at time and keep viewing until you identify where the problem topic is.

I found the default.css has one style repeated many times plus the "created by" comment is repeated. I also found the cause of the broken links, all but one of the topics in the Locations folder needs reimporting. Neither of those should cause this problem but it is indicative that there is more than one problem. The CPD needs to be trashed too as it is massively bloated. Again though that is not the cause.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge]

Michelle

Any progress?

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[AlbusTeck]

Hello Peter

Could you please share the project with me? Please let me know if you don't have my email address. If its huge in size, then I will be sharing the way you can upload it.

Regards

Swaraj

[MRERVIN]

I tried to view the files on a new project after I imported five .htm files. That caused Robohelp to crash. I created a new project, restored the files from backup, then imported a template file (just one .htt file) into the new project. Trying to view this template caused the computer to crash.

I have not been able to import the entire project at any time.

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

Try this

1. Import just one topic
2. Go to topic properties and remove the template association
3. View.

It that works, try a couple more viewing after each file.

If still working, import one template and associate it with one topic. Try again.

Let me know how that goes. Stop as soon as it breaks.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[MRERVIN]

I'll do this once I'm out of conference this afternoon and let you know.

Thanks,

M. Ervin

[MRERVIN]

I think you've nailed the problem. As long as I remove the master page after import, I can open the topics just fine. I missed removing the master page on one of the topics, and Robohelp hung and I was forced to close it. Once I reopened the project and removed the master page, I was able to open that topic.

Since we've apparently nailed down the issue, do you have any suggestions for getting around this without importing each and every topic and manually removing the master page link?

Thanks,

M. Ervin