Duplicate topics in search

[Authorgirl]

Hello,

I am getting double topics appearing in my Search window.

I have read all the posts on this issue and have discovered that if I compile to a folder higher than the project folder, the problem disappears.

From what I have read, it appears that this is due to me having topics that link out to topics in a location higher than my project folder.

But I have no knowledge of having created such links. I have very few external links in my project and they all go to webpages.

Is there a way of searching for the culprit link? Or could  the problem be caused by something else?

Thanks

Helen

Using RH7

[Authorgirl]

I should say that I did get a message recently concerning a particular topic. I can't remember what the message said (I will SO keep a record in future) but I wrote down the topic concerned, just in case.

When I look in Windows Explorer, sure enough, there are 2 copies of this topic, one followed by a ~

So I tried deleting first just the extra topic and then both topics but this made no difference to the double search topic issue.

The only thing that solved the issue was compiling to a higher location but the suspect duplicate topic is still in the project.

[Peter Grainge]

See if Snippet 99 helps. http://www.grainge.org/pages/snippets/snippets.htm

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@petergrainge

[Authorgirl]

Thanks Peter.

I'm getting there but I need a bit more help.

I used the FAR tool mentioned in the snippet to look inside my CHM but  I don't really know what I'm looking for.

I've found lots of links that start with ../ or even ../../../ but if I go to the topic and edit the hyperlink and remove these, I get a message saying 'This action will create an external link to the help system. The link may not function when the help system is moved to other system. Create link anyway?'

Isn't an external link what I'm trying to avoid?

The topic I'm linking to is in a different folder but all folders are within the main project folder.

If I create a new link by highlighting some topic text and clicking the Hyperlink button, then select another topic from the topic list, it is automatically displayed in the Link to box with ../../ in front of it. Is this wrong then?

I'm attaching a screenshot of part of the link file to show you what it's coming up with.

[Authorgirl]

This is the summary of the link check which sounds a bit alarming! What does it mean by missing topic files? I have  deleted many topics over the years (always from within RH) but I thought I had also removed all references and I also thought that RH did this for you if you haven't - it certainly warns you that it will.

[Peter Grainge]

I have never had to investigate this problem but let's go back to your first post where you way "I have read all the posts on this issue and have discovered that if I compile to a folder higher than the project folder, the problem disappears."

Where exactly are you creating the CHM?

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@petergrainge

[Authorgirl]

In a folder named Compiled within the project folder. At the same level I have several project folders containing topics and images.

If I compile the chm one level up, ie not in its own folder but in the top level of the project folder, the issue remains.

[Peter Grainge · Accepted solution]

Try generating it to within the !SSL! folder which is the default. I'm not clear from your reply whether Compiled is within the !SSL! folder or not.

When you say "top level of the project folder" I am thinking you mean the folder with the XPJ file in it.

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@petergrainge

[Authorgirl]

AHA! That works fine.

Yes, you were right in thinking my Compiled folder was at the same level as the XPJ file and therefore not within the SSL folder.

So that's not allowed then?

No problem, I will leave it in the SSL folder.

Thank you hugely

[Peter Grainge]

The problem was likely because the topic was within the CHM and also in the topics in the project. The exclamation marks either side of SSL are to tell the search compiler not to go through anything there. It's a useful way of creating folders in your project folder that you do not want Project Manager or the search to find.

UPDATE: Unless the topic is shown in Project Manager, the search compiler should not find it. The use of marks either side of a folder name is something I have been doing for years but with some more thought, perhaps it was just a visual warning to ignore those folders when RoboHelp dialogs showed folder structures.

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@petergrainge

[Peter Grainge]

Helen

I understood that what you had was a structure like this

C:\MyProject - where that folder had the XPJ.

C:\MyProject\Compile - where you were compiling the CHM

I just tried the same and it did not give me duplicated topics when I ran a search in the CHM.

If what you have is C:\Compile then that is OK and would not give that problem.

What I am wondering is if when you created a link to another CHM topic you created a remote link or something like that?

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@petergrainge

[Authorgirl]

Hi Peter,

I do have the structure you describe:

    C:\MyProject - this folder contains the XPJ

and

     C:\MyProject\Compiled - this folder is where I compile the CHM

I don't think I have created any remote links but it's just possible that I did so unintentionally. Is there any way of checking?

I have checked Tools > Reports > External Topics but this only shows me the few URLs or email adresses that I know I have linked to.

Helen

[Peter Grainge]

Probably the only way to check for external links is to use the Multifile Find and Replace and check all links until you find one that is not relative. Have a nice day.

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@petergrainge