New topic not appearing in merged index

[SteelcaseMark]

1. I have used @Peter Chater Grainge’s “Merging Help” document for a few years now (at least since RoboHelp 8)
2. Now using RoboHelp 10. Internet Explorer 9.
3. I created the topic. Created a Map ID for the topic
4. Added to the index.
5. Saved the project.
6. Generated the parent (parent already had the child project in its TOC from years back). Content setting for Index is: “Default Index”. Navigation setting for Preferred Format is: “DHTML”.
7. Generated the child. Content setting for Index is: “Default Index”. Navigation setting for Preferred Format is: “DHTML”.
8. Copied the parent and child  whdata, whgdata, whxdata folders to folders outside the project along with the generated results for the parent and child.
9. TOC is synchronized, Index appears, but the new topic does not.

Did I miss a step?

I did not add the topic to the browse sequence.

[Peter Grainge]

I was puzzled at first by step 8 but I think what you mean is that rather than generating to a folder in the way I do (see the download on my site), you generate each project to the !SSL! folder within that project and then tie them together.

I have encountered this and it is nothing to do with merging, it is as simple as being a browser cache issue. Try more than one browser and try refreshing with F5. Even that was not enough with one instance recently using Firefox, I had to go into Tools > Options and clear the whole cache.

I assume you did add the topic to the TOC.

_____________________________

Peter Grainge

http://www.grainge.org

[SteelcaseMark]

Peter,

Sorry for the confusion on Step 8. I generate locally to the !SSL! folder, but not to the same folder as the source. Company policy has me copy it to to a server where QA and development can pick it up.

Anyway, that is not relevant.

I tried Chrome, cleared the browsing data "From the beginning of time". Screen is blank (see below).

I did not add it to the TOC as it is CSH for a minor window.

[Peter Grainge]

Sorry, TOC not relevant. Is it the same in all browsers?

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[SteelcaseMark]

Peter,

I am out of the office so I cannot get back to you just yet. This is on my to do list.

Mark

[SteelcaseMark]

Result in Chrome and Firefox is the same. Browser opens, but no content. IE shows TOC, Index, Search, and CSH, but not the new index entry.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

@SteelcaseMark – Chrome’s not going to show anything unless you apply the fix for local WebHelp files – see the Announcements for the link.

[Peter Grainge]

You say Chrome and Firefox are the same which I took to mean just the index is wrong but then you say "no content".

Let's stick with IE for now. Try deleting the parent CPD and the rogue child CPD, maybe all.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[SteelcaseMark]

All CPD's deleted and the new topic does not appear.

[Peter Grainge]

Hmm!

If you open the child project on its own, does the index entry appear then?

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[SteelcaseMark]

No.

[Peter Grainge]

That narrows things down a lot. Close the project and save a copy of the index file somewhere. Open the project index file in a text editor. Can you see the index keyword in there? Does the entry look correct compared with other entries? If not correct it.

If still no result, try adding another keyword.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[SteelcaseMark]

Peter,

Please pardon my ignorance, but... where is the index file stored (whxdata folder?) and what is usually called (whidata0_xml.js?), perhaps? Just guessing at this point.

[Peter Grainge]

That's an output file. Look in the source for the HHK file.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[SteelcaseMark]

Project's HHK looks good. On a whim I re-generated the project and viewed the result by clicking the "View Result" button. The topic appears in the index. Copied the whdata, whgdata, and whxdata to the parent project's folder, ran the program, accesed the help and... topic not appearing. Should I generate the parent project?

[Peter Grainge]

Why are you just copying certain files and folders rather than the whole output?

I set things up so that each project generates and publishes to the same area rather than within the project. That way there is no coyping.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[SteelcaseMark]

I copy for two reasons:

1. Generating is faster locally than over the network.

2. The developers "bundle" the help topics together with their programs and that package is sent to the customers. I have to copy the files into the folders that they set up in order for them to pickup the help files. The folders change location for each software version.

[SteelcaseMark · Accepted solution]

Short answer: Manually edit the whlsti*.htm files in the whgdata folder and enter the new topic.

Long answer: I fixed it by doing something that should not have to be done - manually edit the whlsti*.htm files in the whgdata folders. Why the index did not update these files is beyond me. I found that the old topic was still associates with the index entry so I edited the files using Notepad and did an HTML code dive. I changed the topic name to the new topic, saved the file, manually copied the file to the destination server (by this time I am thoroughly wary of technology - I think I'm turning into a Luddite), waited for the server to upgrade to production and there they were.