some topics don't display on Search tab when they should

[Laura_Sala]

Hi,
I'm using Robohelp 6, generating RoboHTML help. Certain topics--it seems to be topics i've created recently--don't show when i search for them on the Search tab of the .chm file. Yet, these same topics show up in the Index and TOC. For example, I have several topics with the term "Paylocity" in the topic title and in the topic text. But on the search tab, if I type Paylocity, i get "no topics found." But I can find all the Paylocity topics in the TOC, and if I type Paylocity in the index, the topics display, as expected, since I set up an index entry for Paylocity.
Just for kicks, i generated a Webhelp file for the same project, and Io and behold, all the topics containing the term "Paylocity" display (and other topics I've created recently that also aren't displaying on the search tab of the .chm file show up in the Webhelp file). Thus, the problem is only occuring in the .chm file.

Thanks in advance.
Laura

[Peter Grainge]

Try generating to a new folder.

[Laura_Sala]

Hi Peter,
I created a new folder directly under the C: drive, and generated to that folder. Still having the same problem...

[Peter Grainge]

Hmm! Take a copy of your project and trash the CPD and XPJ files. Then open the project with the HHP file. Don't worry about anything breaking. First it is unlikely and second this is only a copy. I can give more information about that if the problem is solved.

[Laura_Sala]

Hi Peter,
I made a copy of my project file, deleted the .cpd and .xpj, then opened the copy with the .hhp. Still the same problem..

One other symptom i didn't report before that might be important (i didn't notice it at first): when I do a successful search (i.e. on an older topic that's not missing from the search tab), each topic that displays is listed twice

[Peter Grainge]

Agh! That problem has been reported before and not too far back. It's late here so I'm going to leave you to search for it. Post back if you cannot find it and I will look in the morning.

[Laura_Sala]

Peter, I found the posting you're referring to. The fix was to generate to another folder...but as we know, that didn't work in my case...darn my luck (lack thereof)...

I checked the Knowledge Base as well...didn't find anything...I'll give Adobe a call as well...

[RoboWizard]

Hi Laura

I think I've seen this before. I think it's related to an incorrectly registered .DLL. To confirm, try visiting the following link and running the diagnostics you find there.

Click here

Cheers... Rick

[RoboWizard]

Hi again

One other thing to note. (This exact issue was happening to me this evening with one of my files). Assuming you found a .DLL that had become unregistered, you may need to recompile the file in question before search will work again. At least that's what I ended up having to do.

Cheers... Rick

[Laura_Sala]

Hi Rick,
Right before I read your post, Adobe called, and had me re-register the itcc.dll file. Then i recompiled and voila, the missing topics now show up in the Search tab. However, the topics that have been showing up all along are now triplicated in the search tab (before, they were duplicated). The topics that were missing before but are now showing are NOT triplicated...they show up once.
Maybe there's an additional .DLL that has become unregistered...a girl can hope...
I will post later with more info.
Thanks. You and Peter are lifesavers!
Laura

[Peter Grainge]

Now the DLL is good, maybe the new folder trick will work?

[Laura_Sala]

Peter, I thought the same thing...but I tried it, and it didn't work.
Adobe is doing some testing...I will post again when I know more. Thanks!!!

[Laura_Sala]

Well, last Friday I sent my chm to Adobe for testing. When they view the .chm, they don't see the duplicate entries in the Search tab. I was told the problem was probably a hosed Help Compiler on my pc. But someone else at my company was also seeing the duplicates. So Adobe thought maybe our VPN installed something conflicting with the Help Compiler. I sent the chm to a few other coworkers, and they could see the duplicates. Well, here's what we think the problem is. At one time, a few months ago, I merged another .chm file called E4J.chm with my current .chm file, E4W.chm. I since deleted the merged chm out of my project. But it seems that somehow the E4W.chm file is still seeing a relationship between it and the now-deleted E4J.chm.

Our application calls one of three help files, depending on the type of customer. We have E4W, E4J, and E4SS customers. Thus, there are three chm files, and they are kept in C:\Windows\Help. It seems that when I merged E4J.chm with the E4W project, it created some kind of relationship between them. So when the E4W project is displayed, the search tab is also looking at E4J’s chm file. So our next logical thought was, OK, since this release is only going out to E4W customers, let’s just get rid of the E4J and E4SS chm files from C:\Windows\Help. Well, when we do that, the search tab completely breaks (every search yields “No Topics Found”). So it seems like there is some kind of association that was made between the .chm files when I did the merge. By the way, this association happens OUTSIDE of our application. When testing, we are opening the chm file from C:\Windows\Help, not from our application.
I've contacted Adobe for further assistance. But any ideas are always welcome!!!!
Thanks,
Laura

[Peter Grainge]

Did you send just the chm or the project as well?

Look at the project for whichever one was the parent. Does the TOC still have the reference to the child?

Take copies of the all the projects as a backup. Now go to each one and delete every CHM that has been generated. Look in both the !SSL! folders and the project root directories.

Then locate the HHP file for the parent and then open that in Notepad. Examine it for any reference to the child projects.

After that clean up, generate a CHM from each project to a new location. Try
Test\project1
Test\project2
Test\project3
so that each CHM goes to its own folder under Test.

Let us know how that goes.

[Laura_Sala]

Peter, after my post yesterday, I sent Adobe all three chm files (E4W, E4J, and E4SS), and they were able to duplicate the problem (previously, i had only sent them the parent chm). So now I'm uploading my entire project so they can figure out what's happened. In the meantime, I'll try your suggestion using copies.
Thanks much.
Laura

[Peter Grainge]

That makes me think we are on the right track. I'll await your progress and theirs with interest.

[Laura_Sala]

Hi Peter,
I think you may have solved it. I looked at the HHP file in Notepad as you suggested, and found the following:

[MERGE FILES]
E4J.chm
LaserCat_3-forE4J.chm
C:\E4W 073007\E4J.chm

When i remove these lines, and then recompile, i'm no longer seeing duplicates in the chm file. I'm so deliriously happy, i don't quite trust myself, so i'm sending the chm file to a coworker to make sure he sees what i'm seeing!
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Peter Grainge]

Pop over and see me while you are in that mood!

If that is it, mention my name to Adobe Tech Support!

[Laura_Sala]

Ha Ha!
Yes, i will most DEFINITELY mention your name to Adobe. I'm sure they won't be surprised!
Thanks again.