importing .htm output files from one project to another

[techwriter42]

Hello:
I am new to the forums and this is my first post, so forgive me if I inadvertantly smash a few social folkways as I do this. ;-)

I am using Robohelp X5 (about to upgrade to 6 soon) to make significant changes to an existing .xpj file for a WebHelp project. I have the output files (but not the .xpj) another help project which has no relationship to the existing .xpj except that it was authored by the same person. In attempting to importing the 20 or so files I require in the .xpj I am editing, Robohelp freezes.

Is there something I need to delete from the output file codes to make this work? I am not a source code expert and know nothing of scripting. I do understand HTML tags, but that is it.

Bottom line question:
how can one successfully import .htm output files of one Robohelp project into a different Robohelp projext?

[techwriter42]

I need to clarify two things:

1. "Crash" is tihe wrong word to explain. I suppose it freezes, more than crashes. My CPU usage remains normal and Robohelp is still in my processes list as 'running' like nothing is wrong. Everything in Robohelp becomes unselectable, including closing. I have to close the process manually through cntrl-alt-delete.

2. When importing the file, I am warned that two .jpg, five .js files, and a .css file is about to be overwritten in my current project because they exist both in the project I am importing the output files into as well as the output files themselves. I have experimented both ways- unchecking all the overwrites so as to not copy them (which makes the most sense; I just want the html content imported), an leaving them checked. Both scenarios have the same result.

[Peter Grainge]

Welcome to the forum.

Your terminology is confusing. You talk of applying changes to an XPJ file. You apply changes to a source project and the XPJ is just what is used to open it.

Are you saying you only have the output and by some means you are trying to use an unrelated XPJ to sort of create a project?

Maybe if you can explain things more clearly we will be able to help.

[techwriter42]

Thanks, Peter. It's obvious I'm new to Robohelp as well I think.

Forget .xpj. I was using the word to refer to having the entire project open. My error.

What I mean is I have a Robohelp WebHelp project open. I have in a different location output files which are not a part of this open Robohelp Webhelp project file. I try to import the .html pages I need from that output into the currently open project file, and they will not import at all. Robohelp freezes and I have to manually shut the system down.

[Peter Grainge]

OK. RoboHelp comes with some sample projects and you can find one in this location.

C:\Program Files\RoboHelp Office\RoboHTML\Samples\Easy International Cuisine

Create a new project and then import one of those files. If it fails at that point, there is something wrong with the installation.

Otherwise try to import the same file into your existing project. If it fails at that point, we know it is your project.

Otherwise it is something to do with what you are importing.

Post back and we can take it from there.

[Guest]

Hello techwriter,

I thought at first that RoboHelp may have trouble importing output files instead of source files. I did experiment with importing WebHelp output files, though, and RoboHelp didn't hang for me. So it must be something else.

FYI--

When WebHelp output is generated, RoboHelp inserts some code for various purposes into the HTML topics, such as styles and JavaScript. Note that if you are importing output files, that extra code is not taken back out, even though the imported files now become "source files."

So when you get the import working, and you open an imported file in the WYSIWYG editor, you'll probably see red squares where there is JavaScript. Since I have not imported output files before and then generated the output, I don't know if you end up with duplicate code.

--Ben

[Captiv8r]

Hi Ben

Indeed things will become quite munged if you import WebHelp files back into the source. I have a topic out on my site that is intended to help steer someone through these murky waters. You may view it by clicking here.

Cheers... Rick

[techwriter42]

Thanks, all. I am scheduled to upgrade to 6 tomorrow so after the upgrade I'll see if the same problem exists. I believe it will.

Rick- thank you for the additional resources; I am importing a WebHelp .html output file into a different WebHelp project. I suspect it is the javascript that is causing the problem. I will test removing all .js and let you know how it goes.

[techwriter42]

HI all:
I ended up simply copying the text only from the original output and creating new pages in the existing project. That seemed to me the long way around, but it was the only thing that was surefire.

I attempted to remove all javascript from the output files and then importing, but the same result occurred: Robohelp locked up and when nI manually shut it down and reopened, the import did not save.

There must be a reason for this; I think it does have to do with the javascript or other embedded code generated in the output file; I just wasn't savvy enough to figure out what I was leaving in that was causing the problem.

Thanks all of you for your help!

[SmokeyCurtis]

HI ALL, I am using RoboInfo 5 and over the weekend I had mistakenly imported some Output files into my shell project which merges about 5-6 other projects. I did generate output and publish and all chaos broke loose. Not only did I have errors in my shell project and the 5-6 merged projects but I also had errors in other projects that were not linked whatsoever to the offending project, but saved on the same Web Server. (Each project is for different departments, some departments cross over so that is what the shell project is used for).

I know that it never should have happened in the first place but now that it did I am trying to explain to my boss how I could have single handedly brought down our site with a click of a button. We have 3 developers on the team. The projects that were affected were unique to a single developer (not me :).

Of course this has happened before I this time I did not get any of the customary Red boxes or other similar errors that would have alerted me right away. The pages were full of drop downs and those were all working correctly even after I published.

So to summarize, is it possible that importing output files like that could have affected totally unrelated/unlinked projects on the same server?

Thanks, for any help you can give. I am lobbying for a change ASAP and I don't think it will be Adobe 🙂