"Servers" on the webhelp SSL

[Cro1410]

I am encountering a bit of a glitch with the servers selected for the webhelkp output.
This is the situation:
I have one project that is generated in Webhelp, webhelp pro and pdf. This project has a few condistional biuld in order to differenciate between two broad types of applications: international and national.
The webhelp output is used for our desktop applications. I therefore publish the files on the corporate network from where the CD/DVD is pressed.
The project is therefore published to each application folder with either the conditional build expression "National" or "International". To do so, I created two webhelp layouts, each with the relevant conditional build expression.
Till this point no problemo.
Next step is to specify where each webhelp layout needs to be published. For each of these layouts, I therefore create as many new "servers" as I need using the "File System" option. Again, no problem, each server is created.
So all the servers are listed under each of the webhelp layouts. There are 32 locations where the help system needs to be copied, so there are 32 server names listed.
Now my problem is that when I activate the check-boxes corresponding to the servers I want the layout to publish to, they are never saved when I come back to it at future date. For example, one of the layouts needs to be published to 20 different "servers". When I come back to it, out of the 20 server names that I had selected, only 10 of them are now selected. Therefore I have to reselect them each time.
I tried modifying the SSL files and SSS file but that does not seem to be working for me.
Does anybody now if there is a limit to the number servers that you can allocate to a webhelp layout? If there is, is there anyway to work around this limitation without having to manually respecify each time?
This is especially usefull so I can batch generate the project without have to generate and publish each individual layout.
Many thank in advance,
Chris

[Peter Grainge]

Here's what I suspect you are doing.

You go to the last page of the wizard, set up the servers, tick the boxes but then you click Cancel as you do not want to publish at that point. Correct, publish to at least one of the servers and they will be saved. Create a local folder and publish to that if you don't want to publish for real.

Is that it?

[Cro1410]

Hi Peter & Harvey,
Thanks for you replies. Peter, unfortunately this is not at all what I do. I actually right click on the layout and select properties rather than double-click on it. I then save my changes that are never memorized when I reopen it.
So I guess its a bug or design flaw ...

[HKabaker]

Another way is to right-click on the layout name and edit its properties.

The dialogs appear in order, but the options on the last one are Go Back, Save or Cancel.

If you find your setup is not correctly saved, then RH has a limit on the number of servers it can remember, which would be a design flaw or a bug, depending on your point of view.

Harvey

[HKabaker]

Chris,

Try deleting the layout and re-creating it, under a revised name, from scratch.

If you've already tried this, please post back while I'm thinking about another fix.

Harvey

[Cro1410]

Harvey,
I didn't delete the layouts and recreate them from scratch as you recommended (way too time consuming) but did create a new bogus project and defined 20 different server location for the webhelp layout. It seems that no matter how I look at it, you are limited to 10 active servers per webhelp layout (did not test the other types of layouts).
The only solution I found in order to be able to batch generate it to create a third webhelp with exactly the same settings as the layout with 20 servers and activate the 10 servers that systematically get unticked from the initial layout.
No doubt this is not the optimal solution but the only one I found. What is strange is that in the corresponding SSL file, all the servers that the layout is supposed to publish to are present.
Here is the "code" within the file that I think defines the activer servers for the layout:

Publish_Servers=20:AMADEUS on FAUSTINO120:AmaextA on FAUSTINO120:Amatops on Faustino128:BelfDVD/DISKONE on FAUSTINO228:BelfDVD/DISKTWO on FAUSTINO222:BelfirstA on Faustino228:BelfTst/DISKONE on FAUSTINO228:BelfTst/DISKTWO on FAUSTINO221:DafneNew on FAUSTINO120:FAMEDVD on FAUSTINO217:Isis on Faustino121:Markus32 on Faustino122:OrbisfDVD on Faustino122:OrbismDVD on FAUSTINO119:Osiris on FAUSTINO220:SABIDVD on FAUSTINO219:ScopeDVD on Quinito19:ScopeNET on Quinito

All the 20 servers are correctly defined here so I am really wondering where the RH app reads the layout's data. What is likely I think is that there is either some kind of limitation defined in the application or that there is a bug.

[HKabaker]

I see you have a / in some server names. Spaces are in all of them. They run about 18 or 19 characters long.

Suggestions, in this order of likelihood:

1. In one layout, rename 10 server names in a random selection of the 20, allowing no more than 9 or 10 characters each. Leave spaces and slash marks.

If suddenly RH saves checkmarks for more than 10, we know there's a character limit somewhere, easy to get around by practicing economy in naming conventions.

2. If you still get only 10 checkmarks, get rid of the slash marks and/or spaces, depending on how much patience you have. If RH saves more than 10 checkmarks, we conclude that spaces and/or slash marks make RH choke on server names.

3. If you still get only 10 checkmarks, I have another hunch:

Look in the .ssl file for these 2 lines:

PublishingURLColumn=nnn
PublishingServerColumn=nnn

Count the number of characters after Publish_Servers=
and before ActiveSkinName=Default.

Please report back on nnn values.

Harvey

[Cro1410 · Accepted solution]

Harvey,
You hit the spot.... Sweet! Your first suggestion resolved the problem. I shortened the names keeping spaces and slash marks and am now able to select the 20 servers. I guess this means there is a limitation in the total number of characters allowed per layout.
Thanks a bunch for you support,
Chris.