Conditional Build will not generate

[Contact_Us]

This is my first time attempting to use Conditional Build tags to exclude text in a topic. It appears that I am doing everything correctly (smile). But the Webhelp generation fails and I get the error message that ask if I want to send the error or not.

My project is context-sensitive, uses Visual Source Safe (VSS) and has a merged document in it. I am only attempting to uses the condition a build feature in the master document.

Any one had this problem? Any suggestions? Robohelp HTML 6

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Contact Us and welcome to the RH community.
Assuming that your project files are not located on a network drive, can you tell us what the error message is when you generate.

[Contact_Us]

Hi Colum,

Thanks for responding. The project is on the network, but I also tried on my local as well.
The message is:
RoboHelp HTML Application in the title.
Robohelp HTMS Application has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. If you were in the middle of somthing, the information you were working on might be lost.
Please tell Microsoft abouth this problem.
We have created an error report that you can send to us. We will treat this report as confidential and anonymous.
To see what data this error report contains, CLICK HERE.

I can select to send the error or not.
Then RoboHelp closes.

Also, when I remove the Conditional Build the project generates as usual.

[Contact_Us]

Oh, also in preview the excluded text is not visible, as should be the case.

[RoboColum_n_]

If your project is, or has been, on a network then this is more than likely to be the issue. RoboHelp uses an Access database and these are well known to have problems when located on a network drive. It is possible that you have inadvertently corrupted your project. Follow the instructions in this link before you do anything else.

[Peter Grainge]

Take a look at Snippet 71 on my site first.

[Just_Mary]

I was excited to see this answer because I'm having trouble generating a Printed Doc build when I use an excluded condition on the right column of a table, in which several columns in the top row happen to be merged. In my case, RH hangs when the build starts, and I have to kill it.

I am using RH 7, so I'm assuming the updates to the DLLs for the fix have already been incorporated, so I didn't copy them. Nonetheless, I tried adding a new column to the right of the merged one as suggested in Peter's Snippet 68, and then I tried regenerating my printed doc. RH still hangs. Any ideas?

[Contact_Us]

Thanks Peter that fixed my problem with conditional builds.

[Contact_Us]

Thanks Colum, I am going to look into the issue of having our working projects on the network. We have had corruption problems when multiple writers work on the same project. I thought VSS was supposed to make that ok to do, but if Robohelp does not like it then I have more research to do. How do we share work on a project from a local drive. Should I start a new topic for this?

[Peter Grainge]

Networks are OK if you are using source control, or they should be. Colums comment applies to working directly off the network. With source control, RH pulls a copy from the network and you are working on it locally so you should be OK.

Maybe someone who uses VSS can comment?

[Contact_Us]

OK, We never did figure why it was getting corrupted. I welcome comments from a VSS user.

[gsmichaels]

I had a very similar problem and, following the advice given above re snippet 71, downloaded the two dll's and tried again. Instead of getting a failure notice, the project generation process simply led the program to freeze. I then tried moving the project file from the network to my C: drive, copied the dll's again and pasted them into the C:drive files -as specified. I generated the project again. Again, the project froze while the Generating HTML Help (Updating Files) dialog was displayed.

I would greatly appreciate additional suggestions. Parenthetically, I might add that I am generating a chm based on a single tag exclusion.

[Peter Grainge]

See the replies above. Colum pointed out that having the project on a network may have corrupted it so perhaps the same occurred to you. See the link Colum provided.

[gsmichaels]

One more thing...

I also updated rhvariable.apj per snippet 79.

When I remove my conditional variable, the chm generates just as it should. When I apply it, no luck.

[Peter Grainge]

Create a new project. One topic with a table. Merge two cells in the right hand column. Generate with a condition. Does it generate?

[gsmichaels]

I created two topics, applied the condition to one and excluded it. The chm file generated successfully.

[gsmichaels]

By the way, I did incorporate a table and merge two right hand cells.

[Peter Grainge]

OK. That proves your problem is no longer anything to do with the bug. Your main project has some problem, perhaps because it has been on the network. Follow the link that Colum gave for that.

[gsmichaels]

As far as I can tell, I've followed every step suggested. Today, I identified all the occurrences of <td_null> in my project using (FAR), added an extra column (sans cell merges) to the right side of each table, reformatted them accordingly and saved the whole thing.

I tried, yet again, deleting the xjp and chp files, then double clicking the hhp to reopen the project. Closed the project and reopened yet again the normal way. Created a new tag and applied it to one topic, tried generating a file and failed!

I'm a bit frustrated. Any additional suggestions?

[Amebr-ke0mH4]

Just to make certain, have you done a search using FAR for colspan=2 and rowspan=2 (I would check all numbers up to 9) in your project? (I'm not sure if rowspan is a problem as well, but we made sure to remove those from our projects too.)
Amebr

[gsmichaels]

This is very irritating. I went to a lot of work to concieve/build/format tables that met my needs. Your sugggestion seems to indicate that only the simplest tables will enable conditional text.

If true, that's a bad glitch. I have a very large number of tables embedded in my documentation. Indeed, the text within each topic is organized using a table-based format.

Any change that this was resolved in Version 7?

If not, I do hope that the product designers responsible for RH are paying attention to this one.

[Peter Grainge]

I am not following why we are still searching for merged table cells. We have proved that bug no longer exists on your PC.

The link that Colum pointed to is about trashing the CPD and XPJ files and then reopening the project with the HHP file. Take a look at that topic titled Opening Projects on my site.

The problem was resolved in RH6 as you have proved by downloading the fix and creating a project where merged cells behave.

Try what I have suggested, with a copy of your project and post back.

[gsmichaels]

Peter,

I did that stuff first. Several times. It didn't make a difference. I came to the conclusion that it was worth going back to find any instances of merged cells.

Interestingly, this morning, upon opening my project, it defaulted to WebHelp Pro as the primary layout. I reset it to MicroSoft HTML, tried generating a chm (after dumping the xpj and cpd files and using hhp to regenerate) and the program is now locking up
during the Update files process, although there are no conditional tags! In short, it won't generate at all (in Single Source > MS HTML = Primary Layout).

Just this morning, I've rebooted twice and regenerated once (per Colum) without success.

I've been using the Single Source > MS HTML = Primary Layout setting exclusively for nine months. Guess I'll try again using WebHelp Pro as the primary layout.

Why would the Single Source default setting change? It never has before.

Good Lord.

[gsmichaels]

Just figured out that it isn't enough to delete the conditional tags from the Project pane > Conditional tags folder, in order to generate a chm successfully.

It is also necessary to set the Generate Primary Layout window > Conditional Build Expression field to (None).

As I usually generate using the Tool bar > ? button, I had overlooked this setting.

I still don't know why I'm having such a problem with conditional text, however.

[Peter Grainge]

Create a new layout by right clicking the SSL folder in Project Manager.

Go with all the default settings. Any change?

If not, copy the project and in Windows Explorer remove all the folders under SSL. Zip it all up and tell me the size of the zip file.