RH 5 Internal Error

[JPawley]

I've been trying to generate a Primary Layout in RoboHelp x5.0.2 and receive the following error: "An internal error has occured. An error record has been recorded in c:\.err"

The error I get when I open the .err file is:

Friday, March 07, 2008 08:51:20

HHA Version 4.74.8702
htmlproc.cpp(114) : Assertion failure: (pszTmp == m_pCompiler->m_pHtmlMem->psz)

The filename has no spaces, underscores or any other strange characters in it. Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks,

JPawley

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi JPawley and welcome to the RH community.
My guess is that you are also unable to compile any projects, not just the one you are currently working on. If this be the curse that afficts you, click here for an explanation and solution.

[JPawley]

Thanks. I was able to compile a smaller project with some of the same data from the project I am trying to compile, but not all. I downloaded and installed the link in your previous post. After installation, I received a message that I had a newer version of the HTML Help. I tried to run the compiler again, and received the same error.

[RoboColum_n_]

If you were able to compile a project, any project, then the HTML Workshop is not the issue: it is your project. Something inside it is causing it to choke.

Did the project ever compile? If so, what has been added to it since then?

You may have to find out what is choking the project through a process of elimination. Create a copy of your project, delete around a tenth of the topics and compile. If it compiles successfully you know the problem is in the topics you've deleted. If the compile fails, delete a further tenth of the topics and compile. Repeat this process until you know where the problem is. You'll eventually have a topic that won't compile and be able to tell us what is in it!

[JPawley]

Thanks for your helpful advice! I was able to isolate (I think) the problem files. I put some of these into a new project to see if I could narrow it down further since the project I am working on has a lot of folders within folders. When I ran the compiler on the new project, it compiled! But when I try to add these files to the main project, I receive the error again.

I did notice an error while the smaller project was compiling:

HHC5003: Error:
Compilation failed while compiling *.gif
Compilation failed while compiling *.jpg
Compilation failed while compiling *.emz

This seems to happen for pictures in some of the folders but not others. For the smaller project (the folders I had the issue with on the larger project), it appears all the images are pulling back this error, although I can still compile the project.

[RoboColum_n_]

So if you create a brand new project and do nothing else apart from insert one of the affected images, the project receives those errors? Similarly if you remove those images and/or topics from the larger project it compiles successfully? If the answer to both these questions is "Yes", you will have to recreate them.

One answer we haven't established yet is, "Where is the project located?" If it is on a network drive, move it to a hard drive straight away and see if that solves the problem. You should never work on your source files over a network.

[JPawley]

Sorry if I'm not doing a good job explaining things. If I create a new project and put only the "trouble folders" into it -- this includes the images as well as the HTML pages associated with them -- I have no problem compiling that project. Additionally, at the bottom of the screen, under the Output tab where I can review the process, RoboHelp is telling me that there are 584 image files that couldn't be compiled. However, I can view the compiled file just fine and the images are appearing as they should. These same "trouble folders" will cause the large project to not compile.

This project is on my hard drive as opposed to a network drive.

[HKabaker]

Colum, an aside --

The search for a single, bad topic will go faster, most of the time, if you test half the total number, then test half of the "bad half."

A qualified mathmatician may quibble with this, but here goes:

Steps 1-2. Start with 100 topics. Test 50. (Just to be safe, test the other half to be sure you have only one topic to locate. If 2 or more are bad, it could take many more steps.)

Assuming only one target:

Step 3. Of the 50 in the "bad half," test 25 .

Step 4. Of the 25 in the "bad half," test 13.

Step 5. Of the 12 or 13 in the "bad half," test 6.

By now, with just 6 or 7 suspects, you may have a good idea which is the offender, or

Step 6. Of the 6 or 7 in the "bad half," test 3.

Step 7. Of the 3 or 4 in the "bad half," test 2.

Step 8. If the offender is not standing alone, test 1 of the 2. Come to think of it, it wouldn't hurt to run the presumed offender -- innocent until proven guilty.


Dividing by 10 can mask the presence of multiple offenders and takes at least 10 steps unlesss you're lucky. And who among us trusts in luck where RH is concerned?

For all practical purposes, you should nail the suspect after 5 or 6 tests (plus one if you did step 2). For up to about 1,000 cases at the start, maybe 9 tests. For fewer than 100 at the start, 4 or 5 tests might do it.

If you want to trust educated guesses along the way, you might save a couple of steps.

Best regards,

Harvey.

[HKabaker]

(If I may jump in here . . . )

JPawley,

What kind of output are you generating?

H

[JPawley]

I'm using the "Generate Primary Layout" icon on the toolbar (a question mark with a pen attached). I'm trying to generate a compiled file to be used as a Help file within another program.

[HKabaker]

Is it compiling .CHM help, or generating WebHelp?

H

[JPawley]

The large project generated a CHM file, but I get a "Page cannot be found" error when I try to access it. The smaller project generated HHC, HHK and HHP files. Sorry I can't be more help -- I've kind of been thrown into this and am trying to learn things as I go.

[RoboColum_n_]

quote:

---

Originally posted by: JPawley
The large project generated a CHM file, but I get a "Page cannot be found" error when I try to access it.

---

This is normally caused when the CHM file is located on a network drive. Microsoft implemented a security patch to the Windpws OS a year or two ago that means you can no longer run CHMs anywhere else apart from on a hard drive - at least without things like scary registry hacks! So maybe this explains why your large project doesn't work. Move it to your hard drive and try agian.

Don't worry we are still with you.

[JPawley]

Thank you for all your help. I've been working on this project following your recommendations, and so far so good. This is a very large file (the folder that contains all my data is currently 389 MB and that isn't all of my data yet!) It was doing brilliantly until a little earlier this afternoon. I've been importing the image files from another location on my hard drive and compiling after every major folder I add. Up until about an hour ago, it compiled great, and everything was displaying as it should. Then I got the same error I got earlier (HHA Version 4.74.8702
htmlproc.cpp(114) : Assertion failure: (pszTmp == m_pCompiler->m_pHtmlMem->psz)). Also, the images wouldn't display if I tried to delete the *.emz files from the folders, and it still was generating the "Compilation failed while generating *.emz" error on the Output screen, although the file was still compiling.

Is there a size limit that RoboHelp can compile, or is there something else I can try?

Thanks again for all your help and sharing your knowledge with those of us who haven't a clue!

[HKabaker]

It's been a while since I last built html help in a CHM file.

You mention HHC, HHK and HHP files. These are source files in the RoboHelp project folder. I'm wondering whether you are compiling, or generating, output back into the project folder?

Rather than clicking the icon in the toolbar, you should use the Primary Layout item in the project menu at the left, and navigate through the setup dialogs. Does it say WebHelp (Primary Layout), or something else? This is where to exercise control over how the output is built, where it goes, and so on.

Harvey

[JPawley]

Navigating through the dropdowns, I found the location of the CHM file being generated! The dropdown menu says "Generate Primary Layout (Microsoft HTML Help). For the smaller project, I can access it and it runs. The only problem now is that the pictures are generating the "red X" to indicate the webpage can't find the images. I tried updating the .fpj files to try and help RoboHelp find the images. I now get the images showing in the Images folder on the Project tree, but still am seeing the "red X" when I generate a new CHM file.

Thanks for your patience!

[HKabaker]

Its sounds like, maybe, the images were brought into the project in some way other than RH prefers it. Another possibility is that they got moved in Windows folders from one subfolder to another, which confuses RH to no end.

If the latter, and you can restored the images to their propoer location, you will probably fix the problem.

Otherwise, I think you need to

1. Close RoboHelp
2. Make a copy of every image file in a folder outside the project directory.
3. Launch the project in RoboHelp.
4. Click or double-click each image in each topic to bring up the insert image dialog, go to the outside folder for it and if RH objects that the image is already in the proble, tell it that's OK, go ahead and bring in the new one.

A faster, but more drastic approach would be to rename the project CPD file (project is closed) and launch the project so RH can build a new CPD file.

Updating the fpj files is a little dicey.

Good luck,

Harvey

[HKabaker]

You need to have the RH application and the project folder on your own hard drive while you're building the help system. Also, as Colum said, a .chm file must be compiled and stored on the hard drive. Usually it's to the !SSL! folder in the project folder.

Your problems won't go away until you set yourself up on your local hard drive. If I'm misreading your present situation, please let us know.

Harvey

[JPawley]

Everything is stored locally on my hard drive, and has been since I started this project.

[HKabaker]

Did you take a close look at everything you added to the project just before the compile failure?

What is an *.emz file?

(Inserted later: Now I know it's a Windows extended metafile, zipped up with Gzip. Have you ever successfully compiled a RoboHelp project containing an .emf or .emz file? )

A wild shot or two: Strange file name for an image, such as

names&figures.gif
namesandfiguresyoumayfindwhenyouresearchthistopicoverthenextfewmonths.jpg.
Cryin'OutLoud.gif
Ihatethis@{#)&&job.jpg

Also, some folks have reported .png files don't behave well if they have multiple layers that were not flattened before saving.

H

[JPawley]

This is my first time using RoboHelp in compiling a project with images, so I have no idea about the EMZ files.

I just received some "unofficial" support from Adobe, and I was informed that my project is approaching the "obvious limit." Apparently one issue with RoboHelp in general is that when the files you're trying to pull from for compiling get into the 400-500 MB range, RoboHelp starts to corrupt the internal database of the project. So it looks like my next step is to see how much space I can save by converting JPG files to GIF.

Thanks to everyone for their time, and if you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

[HKabaker]

Perhaps, before you do all that work converting from jpg to gif (not saving very much), have you tried omitting the emz files? Is that feasible?

H

[JPawley]

I tried omitting the EMZ files and the images wouldn't display properly. I don't know enough about that particular file format to know if it's required to view the images.

[HKabaker]

Admittedly, I know little about Windows metafile formats. so maybe I'm way out in a swamp here. But . .

I took a SnagIt shot of my screen and saved it in various formats. Here are the resulting file sizes:

.gif -- 92k
.png -- 179k
.jpg -- 315k
.bmp -- 3,841k
.emf -- 3,841k (24-bit colors)
.emf -- 1,283k (256 colors)

How much can GZIP shrink an .emf file by converting it to .emz?

Moreover, if RH has to expand the file before compiling it into its .chm format . . . .

Hope this helps.

Harvey

[HKabaker]

Have you tried generating a WebHelp output? I'm not saying you should give up on .chm just yet, but it would be useful to know whether RH properly handles the images in this particular project, in all formats -- .gif, .jpg, .emz, whatever -- for WebHelp.

I'd suggest starting with the project as it is (was) when it most recently failed in compiling a .chm.

Harvey