Fatal Error: Unexpected error from Microsoft HTML compiler.

[LeisaLaDell]

Although I get a happy message in a dialog box that says HTML Help has been sucessfully generated, the Output view tells a different story: Fatal Error: Unexpected error from Microsoft HTML compiler.

And, it does create a CHM, but when I try to open, it gives a Cannot Open File error. Then, when I try to compile again, I get an error that says "Cannot create compiled file. It may be open in another window...", which of course it is not, because I cannot open it.

So....I close everything down, restart, and try again - have done this about 6 times with no better result.

I am having way more problems with RH in the last 2 days than I have had with any software I can remember : ( - My company is building a V1 Enterprise level product, still in Alpha testing, and it's more stable. Arggggh....


Should I reinstall RH? Scrap the project and start from scratch? (no......too many hours investing in TOCs, settings, importing, templates, css, ect)

Any insights? Suggestions? Going home now....

Thanks.

[Peter Grainge]

Oh nice! I've got a problem, I'm dumping it on you and going home. :-)

OK. You have a number of posts going and put together something is clearly wrong. I haven't worked back through them all so maybe some of the following is covered in them.

Make a backup before you try anything so that you have nothing to lose.

Is your project on your local drive and are you generating to your local drive?

Have you tried deleting the CPD file? - See Opening Projects on my site.

If those fail, then try uninstalling and reinstalling. Don't forget the installer must have admin rights.

What you are seeing is not normal or nobody could use the product.

[LeisaLaDell]

Thanks Peter –

I am glad to know this is not normal. My one main concern in the background over the last few days (and stated before in an earlier post/different problem) is that I have advocated strenuously for our company to use RH. The project I am creating now is to be the proof to get the 100% go-ahead (instead of keeping it as my stealth project). I am getting concerned because what if I get the go ahead, but then these problems plague us all the way along? As you can imagine, that would be very bad for me. L



Here are the answers to your specific questions – with a few clarifying questions:

My project is on a local drive and I am building from there
I do have back-up (a couple times per day)
I am using RH7. I believe I have admin rights because I installed it, and no one else is using it. But just in case, how do I tell?
I will try deleting the CPD file – but, what is it, and why might it help? Do you have a listing of the different file types on your site? I am usually a WYSIWYG girl, but it seems obvious I will need to get geekier than comes natural to pull this off.


One other wired thing that happened that I didn’t mention because it didn’t seem like a huge problem – I created several books with Book with Link option selected. At first the books were books, but once I edited the properties to use the Book with Link option and linked the topic, the books reverted to pages. Odd.



I think I am going to start with calling tech support today – They were very helpful yesterday with re-importing the missing HTM files, and the 2nd time I called, I only had to wait 5 min J



I will keep all your suggestions for future use, and write back today with further developments – solutions, hopefully.



Thanks for your help.

Leisa

[Peter Grainge]

See Opening Projects for information about the CPD file. Don't worry too much right now about all the other file types, we all love helping a WYSIWYG girl!

Do make a backup first.

I think the Book / Page thing only occurs if the book does not have any topics below it.

[K_Baine]

I have had a similar problem with the HTML Compiler that RH7 uses. It says it has compiled the project, but then I get an error when I try to open the .Chm. Which is only about 1 K in size, so I know there is something wrong. The error I get says it can't open it, and in doing research, I found that the Hhctrl.ocx file is missing or something. I found this file was missing in my Windows registry. I am trying to locate it and install it, but I do not know how to do this.

I wounder if re-installing RH7 would make a difference. I was able to successfully compile this project in RH7.

Kathleen Baine

[Pete_Lees]

Hi, Kathleen,

> the Hhctrl.ocx file is missing or something

If you can open other .chm files on your computer then the chances are that the HTML Help viewer components (of which hhctrl.ocx is one) are fine. To double-check this, you could try running MJ's Help Diagnostics, which is available from here:

http://helpware.net/downloads/index.htm#MJs

It's perhaps worth noting that the four HTML Help viewer components are treated as protected system components by Windows; to a large extent, they're indestructible. So although problems with these components do happen from time to time, they're thankfully quite rare.

The fact that you say that your .chm file is just 1 KB in size suggests that there is a problem with either your help project or (less likely) with the HTML Help compiler components on your computer. MJ's Help Diagnostics can check for problems with these compiler components as well as with the viewer components.

Pete

[K_Baine]

I never did try to re-install that Hhl... oxc file. I don't know how to install it. I do have Admin rights on my PC. I also re-installed RH7 and deleted the .cpd. No change.

I took a lot of the files from my non-functioning project and imported them into a new project. I did a short TOC and it all compiled just fine. So, it must be something with the project. It created a nice fat chm which I could open just fine.

However, it did not create an Index or Glossary - in fact, I did not have the option to select those in the dialog box when I was compiling. But, maybe they were not available because I didn't have any entries in the Index or Glossary.

Assuming I now have to re-create my Help project (oh joy!), is there a way to copy the Index and Glossary files from old project?

Thank you for your help, Peter.

Kathleen

[K_Baine]

One more thing. From the same project, shouldn't I be able to generate both WebHelp and HTML Help? I was able to do this in RH5. And I could also generate WebHelp from my old, corrupted project with no problem. I just couldn't generate a .chm. I've always been able to do this.

Just a thought.

Thanks.

[Peter Grainge]

Kathleen

Was RH installed with your logon and do you have admin rights? (Required for installation).

It can also be installed by an administrator who will have the required rights.

If that is not it, search on hhctrl.ocx in this forum. In your profile, increase the number of days to search.

[LeisaLaDell]

Hi Peter/Kathleen -
I still have not been able to get my project to compile. Yes, I am an administrator. I am using RH7.

This is the first I have heard about the hhctrl.ocx file. Could something there be the cause of my program?

My next step will be to uninstall/reinstall RH7. That is unless you have some other suggestion.

Here is what I have done already.
*Removed all special characters
*Confirmed I am adminstrator on my machine
*My project is on my hard drive, not network
*I have deleted .xpj & .cpd and then tried to open the file using .hhp
*a couple other small projects I have compile just fine
*this project complies fine as a WebHelpHelp file

Couple other questions - If this project is just corrupted beyond fixing and I have to scrap it and start over - How would I do that? I have the .htm files - what other files could I keep and copy over to a new/fresh project?

Thanks, Leisa

[LeisaLaDell]

Hi Peter/Kathleen -
I still have not been able to get my project to compile. Yes, I am an administrator. I am using RH7.

This is the first I have heard about the hhctrl.ocx file. Could something there be the cause of my program?

My next step will be to uninstall/reinstall RH7. That is unless you have some other suggestion.

Here is what I have done already.
*Removed all special characters
*Confirmed I am adminstrator on my machine
*My project is on my hard drive, not network
*I have deleted .xpj & .cpd and then tried to open the file using .hhp
*a couple other small projects I have compile just fine
*this project complies fine as a WebHelpHelp file

Couple other questions - If this project is just corrupted beyond fixing and I have to scrap it and start over - How would I do that? I have the .htm files - what other files could I keep and copy over to a new/fresh project?

Thanks, Leisa

[Peter Grainge]

Make sure your project name has no spaces in it, go to File | Rename to change.

Make sure the name of the CHM file as defined in the wizard is exactly the same as the project name. Generate to a local folder.

[LeisaLaDell]

Thanks Peter - did that, to no avail. Still getting the same problem. Also, I uninstalled and reinstalled RH7.

When I talked to tech support, they basically told me to open a new project and reimport everything (all 1000 pages and images from FrameMaker) and see if I still have the same problem. Thier point being that rather than being a problem with RoboHelp, it is a problem with the project.

Fair point - my only problem with that is, given all the formating, updating editng, TOC creating I have done - that is not really a solution to the problem, but simply throwing away a week's worth of work and starting from scratch.

So....(deep cleansing breath)....before I do that - do you have any other suggestions? For example, do you think it would help to start a new project and then import the current troublesome project into it (hopefully keeping some of the work I have done so far)? Or is that likely to just get me more of the same.

I guess I keep hoping - if it is a problem with this project, there should be a way to find and fix the problem. If not, what is to keep this from happening after I have 500 hours invested? Certainly at that point, "start over from scratch" is not an acceptable answer. Not that it is even now.

Thoughts? Recommendations?

Question - at what point does tech support stop answering questions and require one to purchase a plan?

Thanks so much. Still hopefull,
Leisa

[Peter Grainge]

Sometimes it is necessary to start over but usually trashing the CPD will fix things. I would start by importing some topics and then generating, ignore broken link warnings. If something does generate, then keep going in tranches making sure you can still generate. Either you will get all the way through and problem solved, or one of the imports will break things. At that point we can investigate more.

I thought support only answered if you have a plan. If they are talking to you for free, keep going!

[Pet3689]

This is more of a philosophical piece of advice, rather than specific technical help:

A few times, we faced the fact that we had an unacceptable problem with our large RoboHelp project, and that we were not able to track it down, so that we could solve it.

Of course, we could revert to a back-up version, but at the expense of a lot of hard work. And sometimes, problems remain unnoticed for some time, before anyone discovers it.

Somehow exporting and then importing our help project is generally not feasible. This is really a true last resort for us.

So, what to do, what to do?

Indeed, renaming the CPD file, and letting RoboHelp re-generate it, saved us a few times already.

As Peter mentioned, importing bit and pieces of your project into a new project is one systematic approach.

Another one is to break your broken project into smaller pieces, and hopefully find where the problem is coming from.

For example, we simply removed half of all our topics, but that did not help. We then went back to our backup, and removed the other half. Tada. We then went back to our backup, and started the process over. After a fairly short time, we had reduced the problem to a handful of topics. Then, we removed the Table of Contents, Index, etc.

Since RoboHelp can only really import one topic at a time, this multipl-e-topic approach worked better for us.

Good luck.

[LeisaLaDell]

Thanks all. Here is a recap.

I have started a new project, and am importing the .htm files from the old, troublesome project (because it has already converted all 1000 FrameMaker pages) incrementatly. So far so good - I can compile.

Basically, I decided to use the old project as a holding pen for all topics/images and am only bringing the files that I will actually use into the new project.

Thanks to everyone one for your help. Hoping for relatively smooth sailing from here = - )

Leisa

[Peter Grainge]

Kathleen

You can use Windows Explorer to manually copy the files, just give them the correct name for the new project.

You should also be able to create any of the outputs. Pete Lees has indicated how to deal with the Hhctrl.exe issue.

In this thread it was indicated in one post that you can only import one topic at a time. That is wrong, you can import multiple files.

[Z__Bulova]

Hello, I have been having an inability to compile due to the Fatal Error discussed in this thread ever since I uninstalled Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (the free edition). I believe this was the event that caused this problem which has caused all of my work to come to a standstill.

The exact message is "Fatal Error: Unexpected error from Microsoft HTML compiler." Attempts to launch the resultant CHM generate the message "Cannot open the file: mk:@MSITStore:[path to CHM file]."

I have deleted the CPD file. I have reimported the project from the BOOK file (by reference). I have also obtained the latest service packs from Microsoft KB925902, KB928843, and KB935448 which I installed in that sequence and then I registered hhctrl.ocx and itss.dll.

I have been looking for the solution to this problem for a full half day now with no success. I guess I could try to reinstall RoboHelp at this point. But if anyone had any other ideas, I would appreciate them.

Thank you,

Z.

[LeisaLaDell]

Hi Z -
Based on my recent experience, I would skip reinstalling RH - that did not solve it for me. What solved it for me was creating a new project, and then importing the .htm files from the old project bit, by bit (however you want to chunk it up), and recompiling as I go.

So far so good.

I have come to the conclusion that there was something in the old project causing the problem. And, as I am importing the .htm files to the new project, I have managed to avoid whatever it was that caused the problem. Since I am backing up as I go, and importing incrementally, even if I somehow bring in what caused the original trouble, it will be easy to "roll back" to where it was working.

That's my 2 cents, having just gone throught it all. Hope that helps.
Leisa

[Z__Bulova]

Thanks Leisa. I did try reimporting the project already, but will try it again. Not to go off on a tangent, but is it just me or is the server hosting this board unbelievably slow and unresponsive? I was also wondering if you had noticed anyone from Adobe monitoring this board. On the Framemaker board they have someone from Adobe there but it seems like the RoboHelp board does not have anyone. Thanks again Leisa.

Very Best Regards,

Z.

[K_Baine]

I'm still having the same problem. I'm using RH7. I had no problems compiling this project in RH 5. I created a new project and imported several of the files. It compiled ok. Then I imported the rest of the files and copied over the TOC, Glossary, and Index files in Windows Explorer. I tried compiling, and got the same problem.

I did not create this project by importing Word or FrameMaker files. Every topic was created from scratch, although I did copy and paste some text from other sources, but it was just plain text.

I also noticed a new problem: wherever a sentence begins with a quote, the beginning quote is replaced by r; Very strange. In other places, an em dash is replaced by &emdash, or something like that. It's like it can't translate the character.

And these characters replacing the quote marks weren't there in the original project. It's like they've been introduced since I've been working on the project.

By the way, I have no trouble compiling into WebHelp, except that these weird characters are showing up everywhere. I did fix it in one file and it compiled into WebHelp correctly.

Makes me wonder if there is some kind of virus. I work for a company that does regular updates of security patches, if that means anything. I have no control over that.

I appreciate any help anyone can give me!

Kathleen Baine

[RoboColum_n_]

You are not alone in experienceing a slow response (or occasionally no response at all) on these forums.

BTW Adobe tend to leave us alone on these forums. They do occasionally pop their heads in but they certainly don't monitor it.

[Z__Bulova]

Thanks Colum for verifying my experiences here. In other news, I have tracked down the source of my problem. It has to do with the mapping of Framemaker paragraph styles to RoboHelp styles. I felt it was my humanitarian duty to struggle through another twenty near death experiences to let you all know.

Best Regards,

Z.

[Peter Grainge]

Kathleen

The quotes problem sounds like you upgraded before applying the 7.0.1 patch.

There's some information on my site under Using RH7.

[TechWriterKat2]

Hi Z,

I too have suffered with this problem, and was never able to find any one file that was causing it. I had a HUGE project that compiled like a dream in RH 5, and failed with exactly the same error you got after I upgraded it to RH 7. One of the things that MAY have helped was moving my project to the root directory on C, and simplifying its name. When it ran in RH 5, it was several directories deep on my computer, and it never complained. RH7 seems to like it better in C:projectname.

I too spent hours with Adobe support, sent them my files, and they were able to re-create the problem -- then it mysteriously disappeared for both them and me. Now I work on it, and every so often I generate a CHM file after clicking my heels three times on a day with a full moon, and praying to whoever will listen. So far, it is still building, and I can only hope it will continue to do so.

Good luck to you!

--Kat