Renamed Project Now References TOC Topics As If They Are External Topics

[Guest]

I have just followed the directions in the RH X5 for Word Help file about renaming projects. This set of directions has worked repeatedly for me for years, without incident and flawlessly. (These directions are very similar to what I found here.)

I just copied and renamed a whole project on a new logical drive, which is something I've done successfully in the past. I used the same directions, and now in my new project I'm seeing all my TOC references displaying as if they are referencing external topics. If I drag a topic a second time into my TOC from the right-hand pane, it displays the way I expect (NOT as an external topic, but as a normal topic). When I open my *.CNT file in Notepad to peek and compare the two TOC entries, the one that is displaying as a normal topic is referencing my old project name with an @oldprojectname.hlp statement. This is backwards! And why is it happening this way at all?

One more VERY weird thing: my newprojectname.hlp is being included under the Project pane > Dependencies > External Help Files. Why in the world would my newprojectname.hlp be deemed an external Help file?! It is supposed to be THE main help file in my newly renamed project.

I have used Notepad to search for any reference in my *.HPJ file to my oldprojectname and/or any use of the old logical drive letter. Nothing matches these searches.

I have tried closing my new project, renaming all *.HPT files so that RH thinks they have been deleted, and then reopening my new project. Curiously, the file that is newly created by RH is named oldprojectname.HPT. I was expecting to see it be named newprojectname.HPT.

I'm thoroughly stumped. Thank you to whomever can help me fix this! I need to make my new project have no linkages to the old project.

[Guest · Accepted solution]

Problem Solved - An Update: I went to the Customer Support Portal and contacted Adobe Technical Support about this problem. A Senior Technical Support Engineer wrote me back from Adobe.

"Regarding your concern, I understand that after renaming your project, your TOC references are showing up as referencing to [sic.] external topics. Based on your post on the forums, it appears that there is something missing with the steps you followed to rename the project. To further isolate this issue, try copying your original project to another location on your local machine and try and follow the same instruction [sic.] on the following TechNote":

Renaming and moving a project
http://www.adobe.com/go/rb_1866

As I was curious to see what might be the difference(s) between the instructions for renaming projects in the above TechNote and the same instructions in the Help file for RH X5, I compared the two, step by step. The instructions were essentially identical, except for a typo that has been fixed in the newer TechNote instructions.

However, there were some deficiencies with the above TechNote instructions. I copied the TechNote, fixed it, and was able to rename my RH X5 for Word project successfully. My renamed project is no longer referencing my topics as if they were external. Everything is now as it should be. I am including the corrected instructions here, for future reference.

Here are the corrected instructions for renaming a RH X5 for Word project:

To rename a Help project:
1. Close the Help project and exit RoboHelp.
2. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder containing the Help project.
3. Use Windows Explorer to rename the following files:
Warning: Make sure when you rename these files that each one retains its original file extension.

• oldprojectname.CNT (This is the Table of Contents file.)
  
• oldprojectname.DOC (This is a source document. If you have more than one source document, be sure to rename them all.)
  
• oldprojectname.HH (This is a RoboHelp Map file. If you are generating Map IDs through RoboHelp and have a Map file for each source document, you will have one or more of these files. Be sure to rename them all.)
  
• oldprojectname.HPJ (This is a RoboHelp project settings file.)
  
• oldprojectname.HPR (This is a behind-the-scenes RoboHelp file.)
  
• oldprojectname.RBH (You will have one or more of these files. Be sure to rename them all.)
  
• oldprojectname.RTF (This is a source document's RTF file. You will have one or more of these files. Be sure to rename them all.)
  4. Rename or delete the following files:
  Reminder: If you delete them, RoboHelp will automatically regenerate them once you reopen the Help project and save it.
  
• oldprojectname.AKW (This contains your unused See Also A-keywords)
  
• oldprojectname.ERR (This is the error log from the last compile.)
  
• oldprojectname.HPT (This is a behind-the-scenes RoboHelp file.)
  
• oldprojectname.KKW (This contains your unused Index K-keywords.)
  
• oldprojectname.PRS (This is a behind-the-scenes RoboHelp file.)
  
• oldprojectname.RTA (This is a behind-the-scenes RoboHelp file.)
  
• oldprojectname.RTK (This is a behind-the-scenes RoboHelp file.)
  
• oldprojectname.RTS (This is a behind-the-scenes RoboHelp file.)
  5. Delete the following files:
  
• oldprojectname.GHC, if listed (This is a Visual Basic Constant extra language map file.)
  
• oldprojectname.GID (This is a hidden configuration file generated by WinHelp when you run the compiled WinHelp Help file.)
  
• oldprojectname.HLP (This is the compiled WinHelp Help file.)
  
• oldprojectname.INC, if listed (This is a Turbo Pascal Include extra language map file.)
  
• oldprojectname.PAS, if listed (This is a Delphi Map extra language map file.)
  6. Edit the oldprojectname.HPR file using Notepad:
  
• Open the HPR file in Notepad.
  
• Under the [Document Files] heading, locate the line containing the text oldprojectname.DOC=1. Rename this line so that it displays newprojectname.DOC=1. (For example, CATZ.DOC=1 would become CATS.DOC=1.)
  
• Find and fix all other instances of oldprojectname so that they are all renamed to be newprojectname.
  
• If you are renaming your project in order to put it on a different logical drive, find and fix all instances of the old logical drive name so that they are all renamed to be the new logical drive name. This works best by searching for 😕 (colon backslash).
  
• Save the HPR file but keep Notepad open.
  7. Edit oldprojectname.HPJ using Notepad:
  
• Open the HPJ file in Notepad.
  
• Under the [FILES] heading, rename oldprojectname.RTF to newprojectname.RTF. (For example, CATZ.RTF would become CATS.RTF.)
  
• Under the [MAP] heading, rename oldprojectname.HH to newprojectname.HH. (For example, #include<CATZ.HH> would become #include <CATS.HH>.)
  
• Find and fix all other instances of oldprojectname so that they are all renamed to be newprojectname.
  
• If you are renaming your project in order to put it on a different logical drive, find and fix all instances of the old logical drive name so that they are all renamed to be the new logical drive name. This works best by searching for 😕 (colon backslash).
  
• Save the HPJ file but keep Notepad open.
  8. Edit the oldprojectname.CNT using Notepad:
  
• Open the CNT file in Notepad.
  
• On the :Base line, rename oldprojectname.HLP to newprojectname.HLP. (For example, :Base CATZ.HLP would become :Base CATS.HLP.)
  
• If the CNT file explicitly names the Help project on one or more TOC pages (something like @oldprojectname.HLP), rename the Help project statement for each TOC page:
  o From the Search menu, select Replace.
  o In Find what, enter @oldprojectname.HLP. (For example: @CATZ.HLP)
  o In Replace with, enter @newprojectname.HLP. (For example: @CATS.HLP)
  o Use either Find Next or Replace All to replace all instances of the statement.
  
• Find and fix all other instances of oldprojectname so that they are all renamed to be newprojectname.
  
• If you are renaming your project in order to put it on a different logical drive, find and fix all instances of the old logical drive name so that they are all renamed to be the new logical drive name. This works best by searching for 😕 (colon backslash).
  
• Save the CNT file and exit Notepad.
  9. Open the newly renamed Help project in RoboHelp.
  10. Check the project title that displays on the main Help window titlebar:
  
• From RoboHelp Explorer File menu, select Project Settings.
  
• Click the Project tab.
  
• In Project Title, rename the title, if you wish. (When you created the Help project, you entered this field. The title in this field displays if you don't have a .CNT file.)
  11. Click "OK" to exit the Project Settings dialog and save your changes.
  12. (Optional) General "clean up" steps:
  
• Check your Image Folders listed under the Images Folder (BMROOT) folder for missing image folders. If a folder is missing, locate the missing image folder.
  
• If this project contains macros or hotspots that specifically name this Help file, edit the hotspots and update the Help file name. (You can also use RoboHelp's Replace dialog to replace multiple instances of the Help file name.)
  
• If this project is combined into a Master Help system, you'll want to test the Master Help system thoroughly, links and all, to ensure that nothing is "broken" due to renaming the project.
  13. Check all of the settings in each single-source layout. Make sure they are all correct.
  14. Compile the Help project for each single-source layout. View each output file and check its title bar, Contents tab, Index tab, and perform a search to test the Help file.
  
  Updated TechNote Details
  Last Update by marjoriem: 07-31-2008
  ID: rb_1866
  Permanent Link to older version of this TechNote: http://www.adobe.com/go/rb_1866
  Products Affected by the Above Instructions:
  RoboHelp X5 for Word

[Peter Grainge]

In RH HTML that would be File | Rename Project.

Another reason for moving from RH for Word? :-)