File Name Associations Drop Out When Changing Project Name

[ericis]

Posting on behalf of a colleague. He's using Robohelp X5 on a Windows XP computer.

"We have frequent occasions in which we must take an existing online help project (ABC_001, for example), make some tweaks/additions/omissions, and release a revised online help project (ABC_002). We have been cloning the existing help project (ABC_001), renaming the project, making the necessary changes to the help project, adding or deleting map IDs in .hh files as necessary, importing revised .hh files as necessary, and then releasing the project under the new name. We want to maintain map ID numbers and assignments (25ANG1, Map #: 640, File name: Synchronism Check#25ANG1) from ABC_001 to ABC_002, but the File name associations drop out when we change the project name. It is then a laborious process to go through the list and reassign all the topics to the appropriate File names. Is there any way to maintain topic labels with their map ID numbers and their File name associations from one project to another?"

TIA

[RoboColum_n_]

I have a hunch here that renaming the project looses association with the project's alias file. Renaming the project changes the name of the project's .ALI file which is referenced in the project's .HHP file. If you open this file in notepad, you will find an [ALIAS] section. Does this still refer to the old project's .ali file?

[RoboColum_n_]

Having looked into this a bit more I think I was only partially on the right track. Having copied and renamed a project, there was no .HHP file present so there is no connection with the renamed .ALI file. If you compile the project after your rename, the .HHP is created complete with the connection to the renamed .ALI file.

[ericis · Accepted solution]

My colleague's reply:

"I discovered that it requires just one more step in the help project before I can actually see the file name associations/aliases again. I have to recompile, as Colum recommended, but then I have to close down RoboHelp and reopen the project. Then, if I am in Project View and navigate to Context-Sensitive Help/Map Files/All Map IDs, I can see all of the file name associations again. Thank you, Colum, for your help!"