Disappearing baggage files

[NL_Derek-GsBV5a]

In my CHM project (RH 7.02.001, local drive) I recently noticed that some (not all) baggage files had disappeared from the Project Manager. In fact 13 had gone, 13 were still present. These are PDF files (data sheets).

In the compiled CHM file the relevant links work OK, so the files are being compiled OK. In Tools > Used Files all 26 files are listed.

I rebuilt the CPD but that made no difference. I then opened the CPD with Access, and saw that the `missing' files are listed as being in FolderID -2; others are listed in the correct folder. In the file rhbag.apj all 26 files are listed with their respective folders.

I discovered that if I removed all links to a baggage file, deleted the CPD, and remade the links, the file would be properly listed in the Project Manager. So I handled all 13 in this way, checking that they appeared in Project Manager -- but in the meantime others disappeared from Project Manager! I now have 10 `missing' files.

The problem files all have 2 or more links from different subfolders in the project; but other files like this are OK. Has anyone else seen such a phenomenon? Ideas welcome.

--- Derek

[Peter Grainge]

I wonder if the rhbag.apj file has corrupted? It might be worth rebuilding it manually, deleting the CPD again and letting that rebuild using the amended rhbag.apj file.

This is speculation so make a backup of the project first.

[NL_Derek-GsBV5a]

Thanks for thinking along, Peter. But rhbag.apj looks good; I see no difference between the `bad' and `good' entries. And some of the baggage files disappeared while I was still processing others.
The rhbag.apj entries are all of the form:

[Peter Grainge]

I took your reference to RH being on the local drive to mean the project is there, rather than the program. If that is not the case, then that could be a cause.

You say "I discovered that if I removed all links to a baggage file, deleted the CPD, and remade the links, the file would be properly listed in the Project Manager." So there are no links the baggage files all appear, when you create links they disappear. Is that the situation?

[NL_Derek-GsBV5a]

The RH program is in C:\Program Files; the project data are in
D:\author_df\Semyos\Semyos_Service_Manual\RobohelpWorkFiles

The procedure I followed was:
* Locate a missing baggage file
* Open the Topics calling it
* Remove the hyperlinks with Rightclick > Remove hyperlink
* Exit RH
* Rename the CPD file
* Restart RH; wait while the CPD is rebuilt
* Look in Project Manager > Baggage Files; the file has appeared! Although there are no references to it.
* Remake the references with Insert Hyperlink > Link to: > File...
* Verify that baggage file still visible
* Compile and test (for the first few files, later I skipped this)

I then went on to the next file (actually I worked two files at a time). When I had finished all 13 files, some of the earlier files had again vanished from Project Manager. I do not know exactly when.

I am not superstitious (touch wood;-) and in any case there are now only 10 `missing'

--- Derek

[RoboColum_n_]

I wonder whether the file names should be renamed to remove the hyphons (e.g. betriebsanleitung_pwt101718_200402.pdf).

[Peter Grainge]

I'm seeing underscores which should be fine.

[Peter Grainge]

D is a partition on your hard disk, not a network drive. I am assuming it is as otherwise it would more likely be your CD/DVD drive.

I doubt it will make a difference but try a different way of creating the link. Highight the text that is to be the link. Then drag the baggage file to it. The highlighting may seem to disappear but it will turn red when you finish the dragging.

Beyond that, I'm stumped as it makes no sense. You are saving frequently?

[NL_Derek-GsBV5a]

Hello again, thanks for the ideas.

D: is indeed a partition on my hard drive. And yes, I backup regularly.

Rather forlornly, I renamed all baggage files to remove all doubtful characters (hyphens, spaces, even a dot -- my predecessor was nothing if not creative;-) and relinked them using Peter's drag-and-drop technique. It didn't help, I now have 16 files listed in Project Manager (thus 10 lurking unreported). Each time I renamed the CPD file I gained the unlinked files but lost one or two which had been good.

It's not mission-critical, since the functionality is unaffected. But I'm a little worried that it might return to bite me one day.

I suspect it's a bug^H^H^H undocumented feature in RoboHelp. If nobody has further suggestions I'll report it to Adobe.

--- Derek

[Peter Grainge]

One last idea. Create a new project and create the same baggage files in that. Take a copy of the rhbag.apj at that point. Now create links and see if it behaves.

If it does. Copy the rhbag.apj into your errant project, delete the CPD and try again.

Let us know if it works.

[NL_Derek-GsBV5a]

Peter said:
> Let us know if it works.
It doesn't! (sigh!)

Here's what I did:
* Print the old RHBAG file for reference
* Create dummy project, with same folder structure and one topic per folder
* Add links to the appropriate topic, allow RH to copy the file into the new project
* Move the baggage file into the appropriate folder
* Compile & test -- OK. All baggage files visible in Project Manager.
* Visual compare of RHBAG files; sequence was slightly different but basically the same - I thought.
* Copy new RHBAG into main project (backup of course), rename CPD
* Start main project - discover that I had one baggage file in the wrong folder (Grrrrr!)
* Back to test project, correct error
* Copy RHBAG, rename CPD
* Start main project, still some files missing from Project Manager

Note that all missing files have at least two links, one from a topic in the same folder as the file itself, another from a topic in another folder. In the test project I just had single links. I really don't have the time to create extra links to test all this.

Stand by for the next post....

--- Derek

[NL_Derek-GsBV5a]

Since the problem occurred with PDFs with one `local' and one `remote' link, I thought I'd try moving the PDFs so that all links were `remote'. In that way my project would remain manageable.

So I created (in RH) a new folder called PDFs ... and stared in amazement as all my baggage files appeared! All 26!!!

I was then able to delete the (still empty) new folder and I still have my files. Apparently RH had got its internal folder administration in a twist and needed a shove to re-analyze it.

I'll report back if anything changes... if not, happy holidays!

--- Derek

[Peter Grainge]

Is this a project you could send me via http://www.transferbigfiles.com or similar?

You can email me from my site. Include a link to this topics and the steps to follow to break things.

[Peter Grainge]

Hold on, what do you mean by remote and local links? The link is in your project to a baggage file stored in your project, where does remote come in?

[NL_Derek-GsBV5a]

By `local' I mean that the baggage file is in the same folder as the HTML file which calls it. By `remote' the baggage file is in a different folder, with links like <a HREF="../other_folder/some_data_sheet.pdf">. All are in subfolders of the same project.

--- Derek

[Peter Grainge]

OK. I don't know what else to suggest as you cannot send the project. If it persists and you can recreate it in a project you can send, I'll be happy to look at it.