6 Replies Latest reply: Jan 29, 2014 6:40 AM by Jeff_Coatsworth RSS

    "This help system has no topics"

    exteritylaura Community Member

      Hi all

       

      (Apologies if you've already read this on the Framemaker forum - posted there first by accident)

       

      We're using the trial version of Framemaker 12 as part of the TCS5 suite.

       

      I've been experimenting with the Publish pod to create WebHelp.

       

      I managed to create pretty good help files, and was pleased with the result.

       

      Then I changed a few things (renamed some book files to provide better search results) and now when I generate Webhelp and view the output, "This help system has no topics" appears in the main window.

      no topics.png

      This happens regardless of whether I generate the book, or a single file. There clearly are topics, which appear in the TOC on the left. When I click an item in the TOC, the help file works fine.

       

      Even when I revert to the original file names, it still happens.

      Also, the search function no longer works - it did before.

       

      I've noticed that there is a NoTopic.htm file which is produced during generation - when I delete this, I get a missing file icon. But why is it using this as the default topic?

       

      Any ideas why this is happening?

       

      Thanks in advance

       

      Laura

        • 1. Re: "This help system has no topics"
          Jeff_Coatsworth CommunityMVP

          After you changed things, did you update the book and save it before trying to publish?

          • 2. Re: "This help system has no topics"
            exteritylaura Community Member

            Hi Jeff,

             

            Yes, I think I did. I've certainly saved and updated several times since, to no avail.

            Laura

            • 3. Re: "This help system has no topics"
              exteritylaura Community Member

              If this helps at all, this is the log file for a single file:

               

              Output(s) publishedWebHelp

              Loading Setting...

              Converting Source Files...

              Scanning Documents...

              Scanning Documents...

              Scanning Documents...

              Finishing

              Importing Frame Documents..

              Importing Frame Documents..

              Importing Frame Documents..

              Importing Frame Documents..

              Importing Frame Documents..

              Converting "Maintenan....fm"...

              Importing Frame Documents..

              Importing Frame Documents..

              Building TOC...

              Splitting...

              Splitting...

              Updating Hyperlinks...

              Updating Index...

              Merging TOC...

              Merging Index...

              Splitting...

              Finished Importing Document

              Preparing Output Files...

              Started Parsing HTML Topics...

              Completed Parsing :

              Analysing the Collected Information...

              Collecting Information for Output Generation...

              Gathering Information for TOC, Index and Glossary...

              Gathering Information for HTML Help Project File...

              Gathering Information for HTML Topic Properties...

              Gathering Information for StyleSheets used in HTML Topics...

              Gathering Information for Baggage Files to Include...

              Gathering Information for Skins and Layouts used...

              Preparing Environment for Final Output Generation...

              Generating Output...

              Compiling C:\Users\lfergusson\Documents\Sandbox\CustomerDocs\Receiver\FrameMaker Docs\Receiver 4.0 - Copy\web help\Maintenance Tasks-WebHelp\index.html ...

              Preparing to create WebHelp...

              Preparing files for WebHelp...

              Preparing files for WebHelp...

              Copying files...

              Copying files...

              Updating files...

              Updating files...

              Finished preparing in 0 sec(s)

              Generating WebHelp

              Initializing compiler...

              Generating WebHelp 5.00 (12.0.0.327)...

               

              Processing TOC data...

              Processing Context-sensitive-Help data...

              Error: Failed to process Context-sensitive-Help data...

              Updating HTML topics...

              Updating NoTopic.htm...

               

              Finished updating HTML topics in 0 sec(s) : total 1 topic(s).

              Processing Full-text-search data...

               

              Finished processing Full-Text-Search data in 0 sec(s)

              Applying WebHelp 5.00 Template...

              • 4. Re: "This help system has no topics"
                Jeff_Coatsworth CommunityMVP

                Since I haven’t played at all with the Publish feature in FM, I can’t offer too much help, but years of dealing with RH tells me that your path is way too long. Best practices usually dictate using as short a path as you can – c:\projects\project_name\ is recommended.

                • 5. Re: "This help system has no topics"
                  exteritylaura Community Member

                  Thanks Jeff, I'll try that. But it was working great beforehand....

                   

                  Thanks.

                  • 6. Re: "This help system has no topics"
                    Jeff_Coatsworth CommunityMVP

                    Did you introduce any characters into your book/file names? Like commas, dashes, etc.? That might be throwing things off…