replacement ImageAPI.dll causing new problems

Hi Lost ,

We tried various things. If you do have a working version of an older copy of

RoboHelp (we had somebody still on RoboHelp 5), you can do the graphics in

the older version and then use them in your 8 project. I tried copying the

ReSize image program and the ImageAPI.dll from RoboHelp 5 to my machine to

use with RoboHelp 8, but, not surprisingly, this didn't work.

If you know exactly how you want to make your .shgs, and nothing will be

changing, you might try using the old RH8 ImageAPI.dll. As I mentioned, in my

particular experience of the problem, I was always able to save the .shgs

ONCE (after starting with a fresh .bmp) without them breaking. That is, they

would LOOK broken - the links would show up truncated, under "Broken Links"

in RH Explorer, but when I actually compiled, the graphic would work OK.  If

I saved the .shg again, and compiled again, the graphics would not work. I

don't know if this has been your experience; I also don't know if you will be

able to go back to using the old ImageAPI.dll without the graphic vanishing.

One of my colleagues tried going back to the old ImageAPI.dll, and he says

now he's getting the same problem with that as with the new one. Just thought

I'd throw that possibility out there, though.

We finally broke down and logged a support call with Adobe. Because of a

combination of problems on our end (our company's firewall) and Adobe's end

(even after I finally was able to send them a sample help project so they

could see the error, they were trying to support me in RoboHelp HTML instead

of RoboHelp for Word, asking why I had sent them an .hpj instead of an

.xpj??!!) it has turned into something like a Monty Python quest. I'm

expecting the killer rabbit any day now.

Seriously - the last I heard from Adobe was last Monday, the 2nd, and they

said that they were escalating the problem but that it would be at least 48

hours before I heard from anyone. Obviously, it has been more than 48 hours.

We went ahead and sent our latest project out without the few new .shgs that

it would require. But I think at least they believe me about it being a

problem with the ImageAPI.dll, so I am hopeful that they will respond soon.

(Hope springs eternal . . .) I will certainly let you know if we hear

anything and I will certainly encourage them to post the new .dll, because

that's what it's going to take, as soon as possible.

Best of luck - Sandy

Hello - LostatWork (Jeff) and JonC - I am trying to reach you guys. We logged a support call with Adobe back in July about this issue. At one time I described our quest for support as Pythonesque. It has long since become Kafkaesque. We have been back and forth, back and forth with Adobe and still no one has sent us a fixed version of the ImageAPI.dll, which I have to think would be the solution to the problem, based on the experiences the three of us have had.

Have either of you had any success getting this problem resolved? The technician has been asking me questions about our OS/network configuration etc., which I can't imagine have ANYTHING to do with the problem -- but I am reaching out to you guys hoping somehow maybe you found out it was some freaky thing totally unrelated to ImageAPI.dll . . . ideally, something I wouldn't need to depend on Adobe for . . . I would feel stupid, after all this time I've spent asking them to fix ImageAPI.dll, but just feeling stupid (instead of angry and frustrated and stupid ) would be a relief at this point. Thanks! - Sandy

Hi Jeff - If I ever do hear anything, I'll post to the forum ASAP. I sure

wish we weren't wedded to delivering this project in WinHelp, or that I knew

of any other app that allowed you to produce .shg graphics. We use AuthorIt

to produce help for other apps and we've been happy with it (and overall

quite satisfied with their SUPPORT! ahem anyone listening?? I'm not mad at

the poor guy who's been assigned to us, I just feel like he - and apparently

his supervisors, too - are in out of their depth). Anyway, AuthorIt will

allow you to generate hotspot graphics in HTML help, and it will produce

WinHelp, but it doesn't recognize .shgs. Thanks again for getting back to me

- Sandy

Hi Peter,

We have spoken to Adobe several times over the past three months. But

supposedly someone is going to call us back today, again.

I will certainly post as soon as I get a solution, if we don't end up

switching products first.

In the meantime I am experimenting with using the replacement .dll (the one

that makes my graphics disappear) to fix links, then switching .dlls and

compiling with the original .dll (graphics show up but links are broken). I

don't know if this will work, since I think I will have to open the .shgs for

them to reappear, and I think that would break the links again. But I figured

it can't hurt to try. Thank you - Sandy

Wanda - No, and it has been a nightmare. We logged our original support call

in July, and although our case is still active with Adobe, they still say

they can't reproduce the problem on their end. We have other products

documented using another tool that we're satisfied with, and we had resisted

converting the giant help project for this particular product to that tool,

because we were concerned about the time the conversion would take,

particularly to convert all the hotspot graphics. Well, I'm sure it would

have taken less time than what we've spent so far trying to get RoboHelp to

work.

I would like to encourage you and the other two guys who have reported the

problem to log a support call . . . maybe if we all reported it they would

feel a little more pressure to get the problem solved.

I have already put quite a bit of this long saga on the Forum, so I probably

shouldn't say any more about it there, but feel free to contact me directly

at sdryer@msa.com.

Yes, I'm sure I can do that in a test project. I've done it before for Adobe

support. All it takes is one graphic. Do you want me to post it to the forum?

Thanks, Peter.

Hi Peter - I can't get to the cutesendit page. Apparently my company has it

blocked.

Is there any way I can get the project to you using FileZilla? Or just

through e-mail?

It's 1.05 meg when it's zipped.

I wasn't sure if I should start using your regular e-mail at this point -

please let me know. Thanks - Sandy

Since I can't post a celestial choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus, I'll just

say thanks again to Peter . . .