Conditional Build will not generate

There is a workaround on this forum and I expect Colum can readily point you to it tomorrow. No point in reporting it as a bug as it has been fixed in RH7.

Hmm, I tried to post a reply twice last week, but neither showed up. Anyway, I'll try once more.

Peter,

After fooling with my table, I realized that the issue stems from some cells that span two rows; when I exclude other cells in the same rows (which span only one row each) from a build using conditional tags, RH simply excludes those cells and doesn't reformat the table accordingly. (I think I should be able to expect that it would reformat the table correctly to accommodate a condition, which would mean adjusting the colspan and/or rowspan values.) Here's a simplified version of my table configuration:

<table class=NormalTable x-use-null-cells style="x-cell-content-align: Center; border-spacing: 0px; border-spacing: 0px;"
cellspacing=0>
<col>
<col>
<col>
<col>
<col>
<tr style="x-cell-content-align: top;" valign=top>
<td rowspan=2><p class=TableHeader>Report</td>
<td rowspan=2><p class=TableHeader>Description</td>
<td rowspan=2><p class=TableHeader>Configurable Layout?</td>
<td colspan=2 rowspan=1 style=" ... x-condition: Internal_only;"><p class=TableHeader style="text-align: center;" align=center>Availability by Account Type</td>
<td_null>
</tr>
<tr style="x-cell-content-align: top;" valign=top>
<td_null>
<td_null>
<td_null>
<td style=" ... x-condition: Internal_only;"><p class=TableHeader>Client</td>
<td style=" ... x-condition: Internal_only;"><p class=TableHeader>Admin</td>
</tr>
<tr style="x-cell-content-align: top;" valign=top>
<td><p>Performance Highlights</td>
<td><p>[text]</td>
<td><p>No</td>
<td style=" ... x-condition: Internal_only;">Yes</td>
<td style=" ... x-condition: Internal_only;">Yes</td>
</tr>
</table>

So my workaround is to either reformat the table or use two versions of the table with conditions applied to the whole things. Do you think this constitutes a bug (for which I should send a report)?

Mary

Whatever is causing the problem, it is not the same as the RH6 problem. That was with cells in the end column anyway rather then cells in the top row. Also it was with generating online help. Plus the tag didn't have to be related to the table.

Don't use DLLs from a different version.

First step is to exclude that whole topic from the document. Just create a copy of the print layout and then delete it from the topics in the wizard.

Also look in the Output view. Any messages there?

Create a new layout by right clicking the SSL folder in Project Manager.

Go with all the default settings. Any change?

If not, copy the project and in Windows Explorer remove all the folders under SSL. Zip it all up and tell me the size of the zip file.

Just figured out that it isn't enough to delete the conditional tags from the Project pane > Conditional tags folder, in order to generate a chm successfully.

It is also necessary to set the Generate Primary Layout window > Conditional Build Expression field to (None).

As I usually generate using the Tool bar > ? button, I had overlooked this setting.

I still don't know why I'm having such a problem with conditional text, however.

Peter,

I did that stuff first. Several times. It didn't make a difference. I came to the conclusion that it was worth going back to find any instances of merged cells.

Interestingly, this morning, upon opening my project, it defaulted to WebHelp Pro as the primary layout. I reset it to MicroSoft HTML, tried generating a chm (after dumping the xpj and cpd files and using hhp to regenerate) and the program is now locking up
during the Update files process, although there are no conditional tags! In short, it won't generate at all (in Single Source > MS HTML = Primary Layout).

Just this morning, I've rebooted twice and regenerated once (per Colum) without success.

I've been using the Single Source > MS HTML = Primary Layout setting exclusively for nine months. Guess I'll try again using WebHelp Pro as the primary layout.

Why would the Single Source default setting change? It never has before.

Good Lord.

I am not following why we are still searching for merged table cells. We have proved that bug no longer exists on your PC.

The link that Colum pointed to is about trashing the CPD and XPJ files and then reopening the project with the HHP file. Take a look at that topic titled Opening Projects on my site.

The problem was resolved in RH6 as you have proved by downloading the fix and creating a project where merged cells behave.

Try what I have suggested, with a copy of your project and post back.

This is very irritating. I went to a lot of work to concieve/build/format tables that met my needs. Your sugggestion seems to indicate that only the simplest tables will enable conditional text.

If true, that's a bad glitch. I have a very large number of tables embedded in my documentation. Indeed, the text within each topic is organized using a table-based format.

Any change that this was resolved in Version 7?

If not, I do hope that the product designers responsible for RH are paying attention to this one.

As far as I can tell, I've followed every step suggested. Today, I identified all the occurrences of <td_null> in my project using (FAR), added an extra column (sans cell merges) to the right side of each table, reformatted them accordingly and saved the whole thing.

I tried, yet again, deleting the xjp and chp files, then double clicking the hhp to reopen the project. Closed the project and reopened yet again the normal way. Created a new tag and applied it to one topic, tried generating a file and failed!

I'm a bit frustrated. Any additional suggestions?

OK. That proves your problem is no longer anything to do with the bug. Your main project has some problem, perhaps because it has been on the network. Follow the link that Colum gave for that.