Skip to main content
A
ASnyder28
Known Participant
January 18, 2013
Question

Cross-References Broken In RoboHelp 10 Output

  • January 18, 2013
  • 3 replies
  • 7846 views

We are using FrameMaker 11 to author our documentation. We have some cross-reference links that do not work when the FrameMaker book is imported into RoboHelp. Upon import, the href information is not included in the link in the HTML code. The text looks like a link, however. When the help is generated, the text is not a link.  The following is an example of a non-functioning link:

see <a>Link</a>.</p>

Here is an example of a cross-reference that is functioning correctly:

<a href="#XREF_90399_Heading_Text">Link</a>

There are no errors in FrameMaker. The cross-reference is updating correctly in FrameMaker. In addition, when a PDF is made form the same book, the cross-reference works in the PDF.

Troubleshooting steps I have taken:

  • I have tried going to MIF and back for both the source and target documents.
  • I have recreated the cross-reference and marker.
  • I have tried linking to a heading cross-reference marker, as well as a manually create cross-reference marker.
  • I have renamed the file.
  • I have renamed the marker.
  • I have used different cross-reference formats.
  • I recreated the file by copying all the text to Notepad and pasting the text back into a fresh FrameMaker file.

None of the steps I have attempted have corrected the issue for the cross-reference I focused my troubleshooting on. I hope that someone can point me in the right direction to correct this issue.

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

A
Anonymous
May 8, 2014

I think I may be having the same issue. I'm using Technical Communications version 3. I have a huge FM book composed of many books - over 3,000 pages if it were printed. I'm linking to the FM file in RoboHelp (RH). No broken xrefs in FM, but when I go to RH, there are odd xrefs or missing ones. I keep updating both FM and RH without any success. So, I generated a list of cross-reference markers in FM.

This is what I think is causing this. Even though you're supposed to be able to link to the FM file and if all is ok with the FM book (no errors, no broken xrefs), everything should chug along in RH. But, NO, it doesn't. When I put in cross-references in FM, I do them by the paragraph. But then you can also see the actual marker text, which doesn't always agree with the heading text. This is what RH uses. So, if you're having these issues, check the marker text to make sure it matches the paragraph text.

Below is an example where I had updated the heading, but the marker didn't match. FM didn't care and didn't report a broken cross-reference. RH just displayed the xref heading but it wasn't a link. Very frustrating. I'm looking for a way to get the xref markers to match the paragraph headings.

This is the heading: EContent in the PAC Patron Account

    and this is the marker text: 28254:Heading 3: 3M eBooks in the PAC Patron Account - Items Out 768

Jeff_Coatsworth
Community Expert
Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 8, 2014

@Curious 1 - There may be two things at play here – one is the length of your paths and filenames of your FM content – there’s an invisible limit of around 35 characters that causes RH to drop xrefs from FM if the combined path & filename is too long. The other is that there’s a bug if you have FM content in the form of xref, text inset, more xrefs – the ones before the text inset will “convert” fine, the ones after are busted. Also have a look at your Conversion Settings – how are you telling RH to treat your FM xrefs?

A
Anonymous
May 8, 2014

I know what's happening though it took me forever to figure it out. In FM if you go to View, Markers and see the list of cross-reference markers - not the xref pod but the marker pod - it shows the actual marker text. So, apparently RoboHelp was using this instead of the paragraph heading. When I put in the cross-references, I select the paragraph style, then update the marker - FM is all set, no broken xrefs. But, alas, RoboHelp (with a .chm output) uses the marker text or actually probably the marker number. So, it put in xrefs randomly - but it wasn't random, just extremely annoying (if you're supposed to be able to link to the FM document that says all the xrefs are fine). The interesting thing is this didn't happen with Web Help output. But, I have to create this huge, unwieldy .chm - customers need it.

I was posting to try to help spare someone else this time-consuming, time-wasting activity. Because I assume most writers would rather write than track down these problems with tools. I actually like FrameMaker, but RoboHelp is not user-friendly. So now, back to running this thing for the zillionth time. I'm on a deadline and the only writer working on this. Good luck in your endeavors.

A
Alexandra Duffy
Inspiring
April 11, 2013

Hi,

Try running the RoboHelp update available here:

http://www.adobe.com/support/robohelp/downloads.html

I had issues with cross-references not converting properly in TCS4, and this update fixed the problems.

Alexandra

D
davewilks
Known Participant
May 23, 2013

For what its worth, I came across this thread after running into this issue as well. I'm glad I read to the bottom and found @ASnyder28's post about the text insets. I copied my file, converted all of the text insets, and voila! Correctly converted cross references.

I don't really like this solution, but for a help project that needs to be delivered tomorrow, it works.

A
ASnyder28Author
Known Participant
May 23, 2013

I am glad my post helped. It isn't ideal or pretty, but it is a workaround that will get the files out the door on time. Let's hope for a real fix soon!

Jeff_Coatsworth
Community Expert
Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 18, 2013

It's a bug that has to do with the length of the path to your FM docs - shorten up the path & you'll see they start to work in RH

A
ASnyder28Author
Known Participant
January 18, 2013

I have shorten the file name and the heading that the cross-reference points to. It doesn't help. The other cross-references that point to documents in an equally long path work. The only difference is that that the cross-reference is pointing to a separate file that is in the same directory and the other file I am comparing against has a cross reference pointing to content within the same document. Does RoboHelp not support cross-references from one document to another when files are on a network? Copying our whole library locally to shorten paths for publishing isn't an option.

Jeff_Coatsworth
Community Expert
Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 18, 2013

It does, but the total path length to a xref is limited to around 25 characters or so - I've never played around enough with it to exactly determine the max length. See this thread for more discussion - http://forums.adobe.com/message/5001958#5001958

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices