Fatal Error: Unexpected error from Microsoft HTML compiler.

Thanks Leisa. I did try reimporting the project already, but will try it again. Not to go off on a tangent, but is it just me or is the server hosting this board unbelievably slow and unresponsive? I was also wondering if you had noticed anyone from Adobe monitoring this board. On the Framemaker board they have someone from Adobe there but it seems like the RoboHelp board does not have anyone. Thanks again Leisa.

Very Best Regards,

Z.

Hi Z -
Based on my recent experience, I would skip reinstalling RH - that did not solve it for me. What solved it for me was creating a new project, and then importing the .htm files from the old project bit, by bit (however you want to chunk it up), and recompiling as I go.

So far so good.

I have come to the conclusion that there was something in the old project causing the problem. And, as I am importing the .htm files to the new project, I have managed to avoid whatever it was that caused the problem. Since I am backing up as I go, and importing incrementally, even if I somehow bring in what caused the original trouble, it will be easy to "roll back" to where it was working.

That's my 2 cents, having just gone throught it all. Hope that helps.
Leisa

Kathleen

You can use Windows Explorer to manually copy the files, just give them the correct name for the new project.

You should also be able to create any of the outputs. Pete Lees has indicated how to deal with the Hhctrl.exe issue.

In this thread it was indicated in one post that you can only import one topic at a time. That is wrong, you can import multiple files.

Thanks all. Here is a recap.

I have started a new project, and am importing the .htm files from the old, troublesome project (because it has already converted all 1000 FrameMaker pages) incrementatly. So far so good - I can compile.

Basically, I decided to use the old project as a holding pen for all topics/images and am only bringing the files that I will actually use into the new project.

Thanks to everyone one for your help. Hoping for relatively smooth sailing from here = - )

Leisa

This is more of a philosophical piece of advice, rather than specific technical help:

A few times, we faced the fact that we had an unacceptable problem with our large RoboHelp project, and that we were not able to track it down, so that we could solve it.

Of course, we could revert to a back-up version, but at the expense of a lot of hard work. And sometimes, problems remain unnoticed for some time, before anyone discovers it.

Somehow exporting and then importing our help project is generally not feasible. This is really a true last resort for us.

So, what to do, what to do?

Indeed, renaming the CPD file, and letting RoboHelp re-generate it, saved us a few times already.

As Peter mentioned, importing bit and pieces of your project into a new project is one systematic approach.

Another one is to break your broken project into smaller pieces, and hopefully find where the problem is coming from.

For example, we simply removed half of all our topics, but that did not help. We then went back to our backup, and removed the other half. Tada. We then went back to our backup, and started the process over. After a fairly short time, we had reduced the problem to a handful of topics. Then, we removed the Table of Contents, Index, etc.

Since RoboHelp can only really import one topic at a time, this multipl-e-topic approach worked better for us.

Good luck.

Sometimes it is necessary to start over but usually trashing the CPD will fix things. I would start by importing some topics and then generating, ignore broken link warnings. If something does generate, then keep going in tranches making sure you can still generate. Either you will get all the way through and problem solved, or one of the imports will break things. At that point we can investigate more.

I thought support only answered if you have a plan. If they are talking to you for free, keep going!

Thanks Peter - did that, to no avail. Still getting the same problem. Also, I uninstalled and reinstalled RH7.

When I talked to tech support, they basically told me to open a new project and reimport everything (all 1000 pages and images from FrameMaker) and see if I still have the same problem. Thier point being that rather than being a problem with RoboHelp, it is a problem with the project.

Fair point - my only problem with that is, given all the formating, updating editng, TOC creating I have done - that is not really a solution to the problem, but simply throwing away a week's worth of work and starting from scratch.

So....(deep cleansing breath)....before I do that - do you have any other suggestions? For example, do you think it would help to start a new project and then import the current troublesome project into it (hopefully keeping some of the work I have done so far)? Or is that likely to just get me more of the same.

I guess I keep hoping - if it is a problem with this project, there should be a way to find and fix the problem. If not, what is to keep this from happening after I have 500 hours invested? Certainly at that point, "start over from scratch" is not an acceptable answer. Not that it is even now.

Thoughts? Recommendations?

Question - at what point does tech support stop answering questions and require one to purchase a plan?

Thanks so much. Still hopefull,
Leisa

Make sure your project name has no spaces in it, go to File | Rename to change.

Make sure the name of the CHM file as defined in the wizard is exactly the same as the project name. Generate to a local folder.

Hi Peter/Kathleen -
I still have not been able to get my project to compile. Yes, I am an administrator. I am using RH7.

This is the first I have heard about the hhctrl.ocx file. Could something there be the cause of my program?

My next step will be to uninstall/reinstall RH7. That is unless you have some other suggestion.

Here is what I have done already.
*Removed all special characters
*Confirmed I am adminstrator on my machine
*My project is on my hard drive, not network
*I have deleted .xpj & .cpd and then tried to open the file using .hhp
*a couple other small projects I have compile just fine
*this project complies fine as a WebHelpHelp file

Couple other questions - If this project is just corrupted beyond fixing and I have to scrap it and start over - How would I do that? I have the .htm files - what other files could I keep and copy over to a new/fresh project?

Thanks, Leisa

Hi Peter/Kathleen -
I still have not been able to get my project to compile. Yes, I am an administrator. I am using RH7.

This is the first I have heard about the hhctrl.ocx file. Could something there be the cause of my program?

My next step will be to uninstall/reinstall RH7. That is unless you have some other suggestion.

Here is what I have done already.
*Removed all special characters
*Confirmed I am adminstrator on my machine
*My project is on my hard drive, not network
*I have deleted .xpj & .cpd and then tried to open the file using .hhp
*a couple other small projects I have compile just fine
*this project complies fine as a WebHelpHelp file

Couple other questions - If this project is just corrupted beyond fixing and I have to scrap it and start over - How would I do that? I have the .htm files - what other files could I keep and copy over to a new/fresh project?

Thanks, Leisa