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July 21, 2010
Question

replacement ImageAPI.dll causing new problems

  • July 21, 2010
  • 2 replies
  • 2952 views

I was trying to help JonC (http://forums.adobe.com/message/2984518#2984518), thinking that I was using the new ImageAPI.dll successfully, but it turns out that I haven't been.

I have to generate WebHelp and WinHelp from RoboHelp for Word. In the project that I just finished, before I had the new version of the ImageAPI.dll, when I was getting the weird truncated topic ID problem (http://forums.adobe.com/message/2939947#2939947) )  I was always able to save the .shgs ONCE successfully. If I opened them up again, the links would break.

So, if I was careful not to reopen the .shgs once I'd saved, my WinHelp was actually turning out OK. But when I then went to generate WebHelp (from the same source files), the links in the .shgs would break (I'm assuming this happened when the .shgs were opened, behind the scenes, for whatever conversion process they go through).

So the new ImageAPI.dll fixed my hotspot graphics in the WebHelp so they worked just fine, and I was able to get my project out the door (thanks again, Peter). But because I had always been able to save the .shgs once successfully, and I'd already turned in my WinHelp files, I never got to see what would happen if you inserted a new .shg that had been created with the new ImageAPI.dll and compiled it in WinHelp.

Now, this morning, I'm seeing it (as we start a new project), and it looks like we are getting the same problem as JonC - if you put hotspots in, images disappear.

Seems like the new ImageAPI.dll is buggy. Anyone else experiencing this?- Sandy

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2 replies

Participating Frequently
December 29, 2010

Did any of you ever get a resolution for this problem?

Thank you!

Wanda

December 29, 2010

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.

Peter Grainge
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 30, 2010

Can either of you recreate this problem in a small test project?

If not, how big are the problem projects if all outputs are stripped up and then it is zipped?


See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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Known Participant
August 9, 2010

I'm having the exact same issue, Sandy.

After I replaced the ImageAPI.dll, once I set up hotspots and compile, I receive the "Unable to Display Graphic" on the topic that the image should be on.  If I compile with just the bmp or shg without any hotspots, the image appears, but, somehow, after I hotspot the image, the graphic doesn't display after compiling.  This is a worse problem than what happened with the old ImageAPI.dll.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

August 9, 2010

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

Known Participant
August 9, 2010

Thanks for the help and the chuckle, Sandy.

One thing that worked with the old ImageAPI.dll was to make the hotspot links as pop-ups instead of to secondary windows.  Even though it didn't look as good as opening a second window for paragraphs of texts, it worked.  But I got excited when I downloaded the new ImageAPI.dll as I thought I'd get my beloved secondary windows off a hotspot back...:-)

Thanks again and please let me know what they say.

Best,

Jeff