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stephenm98165107
Participating Frequently
October 2, 2017
Question

What is in the .cpd file that can't be recreated when it's missing?

  • October 2, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 2902 views

We have a process that actually creates a compile-able help project on the fly (based on parsing of source code). In the past it was only used to compile an HTML project with the Microsoft help compiler so it only created the .hhp, .hhk and .hhc files (along with all the content pages). We now want it to create all the files that RH would need so that we can use RH to compile various targets.

I've examined all the various project files and it seems pretty straightforward to create everything except the .cpd file (it's the only binary file). I've also found out that, at least on the surface, the .cpd file is not needed to open a project because it will get regenerated automatically if missing.

But I wonder what information might be stored in the .cpd that can't be regenerated by RH so I can see if anything would be fundamental to our use.

Can anyone tell me what operations might be done in RH, stored in the .cpd file and then missing if the .cpd file was erased and recreated automatically?

Best regards,

-SWM-

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    1 reply

    Captiv8r
    Captiv8r
    Legend
    October 2, 2017

    Hi there

    The CPD file is actually a Microsoft Access database file using a custom file extension. If you open Microsoft Access, you should then be able to open the .CPD and examine all the tables and relationships inside.

    Cheers... Rick

    S
    stephenm98165107Author
    Participating Frequently
    October 2, 2017

    Hi Rick,

    I was hoping not to have to dive quite that deeply into it, especially since trying to make assumptions based on examining data structures without intimate knowledge of their use is never a wise idea

    There is obviously (at least to me) much (perhaps most?) of the information contained in the .cpd data structure that is rebuilt from the rest of the project files - so I was hoping some experts could give me a short list of the kinds of things that would be stored in the .cpd that might be lost when the .cpd is automatically rebuilt. Then I could make a higher level decision of it those types of things matter to our use without having to get too far into the weeds...

    Anyone else have any insights?

    Best regards,

    -SWM-

    Captiv8r
    Captiv8r
    Legend
    October 2, 2017

    Given the fact that Adobe has added a feature that allows a CPD to be deleted before opening any project, I'm not sure anything is actually removed.

    I thought Peter Grainge had documented some of these things over on his grainge.org web site, but I'm not finding what I thought he had. Maybe if you poke around on it you will have better results than I did.

    Cheers... Rick

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