Error Adding Old MS SourceSafe Robohelp Project Back to SourceSafe

Report · Dec 04, 2007

Hello fellow Robohelp Gurus!

I was hoping of you smart and brave souls could help me out with a pending issue!

Basically, I have a Robohelp X5 Project I USE TO have in sourcesafe. I removed it from Sourcesafe for several months, but would like to re-add it now. Unfortunately, every time I try to add the project to Sourcesafe, it gives me an ERROR!

The error reads: Failed to create database at C:\XXXXXX, and refers to data\aaaaaaaa.cnt

Database Creation Failed.

What is the data folder and why is it referencing this specific cnt file? Any luck or ways to bypass this? Can I simply remove that file? Please advise, if possible!

Any assistance in this is greatly appreciated!

Report · Dec 05, 2007

I am not familiar with Visual Source Safe but my xperience with MS SQL Express might (or might not) help.

I use RoboHelp HTML 6 with RoboSource Control 3 and MS SQL Express 2.5. At one point, my project froze. I could no longer check files in or out. Many attempts to remove the project from version control failed. I finally succeeded after I deleted a file using Windows Explorer. I also deleted the database in MS SQL Express. The result was that my project worked but I no longer had version control.

Since things were working, I returned my project to version control. Immediately, my project was frozen again. To me, it looked like I was adding a new project to version control. However, my new project had the same name as before and the same problem as before. I tried removing and adding to version control two or three times before giving up.

Having no other ideas and having nothing to lose, I renamed my project before I returned it to version control. Amazingly enough, this small change made a difference. The project now worked, although, very slowly.

I searched the forum. There was a post about slow projects and XPJ files. Apparently, an XPJ file is updated when a file is deleted in RoboHelp. Since I manually deleted a file outside of RoboHelp, an XPJ file hadn't been updated. XPJ files are text files with a simple format that inventory various files in a directory. I checked all of my XPJ files and found one that was out of sync with the contents of that directory. I updated that XPJ file and the project has been working at normal speed ever since.

Even though we are using different versions of RoboHelp, and even though one of us uses Visual Source Safe while the other uses MS SQL Express, the common thread is removing a project from version control and later returning it to version control.

Report · Dec 05, 2007

Thanks Gunslinger

I suppose in regards to your "XPJ" fix, I should simpy rename the xpj file on my current project and see if that works in getting rid of this version control error. You metion that you updated the "XPJ" file, how did you do so ? Did you go into its code or by some other means?

Just inquiring, but I'll continue to plug away with this odd issue here!

Thanks for the inspiration so far though!

Report · Dec 05, 2007

I would try renaming the project first. That is what solved my problem with version control.

The second problem that I had wasn't related directly to version control. It was caused when I deleted a file outside of RoboHelp. I did that in an effort to resolve my version control problems, but it didn't cause my version control problems.

Still, regarding that second issue, I mistyped earlier. The file was actually an FPJ file. In RH 6, every folder in a project has an FPJ file. In the root folder, the file is named "root.fpj". A folder named "milkshake" would have a "milkshake.fpj" file. The files can be opened in the Text Editor. The format is very simple. I checked to see if I had any HTM files in my folder that were not listed in the FPJ file; then, I checked to see if I had any HTML files in my FPJ file that were not in my folder. I found a mismatch and followed the existing format to correct the FPJ file. I don't know if this scheme is used in earlier versions of RoboHelp.

This link will take you to the article that helped me.

I hope this helps. If not, please let the forum know that there is still a problem. Somebody else might have an idea.