Failed to Generate WinHelp 4 File

[BararaLKUS]

I have been trying to generate a WinHelp4 file for a while, now, and while I've been able to compile two smaller files without any problems, I have two large help files that just won't cooperate. Each of the larger files has at least 350 bitmaps, and all the bitmaps are found during the compile; but when the compiles fail, there's no discernible error given that points me in any direction to fix the problem(s).

The four files (the two that compiled and the two that didn't) were grandfathered in from Blue-Sky's RoboHelp for Office and were originally generated using MS Word 2000. The word files have been opened and saved in Word 2003. Has anyone had similar problems? And, if so, can you point me in the right direction? Thanks!

Barb

(Added by editing this message):

By the way, I ran RH's diagnostic tools and it's clean...no errors/problems reported. The following is my compiler messages:

-------------------------------- Layout : WinHelp 4 --------------------------------
Starting compilation...
WinHelp preprocessor 6.00.099

Compiling C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\!SSL!\WinHelp_4\Revised_HMS_Help.hlp ...

Preparing to create WinHelp...
Clearing output folder...
Filtering out conditional text...
Processing Revised HMS Help.rtf...
Processing Revised HMS Help.rtf...
Removing watermarks...
Processing Revised HMS Help.rtf...
Collecting Topics' Information...
Processing Revised HMS Help.rtf...
Removing broken jumps...
Processing Revised HMS Help.rtf...
Finished preparing in 26 sec(s)

Generating WinHelp system...Microsoft (R) Help Compiler
HCRTF 4.03.0002
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corp 1990 - 1995. All rights reserved.
Revised_HMS_Help.hpj
HC3081: Warning: Revised_HMS_Help.hpj :
Both alias and Topic ID are identical:
1099_Box-Specific_Information=1099_Box-Specific_Information
.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "Microsoft Sans Serif (Vietnamese)" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond Baltic" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "Franklin Gothic Medium Cond Greek" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "Franklin Gothic Medium Cond Baltic" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "Gill Sans MT Ext Condensed Bold CE" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "Gill Sans Ultra Bold Condensed CE" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "MS Reference Sans Serif (Vietnamese)" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "Tw Cen MT Condensed Extra Bold CE" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "Blue Highway Condensed (Vietnamese)" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "Blue Highway Linocut (Vietnamese)" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "ITC Avant Garde Gothic Demi Baltic" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3096: Warning: topic #1 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
The font name "Univers 47 CondensedLight Baltic" is longer than 31 characters.
HC3021: Warning: topic #28 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
Cannot find the bitmap "State Trunkline Update.bmp."
HC3021: Warning: topic #34 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
Cannot find the bitmap "Crystal Reports Icon Set.bmp."
HC3059: Warning: topic #67 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
A hotspot was specified without a macro or Topic ID.
HC3059: Warning: topic #67 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
A hotspot was specified without a macro or Topic ID.
HC3059: Warning: topic #67 of C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\Revised HMS Help.rtf :
A hotspot was specified without a macro or Topic ID.
HC1010: Note:
The following mapped Topic IDs were not used in any topic:
1099_Box-Specific_Information
111 Topics
99 Jumps
115 Keywords
359 Bitmaps

Created C:\RoboHELP Office\Revised HMS Help\RHTemp0\HMS.hlp, 271,897,400 bytes
Bitmaps: 270,968,650 bytes
Compile time: 0 minutes, 31 seconds
1 note, 18 warnings

Note that the compiler "says" it created the help file but I can't locate the RHTemp0 folder in the path statement. There's an RHTemp, but not an RHTemp0. And all the RHTemp folder shows is a table of contents file and a log file, no help file.

[bawd]

Hi BararaLKUS

Blue Sky - those were the days! However, what version and OS are you using now?

WinHelp is notorious for not identifying errors for us but, rest assured, that list of over-long fonts is quite common. Ignore the other queries for the moment. For the sake of trying something quick:
Close RH (the usual backup reminder)
In Windows Explorer, find the project and identify and delete the <project name> .RTF file.
When you re-open the RH project (which you will now do), RH produces a new .RTF file for itself. Usually clean.
Now - will it compile this time??
Luck!
PS This usually works up to X5. Dinosaur that I am, can't say about this new-fangled 6...

[BararaLKUS]

Thanks for the reply, bawd. I tried what you suggested (deleting the rtf) and ran RH6. It's still failing to generate the WH4 file, although the number of errors has decreased to 12 (from the 18 in my original message). Funny thing, it will generate CHM files just fine and the results are near to perfect!

My original Blue Sky RH was version 7 and I was running it under Windows 98 with Word 98. When I upgraded to XP, I upgraded to RH8 for Word 2000. Then we purchased the new Adobe RH6 last June and this is being run under XP with Word 2003. So, I don't know where to go from here. We're going to change our software to use the CHM files for now and I'll keep plugging along trying to figure out why the compiles aren't working. We'll probably get the $79 upgrade for Vista support when that's available and hope that helps the situation.

Barb

[bawd]

Hmmm...
Isn't there really anyone out there producing WinHelp with XP/RH6/RHforWord? Surely WinHelp hasn't died out so soon?

[BararaLKUS]

You'd think that with 842-mil+ computers worldwide, they couldn't ALL be running Vista, but I digress.

Remember my saying the compiler output the help file to a folder called "RHTemp0?" The only place I found such a file was tucked away in Documents and Settings in a new folder I'd frustratedly moved my RH6 stuff into. That was the first (and only) help file I ever saw generated. I never found one off my original RH6 root. There was an RHTemp, but no RHTemp0. So I decided to create one. Didn't work, though; soon as I tried another compile, the help file was created to RHTemp1, again, a "ghost" folder.

Nothing concrete, but it did compile one WH4 file even though it couldn't find the images folder in BMROOT (which I fixed), thus the file was useless. That was probably the first compile I did. Did a lot of modification on one of the topics (changed the topic heading, topic ID, removed all the old text and inserted new, removed all references to the old topic ID -- didn't change the map ID number, though, left it in place) and THAT'S when my compiles started failing. I must have really broken something to cause all this grief. Have you (or anyone -- feel free to jump in) heard of this sort of editing causing this problem?

Barb