HTML Output (chm) has a different folder hierarchy than the TOC

[Siddik5E4B]

Hello everybody,

i am using RoboHelp 2020 and i have a problem. Maybe someone can help me.

After upgrading an old project i tried to generate an output. That worked. But when i opened the chm data the folder structure is totally different from the structure/hierarchy of the Table of Content. It is kind of messed up. There are some points missing. Some folders are even empty.

I am pretty confused, because i was reading about the new version and it was said, that the TOC controls what topics go into your outputs ( https://www.grainge.org )

After upgrading the old project the TOC is shown correct in the new project. Folders are in the correct hierarchy and folders are filled with the correct htm datas.

Maybe someone has an idea what i am doing wrong.

Thanks! Best Regards.

[Peter Grainge]

What do you mean by "when I opened the chm data"?

What is meant by what is on my site is that if your TOC only has say ten topics then in the output you will only see those ten topics plus any referenced topics. In Classic all topics went into the output unless tagged out.

Are you saying the TOC in the output is not the same as in the project?

I don't think it is relevant but do you have Update 2 applied? See the Announcements in the forum if you don't.

________________________________________________________
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[Siddik5E4B]

Hi Peter!

Yes i applied the Update 2 of 2020.

The TOC in the author section is not the same structure than the structure (TOC) of the output.

This is the structure of the output:

This is the structure of the TOC in the author section:

As you can see the it is much different. For example:

The folder "Systemeinstellungen" is not on the same hierarchy  than the folder "Klassifizierungstechnik". The folder is inside the folder.

But you can see, that this isn't the case in the TOC in the author section. Both folders are on the same level in the hierarchy.

[Peter Grainge]

Please post an image of the source TOC as below but alos with the second section expanded.

Also try a different output to see if the same issue occurs there, responsive or frameless, it doesn't matter which.

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[Siddik5E4B]

The folder hierarchy is pretty big. I opened the first two folders and made some screenshots.

 

 

 

 

 

 Thanks.

      

[Peter Grainge]

I think the reason is related to the section being nested within another section that has no topics.

Try putting in one topic below the top level section to see if that makes a difference. If it does then I think that should be reported as a bug. 

https://tracker.adobe.com

Post the link to your bug report in this thread and others can vote for it. The more people who do so, the higher it gets prioritised.

Let us know if that does make a difference.

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[Siddik5E4B]

I noticed one more thing.

If i want to  insert a topic i noticed, that one data, which is also missing in the output, is also missing in the Insert Topic window.

I marked it with red in the following picture.

[Peter Grainge]

That suggest that whilst that topic is in the same section in the TOC, it is not in the same folder in the Contents Panel. Right click the topic in the TOC and select Show in Explorer.

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[Siddik5E4B]

okay. i managed to "add" the data. now it is shown in the Insert Topic window. But it is still not shown in the chm output and the folder hierarchy is still messed up, although the TOC is in correct order and filled with correct datas.

[Peter Grainge]

Did you make the change I suggested at https://community.adobe.com/t5/robohelp/html-output-chm-has-a-different-folder-hierarchy-than-the-to...

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

[Siddik5E4B]

Yes i added Topics as"Fillers" so every section has at least one topic plus the original folders. Still same problem

[Peter Grainge]

Can you share the project? If you can, then see the Contact page on my site and send the project as instructed there. Do make sure you include a link to this thread and please do not email the project direct.

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

[Siddik5E4B]

Unfortunately this is not allowed, because of the security advices of the company i work for.  Is it still possible to send this threat as an bug/problem?

[Peter Grainge]

Sorry but why do you refer to it as a threat? Whilst there is an issue I can't see that there is any security threat here.

Rather than report it as a bug see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#robohelp for your support contact options. They might be able to find the issue. It is likely they will want to share your screen. If you report it as a bug, it will likely be some months before it gets fixed if indeed it is a bug. I'm more inclined to it being a setup issue which is why I wanted to take a look.

The other thing I would suggest is create a simple project and see if a similar structure causes the same problem. You could use the supplied About RoboHelp sample project and create a similar structure there.

Let us know how you get on.

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

[StefanAnd]

Hi,
I have the exact same problem. I had a project working fine in Robohelp 2012, then I upgraded it in Robohelp 2020.2.29. The TOC file looks the same in 2020 as in 2012, but after generating the output in 2020, the generated chm file has a totally messed up folder structure and lots of topics/sections missing.

[Siddik5E4B]

I asked my supervisor. I cannot upload the project. But screenshots and screensharing should be ok.

So i will contact the support. This might be the best option right now i guess.

If i create a simple project the problem does not occure. I created a chm output from a sample project. The problem also doesn't occure. I think the problem is, that we are dealing with a upgraded project.

Thanks Peter!

[Peter Grainge]

Both please autogenerate a new TOC and compile. I realise it won't be what you want but see if that has differences.

default5z9lpwaunczb Can you share the project? If you can, then see the Contact page on my site and send the project as instructed there. Do make sure you include a link to this thread and please do not email the project direct.

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

[StefanAnd]

Hi,

I auto generated a new TOC, see picture below (there are pages in all sections, but I’m only expanding the section with a few pages):

The generated chm file still has incorrectly nested sections. At least all sections seem to be included here, that is not the case in the TOC that was generated in a previous version of Robohelp and converted to this version.

I also created a really small TOC in our larger project to see if that worked:

This is the generated chm file, so there is a problem even with this one:

[Peter Grainge]

I have not been able to replicate this.

1. Please open the About RoboHelp sample project and try with that. It generates correctly for me.
2. Do you have the updates applied?
3. Are you using the Windows version of 2020?
4. Can you create this is a new project that you can share? I am happy to look into it but as above, I cannot recreate the problem?
5. Is your project local and are you generating to the local drive?

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[Siddik5E4B]

I thinks StefanAnd has the same problem.

1. Yes About RoboHelp sample project generates the correct chm data.

2. Update 2020.0.2

3. Latest Windows Update installed

4. If i generate a new project it generates the output correctly.

5. Ecerything is local

[Peter Grainge]

You did realise I meant send it direct to me rather than uploading it generally to the forum? Without being able to work on a project there's not much I can do. If it helps, Adobe would throw me out of the ACP scheme if I breached any confidences.

The only other suggestion is to close the project and create a copy. Delete the contents of the .rh folder in the copy and open the project. Some settings will be lost, hence using a copy. Generate from the copy.

Please let us know if that helps or if Support are able to help and how.

[Peter Grainge]

One other thought. When did you upgrade? The process has been changed so either the change has messed something up or you upgraded before the changes.

[Siddik5E4B]

I upgraded the project before updating RH 2020. But i upgraded the project with the updated RH just 5 min ago to try it out. The same problem occures.

If there are some news from the support i will inform you, thanks!

[Peter Grainge]

Stefan shared a project with me and have referred the problem to Adobe but for now there does seem to be a workaround.

Your 2020 subscription allows you to have 2019 installed as well. Note rhpj files will default  to opening in the last installed version if opened from File Explorer.

Work in 2020 but when you need a CHM create a copy of the project as you did for me and then open that from 2019 New UI. You will get a warning that it might cause problems but ignore that.

The CHM I generated from that project seems to be OK but obviously I am not familiar with the finer points so further checking is needed.

You only need to have 2019 on one machine and it doesn't have to be your normal machine.

I will update this thread when I learn more.

________________________________________________________
See www.grainge.org for free Authoring and RoboHelp Information

[Siddik5E4B]

Thanks for the Information.

I installed RH 2019 and upgraded the classic projects. Then i generated the chm data. Everything worked. Guess i will work with RH 2019 and not with RH 2020.

I am in contact with the Adobe RH Support. I will share, if i get more informations.