Is it safe to delete the cpd file?

[Guest]

I have a problem with the graphics in my project. They appear correctly in individual topics, when I come to compile, they disappear. Behaviour is erratic -- one build I'll get 95% of the images included, and a handful missing. The latest build I've just done, almost everything is missing and all the files are missing from the Tools > Reports > Images listing.

I originally thought it was to do with Conditional Build tags, but don't think so anymore. I can't see my exact problem anywhere from a search, but suspect the main cpd file might be the problem.

Can I just delete the cpd and let it rebuild itself? This seems to be the answer to other 'general flakiness problems'. Any gotchas to this approach?

Thanks!

[Peter Grainge]

Welcome to the forum.

This topic covers the issues involved. Click here.

Post back if that does not fix the problem.

[Guest]

Thanks for the swift reply Peter, that looks useful. The project is checked out to a colleague in another time zone at the moment -- I'll have a look when I get control of the source ...actually I'll have a look at a copy of the project, probably a useful exercise anyway before hacking away at the live files.

Thanks again,
Steve

[Peter Grainge]

You didn't mention source control before. I'm more inclined to think that is behind your woes. Sorry I don't use source control so cannot help there.

[Guest]

Hi Peter - What makes you suspect the source control? Is it a known nuisance? The troublesome project has been working fine for months, until the last week or so.

I must admit, I had wondered about leaving the .cpd file out of the source control and letting Robo rebuild it every time. This might be a sledgehammer approach, I don't know, I'm fairly new to RoboHelp. I used it years ago and have started using X5 fairly recently.

Any help, speculation or redirection would be welcome!
Steve

[Peter Grainge]

As I say, I don't use source control. My suspicion is things being properly checked out.

Are you supposed to check the CPD in and out? The idea is that you both/all check files in and out so that you can concurrently work on a project but at any one time, you will have different CPD files. I am wondering if your colleagues CPD has overwritten yours and that is the problem.

Can someone with more knowledge of source control please come into this thread to help Steve? Am I way off target?

[Guest]

As I understand it Robo doesn't really 'do' third-party source control. We use SourceGear Vault, but really only as a repository for the files. We can't really work concurrently because Robo needs exclusive access to the top level project files. But it kind of works for us, because we're on opposite sides of the globe.

I see what you're saying on the 'local' versions of (say) the cpd files conflicting. If anyone else has an informed view, I'm all ears. We've set it up this way ourselves - I don't know of anyone doing the same. If someone tells me this is a bad idea, I'm happy to think again.

Cheers!

[MergeThis]

From previous threads (and RH Help?), the consensus was that the following files should not be a part of source control:

HHP, CPD, PSS, LDB

Don't ask me for any specifics on each of the files, I just wrote it down and kept a copy (something to do with database and local machine issues, I think)!

The only product that I know of that plays well with RH is Microsoft Visual SourceSafe. Anything else if iffy, at best.


Good luck,
Leon

[Guest]

Update: The project rebuilds nicely with the .cpd and .xpj files renamed, by opening the .hhp file. It then compiles to .chm format with no missing images.

Encouraging, but not yet conclusive - it was an intermittent problem. I'm looking into leaving out the suggested project level files from Source Control as Leon suggests. Thanks!

Steve