RoboHelp 8 freezes when compiling WebHelp

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
October 26, 2009
1 reply
2539 views

I'm working with a project in RoboHelp 8. The project was created in RH5, but has been updated and run successfully on RH8. The project is about 35 MB.

I am able to open the project and edit topics. But when I try to compile the help RoboHelp freezes, and I have to use Windows Task Manager to close RoboHelp.

I have tried to rename the CPD and use the existing XPJ to open the project, but that didn't work. I also tried to use the HHP file to open it, but I keep getting a message that the CPD is corrupt and that the project can't be opened.

WebHelp

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Peter Grainge

Community Expert

Try creating a new layout, not a duplicate.

Right click the SSL layouts in Project Manager.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

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G

gschoberAuthor

Participating Frequently

No, that's not helpful.

I tried to create a new layout, but the freeze obviously extended to that feature.

I had changed a few topics, but decided to delete the folder and start with the last version before I made changes last week. When I opened the new-old project I was ablt to generate a new help file. But as soon as I made changes to one topic and saved it I was back to the frozen help. I tried to generate--no luck. I tried to create a new layout--no luck.

Peter Grainge

Community Expert

The precipitating event seems to be editing a topic. As soon as I've edited a topic I'm unable to generate or create a new layout.

I've just experimented a little, and that blanket staement isn't entirely accurate:

As I mentioned a couple of e-mails ago, earlier today I replaced the problem help with the original files (which had been zipped and archived). I just now deleted the problem folder and replaced it a second time. It generated properly. Then I chose a random file, made a small change, and saved it. It generated properly. Then I selected the default topic, changed something in its title (which needed to be changed), and saved it. That time it froze. It seems to be changing and saving the default file that precipitates the freeze.

It gets stranger--once it's frozen, I have to use task manager to exit. But the files save, and this time I've been able to reopen the project (after Task Managering it closed) and generate it. The changes appear in the generated help.

Could it have something to do with memory usage? At the moment, the TM shows that it's using 108,000 K. Does it freeze when a certain level of memory is exceeded? (The PC has a 1.86 GHz processor and 2 GB of RAM, and there's plenty of hard disk space.)

Are you absolutely sure you imported source files into the project rather than output files? The clue will be a red square near the beginning of the topics.

I don't think memory is the issue. I have one machine with a similar spec and that is running Windows 7 and RoboHelp quite happily. More likely is those topics.

First though, I don't think we have tried opening the supplied sample projects. Try that and make some edits. I want to prove the problem is this project. If they work OK, then it does point to the project.

No matter what you do it seems when you open a project, you can edit quite happily until you try compiling. Are you saving as you go? If you edit, save and close, then reopen, is everything OK until you then try to compile.

How big is this project? My inclination if it is not too big would be to create a new project and import a batch of files at a time, edit and compile. When it falls over, you know where the rogue file(s) are. If it is large, make a copy and trash half the topics. If it then works, you picked the wrong half, so make another copy and trash the other half, then split that. Keep doing that until you have the problem files in a small project. Or maybe you already know what the problem files are.

I would put the content of those into a text editor, then paste that into a new topic, reformat as required. That way you don't import the problem content.

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

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