Undefined Default Topic

[RoWas]

Hello,

I currently try to switch from "WinHelp 4" to "Microsoft HTML Help" output but face the following problem: The CHM-output file is being generated but seems to be empty. I get the following message during generation:


RoboHHRE.lng
UndefinedDefaultTopic.htm
HHC5003: Error:
Compilation failed while compiling UndefinedDefaultTopic.htm.

There are no missing links etc. in the project. Any ideas what went wrong or what to look for?

Pinkepunk

[RoboWizard]

Welcome to our community, Roland

You should be able to expand the Single Source Layouts area, right-click the layout and choose Properties. From there, click the drop-down and nominate the desired topic for the Default.

Cheers... Rick

[RoWas]

Well, I should have mentioned that the property in the appropriate dialog is set correctly. Also, the TOC is defined properly. I can generate a WinHelp 4 file, but fail to do so when changing to "Microsoft HTML Output". BTW: WebHelp Output is empty, too.
I searched the web and checked various solutions for the HHC5003 error without success.

The string "UndefinedDefaultTopic.htm" can be found in the generated *.chm file when opened with a texteditor tool. I wonder if someone came across the same issue.

[Captiv8r]

Hi again

Perhaps try defining a new window layout? If that fails, try declaring a new Single Source Layout?

Cheers... Rick

[RoWas]

The reason seems be the Word / RTF file. The topic titles in this file are not formatted as a heading. This doesn't seem to be a problem for the MS Help Compiler when generating a WinHelp 4 file (HLP), but the MS HTML Compiler doesn't recognize the topics and hence also fails to point to the default topic.
One can make the topics visible. You have to mark the topic title in the *.doc file and choose to make this a new topic from the menue. Now the formatting is correct. You will see that also the cryptic tags in front of the topic title look a little bit different (there ar spaces between them).

Cheers

[RoboWizard]

Hi again

Thanks for reporting back what you found. Basically, it simply bolsters my long held opinion that one should actually use a tool designed for the job.

If you want HTML based output (.CHM, WebHelp, FlashHelp) use a tool (RoboHelp HTML) designed for HTML output. Word was designed for the world of print.

Cheers... Rick

[RoWas]

Hi,

I perfectly agree and this what we would like to accomplish: We try to convert the 'Robohelp for Word' project into a 'Robohelp for HTML' project. When importing the old project based on the HPJ file, it turned out that much information got lost. While searching for the cause I realized that even compiling a CHM file with 'Robohelp for Word' ended up with an empty help file. The reason (my opinion concerning the header style was wrong!) is that the footnotes in the RTF file are misformatted (in fact these had been endnotes but this can be converted into footnotes in MS Word). For example, if you have a topic

#$K Welcome

then the footnote section shows

Topic_01
Welcome
Welcome

with a superior capital letter in each line (!) instead of

# Topic_01
$ Welcome
K Welcome

The footnote tags (#$KA+) are missing in the rtf file. I wonder if there is a tool that would add them.

bye, pinke-punk