Topics left out of search on one machine only.

[shootathought]

I have a help file using RH Classic 2019. All updated, everyone is on the same version. We use a CBT called INTERNAL_ONLY to keep topics or content out of a certain build. We recently decided to make some of these topics public, so removed the build tag from the topic.

When the build machine runs the BUILDSSL, the topic is now included in help, it shows in the TOC and the index, all is well and good with the world... until you search for the title. It does not show up in search results. Topics with references to that topic show up in search results, but not the topic itself.

Now, of course, I tried the same BUILDSSL output from my machine (different topic, of course, since I don't have rights on the build machine), and it works fine when I generate it. But having me generate it is not the appropriate answer, here. So, I've tried all sorts of things, including building a new output file, a new build expression for the build machine, nothing works at all. I got the output view from both machines and compared them, and the build machine is just skipping over the topics that no longer need to be restricted from search in the Updating topics... section: 

Now, I'm at the point where it's time to try to uninstall and reinstall on the build machine, and that takes a LOT of work, has to be done during off hours because rebooting the build machine during the day is a bad plan. So, I came here hoping someone else might have had a similar problem or be able to point me in the direction of any other potential solutions to the problem.

All the machines are set to delete the cpd file every time they open the project. The build machine does not leave projects open, they svn update, then open the project, run the build, close the project. That's it. They never do any changes on the build machine. 

Thoughts? 

Mod Note. I have broken up the text to make it easier to follow. No changes to the wording.

[Amebr]

Check the topic properties. You might have ticked the "Exclude topic from search" checkbox at some point.

[shootathought]

Definitely checked that, and that would have shown itself on both machines if it were the case. Thank you!

[Peter Grainge]

Amber's suggestion would cause the problem but unless I am missing some point in her thinking, that would be the same on both machines. That is suggesting to me that both machines don't both have the same version.

I'm not a version control user but have you tried taking fresh copies on both machines at the same time? 

[shootathought]

One of my major frustrations is that the company set the build machine up as a "home" machine, meaning that the copy in source control is its only copy. Meaning on my machine I can delete the topic and svn update to get a fresh copy, but the build machine cannot, because the build machine's copy is the source copy. (this causes a LOT of problems with the .apj files as RoboHelp on that machine thinks it owns the files, so randomly rewrites them when the satellite machines make changes to things like snippets and deleting files. However, I can see the files on the build machine, because I do have access to the source control directory, and can compare the two, and they are identical. 

[Peter Grainge]

In that case I'm sorry I can't help further. I hope someone who uses source control can.

[Peter Grainge]

I did have one more thought on this. Check your version numbers on both machines in Program Files. There the build number is also shown and I think there may have been two builds within days of each other. Worth a shot.

[Amebr]

Because shootathought was testing with different topics locally, I thought that might be why it was fine locally but not on the build machine.

One other random thought: make sure the cpd, ldb and pss file aren't in source control. That can cause all sorts of weirdness. Even though you have the build machine set to delete the cpd when opening the project, if it gets the latest version of files once the project is open, I have no idea what effect getting a new copy of the cpd might have (theoretically nothing, as the file should be locked as it's open by RH, but who knows...)

[shootathought]

They are not in source control. Also, we always update svn outside of robohelp before we open it specifically because updating the status of all files in robohelp takes foreeeeeeever. 

[Peter Grainge]

I like Amber's idea of checking what gets checked in. These are what should not get checked in from a Classic project to the best of my knowledge.

* projectname.cpd
* projectname.pss
* projectname.hhp
* projectname.trl
* ehlpdhtm.js

[shootathought]

Those files are left out of source control. They used RH to add the project to source control, and RH did not check in any files that should not be checked in. 

Aside, I totally don't remember making this post! Otherwise, I wouldn't have made a new one!