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I've been encountering an irritating issue. I have created a small number of "external" webpages that package as baggage files with my output. So far so good. I created pages for these webpages in the Table of Contents for the project and used the TOC Page Properties box to Link to a baggage file and then chose the correct page.
If I stop at one page and generate the layout (HTML5 Multiscreen in case it matters), the link in the ToC works. Great.
I save my project, go home, come back the next day and open the project and--GASP--RoboHelp 2017 has forgotten that I linked those pages to a baggage file. The ToC page shows an external link icon and when I view the Page Properties, there is nothing in the "Link to" field.
That would be fine if I only had one ToC page that I needed to edit each time. Annoying, but fine.
BUT, I have three pages and here's what happens:
- edit properties on first page, save.
- edit properties on second page, save.
- RoboHelp has stopped working. Crash to desktop.
OR, I do this:
- edit properties on first page,
- edit properties on second page,
- edit properties on third page, hit OK,
- RoboHelp has stopped working. CTD.
Every. Single. Time. And because it closes, it forgets the baggage file links on those pages. Again.
Any thoughts? Is this a bug?
P.S. I am using Robohelp 2017 version 13.0.2.334. The project is linked to version control on a Team Foundation Server. The project is stored locally on my computer (in the My Documents folder).
You are on the latest version and it's not a bug I have seen reported on the forums.
I just added a couple of links to baggage files and they were still OK on reopening the project and no crashing.
I would first of all delete the CPD file and then reopen the project to see if that helps. If not, create a new project and test in that.
Let us know how that goes.
See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.
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I can't recall if that point version is the latest, but I would check for updates first and if it still crashes, set up a new little test project OUTSIDE of version control in a nice little short path like c:\projects\test_name\ and try it again.
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No updates are listed when I check (except for FrameMaker, which I don't use).
I created a test project as you suggested and the same issues occurred (RoboHelp forgetting the baggage links and crashing after I change the Page Properties on two pages).
I'm going to keep messing around with scenarios in this test project. Next up...just plain blank html files instead of the more complex pages from my original project.
Edit: that didn't help. Same problems: forgetting the link to the baggage file and crashing after editing the Page Properties on two pages.
Edit again: I tried just changing the properties on one of the ToC pages linking to a baggage file, and then doing something else in the application. It seems that any two actions I take (say, opening another topic and then saving it) will trigger the crash after editing the Page Properties.
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You are on the latest version and it's not a bug I have seen reported on the forums.
I just added a couple of links to baggage files and they were still OK on reopening the project and no crashing.
I would first of all delete the CPD file and then reopen the project to see if that helps. If not, create a new project and test in that.
Let us know how that goes.
See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.
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Thanks, Peter. I sort of followed your advice.
Instead of directly deleting the CPD, I checked the Option for "Clear project cache(.cpd) file before opening any project".
When the project opens, the pages that are links to baggage files have red x's on them, but when I generate the output the links work correctly.
So that works for me.
Are there any long-term effects of leaving that option checked?
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Manually deleting it or telling RoboHelp to has the same effect.
I always work that way and have not encountered any problem since the feature was introduced back in RoboHelp 8. I have seen a very small number of people in all that time who statedit has caused them grief but I wouldn't change. I would think less than five.
The CPD is rebuilt each time from other files so something has to be wrong with them first. Without that it can get bloated and the number of times trashing the CPD fixes issues is far and away greater.
Good backups are the thing. I always recommend creating the backup as a zip file. That prevents you opening it accidentally and working on it before you realise it was the backup. This way you always have a clean backup that can be used to create a new clean copy time after time.
See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.
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Thanks, Peter!
Great idea about zipping the backup, I will definitely implement that.