Conditional Build Tags Bug

I have several problems with RoboHelp9. I am using Windows7 and 64bit. This is the one causing the most trouble.
Conditional build tags apply themselves unwanted and unassigned.
The deletion of conditional build tags at the topic properties tag (right side window) does not work.
I have to repeatedly go back and forth to the dialog and keep selecting and deleting.
Some of the conditional build tags go clear, most don't.
I go into the topic directly in the wysiwyg view and manually try to select and delete them, and they delete only with difficulty.
After running through a long topic and using every method available to clear conditional build tags, I saved the project, then went in to manually apply cbtags, of which I am only using two.
After applying them, and switching to the html window to adjust image sizes manually (because thru the wysiwyg interface the process takes too long), I find that the conditional build tag I applied to several tables and texts at the top of my topic have now applied themselves unasked to a number of the texts and even tables which I had cleared of all cbtags.
I have just about had it with this program.
This is only one of the many problems and bugs I have found and been trying to work around.
I suppose that the solution to my problem is to not use conditional build tags at all, but I am working with about five years' worth of legacy technical documents that have all been upgraded to RH9 and as I am looking at them to make the standard revisions, I am noticing this phenomenon of wrongly applied cbtags in other projects.
I would rate this as a bug of very high and critical importance.
Has anyone seen this under the consitions stated? (RH9, upgraded RH7 projects, Windows7, 64bit).

Sorry, I should have said see the Announcements.
http://forums.adobe.com/community/robohelp/robohelp_general_discussion
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Similar Messages

Conditional Build Tags Bugs

Hello,
I have problems with Conditional Build Tags since I upgraded from RH7 to RH9 .
I am using the following software:
Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3.
Version control software (RoboSource Control 3.1) as we share projects between 3 authors
And I mainly work in wysywyg view.
When I open a project on my PC, the conditional build tags I've defined in a topic apply themselves unwanted and randomly.
The deletion of conditional build tags from the topic Properties > Advanced tab > Content-level tags > Remove button does not work properly. The selected tag is removed only for the paragraph pointed by the mouse cursor. When I navigate down in my document, this tag is still present on other paragraphs.
Sometimes, I must switch to the html view to remove the tags manually.
I noticed that a thread has seent on May 5, 2011, for which Peter Grainge gave a link to a TechNote with a fix. I tried to access this TechNote, unsuccessfully.
I also read that Adobe RoboHelp Service Release 9.0.1 is intended to fix the following: CBT gets applied randomly in topic content on switching between the HTML view and the Design view in certain scenarios.
However, my scenario is completely different as CBT gets applied randomly when OPENING the project in WYSYWYG.
Moreover, my administrator told me he has already downloaded this release.
With single sources, our team produces online helps for various versions and products. This situation is very uncomfortable for me, and my colleagues, as the produced documentation may contain bad information for a version or a product or may miss information. My work is not reliable.
Has anyone encountered this situation and found a solution?
Thanks for your help.

Hi Peter,
Thanks for your help.
Effectively, the patch was not installed.
I ran the update and did not need any passwords to do it. The About RoboHelp HTML now shows 9.0.1.232. However, the version of the PolarisProjectFile.dll still shows 9.0.0.228. Is this normal?
The IT administrator is sure to have downloaded this release. He thinks something got wrong during the downloading process and that it failed.
This release solved some of my problems:
I opened again the projects in which I identified that tags were messed up.
- For some, tags were still messed up. I had to fix them again manually. I checked them in and re-opened them. They were clean.
- For others, they re-opened with tags properly assigned (miraculously).
I do not understand these differences in behavior.
I do not feel confident when I open a project. We manage so many topics that it is impossible to identify those in which tags are messed up. How can I be sure that tags are correctly assigned? It is so an uncomfortable situation !
Moreover, I identified another problems yesterday.
I wanted to open a project that another member of the team upgraded to RH9 last week. RH9 proposed me to upgrade it.
A member of the team wanted to open a project that I upgraded on my PC. RH9 proposed her to upgrade it.
We removed these projects from our local directories and used the Open project from Version Control again. And it was OK.
This situation should not occur. What do you think?
The other members of the team have the patch 9.01.232 (and the same version of dll as me).
The IT thinks that these problems are linked with my user account.
Historically, Windows XP was installed in French on my PC whereas my colleagues were in English.
As I had so many problems after upgrading to RH9, my Windows XP is now in English.
However, I keep having problems (those mentioned in this discussion).
The solution proposed now is to change my machine for a new one.
Could this be really the final solution?
Do you have any opinion on this matter?
Thanks for your help.

Switching off conditional build tags

I now have quite a few conditional build tags in my RH7 project and it's getting a bit difficult to see what's what in my topics as they are covered in coloured hash lines. Is it possible to switch off the view of individual tags? For various jobs I need to see certain ones but not others.
Also, can I just check that I am using them right?
Our software has web and windows versions so I have a 'Web' tag and a 'Win' tag for where the content differs and I create different outputs for each.
Within the web version, we now have 2 different sets of customers who each need slightly different content and different names/logos etc. So I have created 'Customer X' and 'Customer Y' tags as well as 2 separate tables of contents. So in places, I have text which has 2 tags on it, 'Web' and 'Customer X' or 'Customer Y'.
Does this sound ridiculous? Is there a better way?
I know I could have used user defined variables for the company names but I would still need the cond build tags for the content so figured it would keep it simpler just to use tags.
Helen

Hi there
Sorry, no way to turn off individual tags. You can turn off the shading if you like.
Click View > Show > Conditional areas.
You might also consider submitting a wish form to ask for this type of functionality to be added to a future version.
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95!
Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training
SorcerStone Blog
RoboHelp eBooks

Conditional Build Tags for Text Blocks Applied to Entire File

RoboHelp 8.0.0.203. This post also deals with conditional build tags, but in this case the conditional build tags have been associated with sections of text and text blocks within a topic. The design was implemented originally in RH7 and the project has since been updated with RH8.
For example, you could have three blocks: Purpose, Procedure, Tips, and a Notes block. They are disabled by applying blocks Tag A, Tag B, Tag C, and Tag D respectively. If Tag A is applied to the Purpose, it is cross-hatched in the design window and does not appear upon generation.
The problem is that tags that are seemingly unrelated to blocks, such as Tag C and Tag D, are spontaneously applied to those blocks -- by the software. In fact, they would be spontaneously applied to all of the blocks and text in a some of the files (for no apparent reason), cross-hatching every element and every block of text in the file. When we unapply the tag and store the file, when we re-open the file, the tag is mysteriously re-applied to all the blocks -- again by the software.
Has anyone seen this type of problem in RH8?
Below is further detail about the problem
An example of how tags shold be applied involves a block involving three banners
<div class="banner">
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner A" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-udv_end ?>
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner B" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-udv_end ?>
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner C" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-udv_end ?>
</div>
Under normal conditions, an associated tag would be applied to "unselect" two classifications, thus selecting the third by default. This is done by highlighting the associated banner, right-clicking and selected the "UnselectedBanner" tag, Below, banner C is selected by unselecting Banners A and B. T
<div class="banner">
     <?rh-cbt_start condition="UnselectedBanner"?>
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner A" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-udv_end ?><?rh-cbt_end ?>
     <?rh-cbt_start condition="UnselectedBanner"?>
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner B" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-cbt_end ?><?rh-udv_end ?>
     <?rh-udv_start name="Banner C" ?>BANNER A NAME<?rh-udv_end ?>
</div>
The <?rh-cbt_start condition="UnselectedBanner"?> indicates that the section is de-selected.
Note, that the "<?rh-cbt_end ?><?rh-udv_end ?>" are in opposite order in the example (but that's how it appears in the file).
In the cases where this problme occurs, we the html riddled with "Tag D" and "Tag C" condition tags for all the elements.
<?rh-cbt_start condition="Tag C, Tag D"?><div .......     </div><?rh-cbt_end ?>
I cannot attach any files because these files are on a classified system.
Thank you much.

Hi Tammy
It will also be helpful if everyone that encounters the issue reports as a bug. It's like a voting system. The more reports of bugs that are seen, the more weight is given to the priority. This directly translates to the fix being posted sooner rather than later.
So even though the bug has been "reported", you and others should take a moment and report as well!
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95!
Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training
SorcerStone Blog
RoboHelp eBooks

Conditional Build Tags Generated All Over Topics in RoboHelp 9 (HTML)

I'm creating a help system and user manual using RoboHelp 9. The whole thing depends very heavily upon the conditional build tags. (Some parts are online and others are only for the print version of the manual.)
Here's my problem: When I go back to topics I've already created, the tags are automatically generated in the wrong parts of the topic. The error lies in how RoboHelp is generating the HTML behind the scenes. (This was verified by one of our in-house developers who was thoroughly amused with RoboHelp's attempt at writing HTML.) I'm at my wits end. We have tried generating a new help system, only importing images from the old help system. It worked fine for awhile, but then the same problem cropped up. Is this some sort of bug? Is there a setting that I'm overlooking?
I'm officially at my wits end. Help.

Never seen what you're describing - when you tag text in a topic with a CBT, it stays stuck to it - there's no auto generation of CBTs. When you create your help, you specify what to show & what to hide in your SSL layout recipe.

Conditional Build Tags - How Many is Too Many?

Has anyone ever run into problems generating a project because of too many conditional build tags? I'm new to this and considering using quite a few in a particular project - unless I find that overuse will compromise the project on the backend. I'd really like to find that out before I put the work in. Thanks!

Hi there
From the simple standpoint of ease of use, I'd say you want to limit the number to as few as you can.
Can you tell us more about why you are using them? I ask because later versions of RoboHelp offer things that help us out in this area. You may well discover you don't need build tags at all. But we will reserve that judgment until after we know more.
What version of RoboHelp are you using? What RoboFlavor?
You may wish to give the link below a once over.
Click here to view
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day!
Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training
SorcerStone Blog
RoboHelp eBooks

Conditional Build tags affecting formatting and merging hyperlinks

I'm working in RH6 on a number of projects. In all of them I use a specific caption box/format combination for tips and notes. I also use a conditional build tag so I can generate a 'lite' versions of full help, suitable for printing. I note that on occasions, when I apply the build tag, I lose the formatting on the text - or the entire formatting of the text is applied where I don't want it applied.
Wrose, still, I find that applying a build tag to a list of hyperlinks can merge the link addresses so they all point to the same area, which is pretty disastrous.
Is this a bug Adobe know about? Is it fixed in 7 or 8?
Any advice appreciated.
Robin

Hi again
Well, I wasn't suggesting it wasn't a bug.
I suppose it's quite likely that something is getting munged. Actually, I think that's rather obvious as it's happening to you.
I think perhaps the editor is becoming confused. I believe the way these things are handled is by using some specially formatted span tags to apply the CBTs.
By the way, these new forums now support screen captures. So we no longer have to resort to a reasonable facsimile using only text.
Sorry I don't really have a workaround to offer here. At this point I'm as puzzled as you are.
Cheers... Rick
Click here for Adobe Authorized Captivate and RoboHelp HTML Training
Click here for the SorcerStone Blog
Click here for RoboHelp and Captivate eBooks

Conditional Build Tags automatically appearing

I'm running RH 9.0.2.271 on Win 7, 64 bit machine.
I have this procedure in the WYSIWYG editor, and I want to mark the yellow icon (highlighted in yellow below) with the Online conditional build tag (green hash highlight):
So, I select that CBT, and so far everything looks fine in the WYSIWYG editor.
However, if I go to the HTML editor to check the HTML and then go back to the WYGIWYG editor, it's screwed up and looks like this:
Notice that the conditional online text is automatically covering steps 4 and 5 in the procedure. I thought this bug was supposedly exterminated in build 9.0.1, but seems to be happening... for me anyway. Any solutions to this? I've tried numerous ways of applying the CBT to that icon and it still ends up spanning the following two paragaphs.

Anjaneai Srivastava wrote:
I assume that you do not make any changes to any content or tag when you go to HTML view, Right?
Correct. I just switched from one view and then back. But even when I made changes in the HTML editor, it came back in WYSIWYG. The HTML for the entire topic is quite long, but here's the bit in question, at least after the workaround:
<li class="p-BodyText"><p class="BodyText">Access the <b>Auto Feature</b>
dialog box (<b>Insert | Feature | Auto<span style="font-weight: normal;">)</span></b>
<script language="VBScript" style="x-condition: Online;" type="text/javascript">//<![CDATA[
On Error Resume Next
MenuStr = MapCtrl.GetHelpMap(26007) ' ID_INSERT_AUTO_CIRCLE
//]]></script><?rh-cbt_start condition="Online" ?><a
href="javascript://" onclick="MyRoadMap(MenuStr, 'no', event.screenX, event.screenY)"><?rh-cbt_start condition="Online" ?><img
src="../images/i_chiclet.gif" alt="Display Menu Roadmap" title="Display Menu Roadmap"
width="14" height="14" border="0" /><?rh-cbt_end ?></a><?rh-cbt_end ?><?rh-cbt_start condition="Online" ?>
<?rh-cbt_end ?>for either circle or cylinder auto features.</p></li>
<li class="p-BodyText"><p class="BodyText">With the dialog box open,
click the mouse, and drag a box around those feature types for which
you want to create auto features. Release the mouse button. PC-DMIS
will display the <span class="hcp4">CAD Select</span> dialog box,
showing the number of objects selected.</p></li>
<li class="p-BodyText"><p class="BodyText">Click <span class="hcp4">Create</span>.
Based on the objects selected PC-DMIS will generate multiple auto
features of the selected type.</p></li>
</ol>
<?rh-cbt_start condition="Online" ?><p class="BodyText"><a class="dropspot"
href="javascript:TextPopup(this)"
id="a21"><?rh-cbt_start condition="Online" ?><img
src="../i_blue.jpg" alt="See a brief demo on box selecting and creating multiple auto features"
title="See a brief demo on box selecting and creating multiple auto features"
style="border: none;" width="30" height="30" border="0" /><?rh-cbt_end ?></a><script
type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.2">//<![CDATA[
Anjaneai Srivastava wrote:
Is this behaviour replicable one other topics of your project?
I certainly hope not. It's a very large project (2700+ topics) so finding the issue again while likely is going to be a bit of a pain. However, I will be testing it soon. If I find anything, I'll let you know.
Anjaneai Srivastava wrote:
One important question, is this the same project generated by decompiling the CHM file ?
No. This is my original English project and was converted from RH 7.

Conditional Build Tags cause RH9 AIRHelp crash

I have seen multiple posts about system crashes when using RoboHelp HTML and conditional build tags. Is anyone having the same problem using build tags with RH9 and AIR Help output? I have tried different combinations of build tags, a single build tag, as well as different project topics. All cause RoboHelp 9 to crash when generating AIR Help. Any suggestions? Is this a reported bug?

Hi there, this sounds somewhat like the issue I have with generating WebHelp, which I've posted here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/3813225#3813225
I can't seem to find other posts that relate to this, and you mentioned other posts at the start of yours. Can you reply with links? I would appreciate your time.
Thanks,
Michelle

Conditional build tags with character styles and ignored text

RoboHelp HTML v8.0.2.208
Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3 with 2 GB of RAM
Output: WebHelp and HTML Help
I have recently moved my projects from RH HTML X5 to RH HTML 8 and this is when the following problem appeared. I use lots of conditional build tags within the help projects. Some of these tags are for my own use for reference and I combine these with character styles containing a coloured background (highlight) so that they show up in the WebHelp or HTML Help output (e.g. text to identify the software version that the field/feature/text was added, reminders to check details, insertion of bug ID numbers, design document names, etc.). These areas of text are stripped out of the final build for customers by using a conditional build expression.
What I have noticed is that if a paragraph contains text with a conditional build tag applied AND that tagged text has a character style applied AND an unknown word within the conditional build tag is ignored (with the HTML tag <?rh-ignored text="word_to_be_ignored" ?>), saving the topic, closing it, then re-opening it shows that the conditional build text has stretched to the next conditional build tag, or to the end of the topic if there aren’t any other conditional build tags. This also happens by switching from Design View to HTML View. Note that this doesn’t happen if Ignore All is applied to the unknown word.
This doesn’t just apply to projects converted from RH X5. I created a new test project in RH8 and the same behaviour was observed. Similar behaviour occurred very occasionally in RH X5 but that seemed to be down to HTML tags being nested incorrectly.
The largest project contains around 1200 topics and with many hundreds of conditional build text areas this now causes a problem. I’ll probably have to locate every ignored word in an area of conditional text within each project, set it to Ignore All and then manually remove and re-apply the conditional build tags, unless someone can come up with something clever. Can anyone else replicate this and should it be logged as a bug?

Hi Daggins,
Thanks - that is good info to have. But as we all agree, that does take away from the point of single-sourcing.
You aren't misunderstsanding exactly... I am doing all my conditional tagging in FM and it works like a charm in terms of the PDFs that I generate from FM, and even the conditionally tagged text in RH shows/hides correctly. The issue is I am also importing my index and TOC from FM... and even if I have an entire file in FM tagged as conditional (all the text is tagged as conditional, I don't know if you can tag a file as conditional), the file name as a heading it still appears in the RH TOC. There is no text... but in my view it shouldn't appear in the TOC either (it looks like just a broken link when I generate my online help) - this is not ideal.

RH6 crashes with th and conditional build tags

Hello together,
The attached code worked fine with RH X5, but leads to a
crash with X6. To fix, you have to replace the <th> by
<td>, but it is not too easy to find the topic within a
project. The fix is quite easy, but it is hard to find in a big
project.
This happens, when the conditional build tag is used.
Thanks and best regards,
Katrin Lusser

Hello Peter,
My wife created the topic with X3 or X5.
She just tried again with X6 and after several changes (set
heading, insert, delete, etc.) she had the same constellation.
Unfortunately, until now, she could not find out the exact way to
reproduce. But it is definitely possible. We will post here, when
we find out, how to do it.
Best regards,
Michael

Conditional build tags/expressions in the TOC

Hello all,
I've run into another issue with my conversion, this time with Conditional build tags and expressions.
All seems to be fine in my topics, but not in my TOC.
Some of my topic titles have words that have conditional text applied in the source FrameMaker document.
These topic titles also appear in the TOC that's automatically generated when I link my Frame book to Robohelp.
I set the conditional build expression in the Webhelp settings dialog and then Save and Generate.
These topic titles appear to pick up the correct conditional build expression in the topics themselves, but the TOC heading shows multiple conditions (including the condition I've set to "Exclude").
So, for example, if my topic title is
"Conventions in this documentonline help"
WHERE
document > should appear in PDF only
and
online help > should appear in Webhelp only
I can get the Webhelp topic to use the title "Conventions in this online help"
but the corresponding TOC heading looks like this:
"Conventions in this documentonline help"
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Sue

Conditional build tags are not imported to TOC from FrameMaker content. However, one can follow another approach to achieve this. One can manage the Conditional build expression in FrameMaker itself and import the filterted content in RoboHelp. Inorder to achieve this, set the conditional build expression in FrameMaker. Turn on the setting in RoboHelp to "Apply FrameMaker Conditional Text Build Expression". [File->Project Settings->Import->Edit(FrameMaker Settings)->Other Settings]
This way RoboHelp will import only the filtered content with Conditional Build Tags resolved as per the expression applied in FrameMaker.
Mayank

In the paragraph after a conditional build tag, an inline image gets wrapped in a div tag

Hi,
TCS5, so FM 12 and RH11. I have successfully applied some conditional build tags by turning off the apply conditional build tag setting and using the Conditional Build Expression in the WebHelp properties instead.
In RoboHelp, everything looks correct. I generate WebHelp and suddenly, a div tag is wrapped around the inline image in the paragraph that followed the text marked conditional.
This did not happen with TCS 4 (FM11, RH10). I am not sure why this div tag is applied only when I generate the help. Any thoughts on what to check?
Lauren

Hi lauren,
I tried to replicate the above mentioned issue, but did not get the <div> around the image in Webhelp output. Would it be possible for you to provide more information on this:
At what point does the <div> start appearing around the image, as soon as the CBT expression is applied?
If yes, what is the expression?
What happens when expression is set to None again and individual CBT is under application
Is there a spacing or the CBT text just follows the inline image?
Please send us a sample file for the same, if possible. Thanks!
Amit

The extra space created due to Conditional Build Tags

Hello,
I am authoring a online help file, for a web application. As different content is needed for the 4 different roles of the user, I have used Single Sourcing option and made use of conditional build tags for the content that is not common among the different roles. I even have images which are difffernt for the differnt roles. I have used conditional build tags for these too. The problem is that, extra space appears in place of the images which are not applicable to build I am publishing. Is there any workaround other than modifying the HTML files to remove the extra space added?
Regards,
Deepti Korwar

hi Deepti,
I have seen this issue on multi-level lists (in RH9) when using soft returns (Shift-Enter) within the lists.
An extra space is added before images marked with CBTs. But this only caused problems in print.
Are you seeing this space on all outputs or just print?
Can you paste a code snippet from one of the offending list?
Perhaps you can get round this by opening up the HTML tab and carefully examining and perhaps moving the CBTs.
e.g. <?rh-cbt_start condition="xyz" ?><img src="xyz" > <?rh-cbt_end ?></p><?rh-list_end ?>
Will be helpful to see the code.
thanks
Craig

In RH9, random conditional build tags appear within topic text

I have assigned conditional build tags to text within a topic. After closing the topic and re-entering at a later time, other (additional) text now has the conditional build tag assigned as well. However, I did not assign the tags to those other sections of text.
I do not have any trouble assigning a conditional build tag at the topic level. The issue only occurs when a tag has been assigned to text within a topic.

There is another thread running on this. See http://forums.adobe.com/thread/58834?tstart=0
I am locking this thread so that all replies go to the one above.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Conditional Build Tags Bug

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for