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

Similar Messages

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

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

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

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

Too many conditional build tags?

Hello, all. Can anyone tell me whether RoboHelp limits the number of conditional build tags in a project? We've currently got 14 CBTs in our project. We use about half of them rather extensively throughout the 600+ topics. Is there a point at which we can expect RH to start acting wacky as a result of having too many CBTs to manage?
We're using RH9 with RoboSource Control 3.1.
-Ryan

No number that I am of and certainly 14 should not cause problems.
"Acting wacky" - that could cover a lot. If you mean you are not getting the content you expect, that could be down to conflicts in your build expression. There is a page on my site about build expressions.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

RH 11: Conditional Build tags applied: Content still showing up in search

Hello. I am generating WebHelp using conditional build tags using RH 11.
I have marked books in the TOC with a CBT of Not in 6.1.
I generated help and excluded content marked with the CBT Not in 6.1.
When the Web Help is generated, the books marked with the CBT do not display in the TOC. However, if I do a search, topics that are under the books and therefore should not be included in the output have search results returned.
Is there a scenario in which topics that have been excluded from the generated help would still show up in search?
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Jenny

Hi Jenny
Indeed there are a few reasons this may happen.
First, simply excluding a topic or a book in the TOC simply makes sure that the TOC doesn't have a link pointing to the topic. Normally, I'll just tag the topic itself and ignore tagging the TOC. If a topic has been excluded, it won't appear in the TOC.
In the WebHelp SSL recipe, click to expand the Content Categories section and look at the settings on the right. You might try ensuring the following option is enabled. It's named Exclude Unreferenced Topics from Output. As long as nothing else is linking to the topic, ensuring it is removed from the TOC *SHOULD* cause it to no longer be included.
Cheers... Rick

How to apply conditional build tags to the topic title that is displayed in Search tab of CHM?

I have the project in which 2 different words are used to reffer to one objects (this word/term depends on the customer). All other information related to functionality, steps, etc. are common. So:
In the help content (body of the files), I created 2 conditional build tags (CBT) for these terms.
In TOC, if topic title contains the term, I created 2 different topics reffered to the single topic file, but the title of the topic shows correct term (depends on CBT).
File names of this topics contain only term1.
The problem occurs when I generate CHM for CBT2 and search for the term1 (marked with CBT1) using the Search tab. All occurrencies where term1 presence in the file name, appear in the found results.
How can I resolve the issue?
These topics must be found by search (that's why "Exclude from search" option is not a decision).

Ahhh, you are correct. I believe it was Version 10 introduced that.
So here's what I'd suggest. Even though you are unable to use a variable in a Topic Title, it can still be used in other places such as the TOC, the Index and in the Topic content. So I'd still recommend that you declare and use a variable for those items. Just to simplify things.
As for any topics that have the term in the title, you could create two topics. One with the term one way and the other with the term the opposite way. Then use a Conditional Build Tag to exclude and remove the one that shouldn't be found.
This may cause you a bit of a maintenance issue by having the same topic content in more than one place. (one for each topic)
So to overcome that, you would be able to add the main body information to a topic and use an Inline Frame in the two topics that would then simply be shells with appropriate Topic Titles. Either that or declare a snippet and use the snippet in both topics. Put the main part in the snippet.
Cheers... Rick

Conditional Build Tags

I have been having an issue with conditional build tags. I
have a project that has 8 different build tags created. Recently I
have been generating the output (webhelp files) and topics that
have been tagged as (lets say) A are showing, in part, in other SSL
files. As an example, if I have 30 files tagged with A, then when I
generate SSL #1, 5 A-tagged topics may appear, generate SSL#2, 2
A-tagged topics may appear and so on.
This problem has only just come up, I've been working on this
project for a year and all tagging was working well. I read in
forum groups that the tagging doesn't like to have space in the
names so I removed mine and re-generated everything, only to have
the same problems.
Has anyone experienced this, and is there a fix for
it?

Hi Rick,
No. The tagging did work, then at some point, I discovered
that topics were being generated into Help sets, but the topics
were not tagged to go into those Help sets.
So today I decided to delete the 6 offending topics. I opened
my version of RH (5.0) and deleted the files, when I got to the
last file and hit delete the software crashed. I opened up the
project again, to find that the files are still there but now have
a red X on the left side of the topic name. I can not open these
files and the error message reads that the file does not exist. I
called adobe to ask how I can get rid of the files. They tell me to
check the project out of version control and remove the files and
check it back in.
Have you heard of this happening and do you know what the
solution might be?
Sheila (sadang)

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.

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.

Conditional build tags disappeared

Hi All,
For info, we are using Tech Comms Suite 3.5 with RoboHelp 9.
We have an interesting problem in that some of our conditional build tags have somehow gone missing! We are unable to select them to apply to content/topics for selection, however where the tags have been applied the tooltip showing the condition is displayed when you hover the cursor over the 'conditioned' content. When we look at the tags applied in the topic properties dialog box, the tag does not appear.
I'm hoping that someone might have experienced this and can point us in the right direction please? Does anyone know which RoboHelp file holds all the conditional build tag information? Does anyone know an ideal solution that does not entail us creating replacement tags then reapplying them to the relevant information?
Thanks all for your help.
Lillibet

From my recent experiments with modifying .apj files and what not behind the back of RH9 I can say that this also happened to me, especially in situations where I deleted the .cdb and the .xpj file to start over from opening the .hhp file. Anyway, you might look into the file rhbuildtag.apj and examine whether your build tags are in there.
If not, just create them either in an editor if you know the syntax
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rhpml majorversion="4" minorversion="0">
    <buildtags>
        <buildtag>
            <name>BUILDTAG_1</name>
            <colorref>12632256</colorref>
            <comments/>
        </buildtag>
        <buildtag>
            <name>BUILDTAG_2</name>
            <colorref>16711680</colorref>
            <comments/>
        </buildtag>
        <buildtag>
            <name>Online</name>
            <colorref>65280</colorref>
            <comments/>
        </buildtag>
        <buildtag>
            <name>Print</name>
            <colorref>255</colorref>
            <comments/>
        </buildtag>
    </buildtags>
</rhpml>
Or you may just recreate them from the GUI.
Christoph

Conditional build tags get out of sync with source control

Hi all,
I work on a team with two other people and we use RH 7 and
Microsoft Visual Source Safe. We've been having a problem with our
conditional build tags where one person will add, rename, or delete
a tag, and although the author checks the tags back in right away,
the system isn't "getting" the updated tag file when the other
authors go into the help project. The only way we've been able to
fix this is to have everyone delete their CPD files every time tags
are added, renamed, or deleted, but this seems wacky, and I don't
see any other messages about this problem in the forum. Are we
doing something wrong? We've been having problems (errors) related
to XPJ files being checked out by the first person to enter the
project (posted in another message). Might this be the cause of our
tag problem, too?
Thanks in advance for any help,
Lisa

Hi, I understand about the mismatch…the problem is there shouldn’t be any mismatches, because the source documents didn’t change at all, and no updates were made to the html help topics in RoboHelp. The mismatches appear for no reason that I am aware of. They are very random and I can “fix” the mismatches by performing an “update” for a few linked topics, but then a few more mismatches randomly appear.
I don’t use a Master Page…can you think of anything else I should look into?
Thanks for your help.

Conditional build tags on books

I want to hide a TOC-book on certain condition. How can I do
that? Are there any things like Conditional build tags on books?
Thanks in advance.
-karl

Hi karlroth
Unfortunately, there is nothing in RoboHelp at the moment
which will directly allow this. But if you cause all pages and
books inside the desired book to disappear you will remove the
book. I've outlined how to do this at
this
link.
Cheers... Rick

Auto-set Conditional Build Tags Based On Style?

Is there a way to auto-set conditional build tags based on style?
I want to be able to import a Word document into RoboHelp and have it recognize certain styles as requiring certain conditional tags. For example, an imported Word document might have a style called WD_Internal and any text with that style would automatically have a conditional build tag assigned to it. The idea is to allow my SMEs to indicate which text is intended for internal audiences and which text is OK for customer consumption in a single central Word document using styles. When the content is correct, I'd import it into RoboHelp, have RoboHelp assign conditional build tags, then generate multiple printed versions of the document (an internal version and a public consumption version).
Setting conditional build tags is pretty easy, but it will still be a lot of work to manually set them. Is there a way to do this automatically?
I am using RoboHelp HTML RH9.

Hi,
There's no way to do this through the interface. You can however create a script to do this for you. Cycle through the content of the topics and insert the code for the CBT.
Greet,
Willam

Conditional Build Tags cause RH9 AIRHelp crash

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