Merged projects - topic-level tag problems in sub-projects

I am working on an extensive help file in RoboHelp HTML. It
consists of a master project and 15 sub-projects. Each of the sub
projects have topic-level conditional tagging, and when each
sub-project is compiled, the topic-level tagging works and the CHM
is correct in regards to what topics are included and excluded.
However, when I compile the master project, it seems that RoboHelp
disregards ALL topic-level tagging in the sub-projects. So, the CHM
for configuration A includes all sub-project topics for
configurations A, B, C, and D. The topics are in the TOC and they
appear as search results. We are not using an index, but binary
index is checked in the project settings.
The same four configurations in the sub-projects are also in
the master project, but the conditional tag expressions aren't
word-for-word identical. Should they be?
Note that the content-level tagging within the sub-projects
DOES work when the master project is compiled. For some reason, the
problem is isolated to the topic-level tagging.

I think I'm the one causing the problem - I don't think I
read your initial post carefully enough. Sorry...
I can't figure out how this is happening. When you merge
.chms, you have already compiled the 'slave' projects. The link
from the master TOC points to a slave .chm - which you say is
working correctly when opened on its own.
Since the slaves and masters are compiled independently,
there shouldn't be any interaction between the master and slave
build expressions - and if there is one, it should be excluding
more topics, not including more topics!
The typical problems people have with merged .chms seem to be
TOC issues (does the master TOC show up, or just the slave
project's TOC?) and path issues (the master can't find the slaves).
However, I did see one or two posts on this forum where the master
was pointing to old copies of the slave .chm - could you have a
"complete" .chm lurking about?
BTW, according to RH help, binary indexes are fine in merged
HTMLhelp. Binary TOCs are not. I don't think you have this problem,
because the symptoms are different, but you could take a look - the
setting is in the HTMLHelp Generate wizard. Click the [Advanced]
button on the first wizard page and look on the TOC tab to make
sure Binary TOC is not checked.
You might also do a quick search on the General
Info/HTMLHelp/RH for HTML forums for "merged .chm" - you might
recognize a symptom in someone's post that I didn't catch.
Good luck,
Elisa

Similar Messages

Merged sub projects

Working from Peter's excellent presentation on making
webhelp, you'd have a parent folder and a child folder containing
your sub-projects. Could one of those sub-projects itself be a
parent which is calling on sub-sub-projects?
.MW

We've been working on migrating from compiled help to
webhelp. One of the biggest bottlenecks is that we have 13k+
message files that need to be accessible from Help. These message
files are text files using HTML tagging created by engineers and
reviewed by a writer but not really managed like the rest of our
Help. Currently the message topics are generated via script and
compiled as a .chm with a single landing page containing an
alphabetical list.
My idea was that a project containing the landing page would
be the message sub-master project and I would find some way to
chunk the messages into the sub-sub-projects. I could then call the
message sub-master just like any other merged project, which could
in turn call the sub-sub projects as needed.
What I'm trying to avoid is having a single project with 13k+
files. Next release it will be 13.5k, 14k, etc.
I'd also like to know if there is a way to add files to a
project from the command line with that project being under source
control.

How should one deal with sub-projects?

Hello to all!
Let me first clarify my title-question.
On my current project I faced software malfunction [FCPX quitting] when I reached 17 minutes of building the video on the timeline. [As a reference, allow me to call this 17-minute part of the video in making as the main project.]
Remembering from an earlier thread [? Mr. Russ being the contributor], I opted to continue the project as a separate project which I seek to call as the sub-project Now even this sub-project is of a 14 minute duration and I have need to start a sub-project 2.
I would now like to be guided as to how to deal with these sub-projects while editing the video and after finishing the project.
Firstly, while editing. My present plan is to complete the project's video utilising as many sub-projects as needed, and then add the sub-projects to the main project. This done, I intend to add voiceover for the completed project. During this process, my questions are this...how do I add the sub-projects onto the main project? If I select and copy/paste the sub-project, it gets added as 'connected clips'...this is okay if one can export the project as such. But, when a voiceover has to be added, further retiming of the clips are called for and at this stage problems arise. Now, as I am writing this, it is striking me that I could make this added sub-project as a secondary storyline, get done with the retiming after the voiceover is added, and export the project. Have not done this before and would like guidance from senior contributors in this issue.
Secondly, when the project is exported and is being archived, do I need to have all the sub-projects or delete them to save drive-space?
Thanks in advance.
Have a great day.
Dr. Somanna

Thanks Karsten for this further instructions. The present project I am working on is being done as a race against time. Faced a problem when dealing with a stack of generator clips one upon the other and each clip being given different commands regarding changes in position and rotation. Beyond the 17 minute mark, one click upon the parameter in the inspector window, and the application quit. When this quitting became a regular feature, I just remembered a thread in which one contributor wrote that he usually divides his projects into 10 minute bits before making up the whole project. Not willing to spend time further on this problem, being in a very 'creative frame mode' I simply continued working upon the project by starting up a 'sub-project'.
Regards and take care.
Dr. Somanna

Sub-project rollup to Master project-How to achieve this??

Dear Dina,
In capital project: There is 1 master project, under master project there are 10 sub-projects ,how to rollup the sub-projects information into master project [client wants to see the all sub-project information at master project level only as well as sub-project level also]
Each Sup-Project has a Project ID and Project Name,If we consider each sub project as one task but as per the client requirement each sub-project has a separate Project ID, and as well as Master project also has Project ID (in this scenario how to roll-up the sub-project information into master project).
Here client wants to see all sub-project information at master project level with the code of Project ID and as well as individual at sub-project level with the code of Sub-project Project ID”,each project has [Sub-project and master project] Project ID, Project name, and Project Number
could u help me on rolling up concept on the sub-project informations into master project level....
thanks a lot n advance.....

Hi
The ability to see the rollup information is part of Project Management.
When you setup the master project, go to Option and open the Structures page. Flag the check box named "Enable the project as a Program".
Now go to Tasks pages, and open a lowest level task. Open the Options page for the task, and you will see there "sub Project Association. Select that option and on the opened page you can list the subproject. Note you can link all sub-projects to the same task, or to different tasks of the master project.
Go to Project Reporting Tab of Project Management. There you should select the report as a project if you want to see data on each project, master and sub-projects, individually. Select the report as 'Program' to see the rollup up data for he master project and all its sub-projects.
Dina

Budget check for PM orders with main and sub-projects

Hello
We have a scenario wherein we have created a main project and a sub-project. We have linked the sub-project to main project. We have also assigned budget to the main project. We have created a PM order wherein we are trying to enter the costs by entering the hours of work. We have configured the budget profile and set the tolerance limites and assigned to main project. The requirement here is we need to have have costs check againt the budget that been available in the main project. But the system is checking the budget of the sub-project. Please share if any specific setting is required to check the budget of main project instea sub-project.
Regards,
Basav

I also double checked, you are right there is no forum for PM, I dont think I could suggest much since there isnt a dedicated forum, but you can try posting this query in the ABAP forum probably some abap'r who has worked with PM module should have a look. Also if possible try to connect with one of the moderators out here and ask for assistance in starting something for PM
Thanks,
GLM

Complex Scenarios and sub projects

After using Captivate for several years and on small and relatively basic projects, I am now working on a very complex scenario with extensive branching.
So here's the question that shows my ignorance -
When calling other project is it better to have a central project from which to call other sub-projects and return (there are possibly 18 such sub-projects) or is it better to "jump" from project to project?

Less gotchas than if you had been intending to deliver it via the other two methods I mentioned (LAN server or CD ROM) because those methods would involve lots of issues with Flash Player Global Security preventing your navigation strategy from working.
LMSs are web servers too. Flash security is not usually an issue with web server delivery. However, what you WILL likely encounter as a major hurdle with trying to do this from an LMS is that if you set these different modules up as SCOs inside a Multi-SCORM package then your LMS will likely take exception to the fact that you are not launching each one via the links that the LMS itself provides. Your strategy is to only have one central project from which the others are launched. To get this to work in an LMS, you'll probably need to do it using SCORM 2004 standard and it would probably require manual hacking of the imsmanifest.xml files that Captivate produces for its SCORMs so that you can build in sequencing rules. Could get complex.

Ressource Problem: Export with graphical reports from projects with integrated sub-projects

Hi all,
i have the following problem with the exported data of the graphical reports possibility.
Expected output:
OLAP Cube with processes and ressources
Setup:
Project Server 2010 with Enterprise ressource pool
One main project with 6 integrated sub-projects
Every ressource is assigned to just one sub-project or the main project
Problem:
The data (work and cost) in the OLAP Cube exported from the main project is 7 times (some reports 49 times) higher than the data in the main project
Tested scenarios:
Export just processes -> data is correct
Export just ressources -> data is 7 times higher
Generate another main project with 2 sub-projects and no ressources in the main project - Export of processes and ressources -> data is 2 times higher
Because of the tested scenarios I expect that this is a problem caused by ressources and integrated sub-projects.
I hope that this community is able to help me to solve this problem.
Thanks & all the bests,
Holger

Using the "Baseline work report", I can't reproduce your issue:
I have 1 task in each project (2 projects) with a resource assigned on each task (80hrs). The report correctly shows me 160 hrs.
Which Project 2010 SP and CU do you have? I'd suggest you to install the
latest version and see if it helps.
Hope this helps,
Guillaume Rouyre, MBA, MVP, P-Seller |

3 questions - Source control vs. sub-projects

Hi -
I have 3 related questions:
1.) Seems like I remember a warning from a long time ago
(older versions) about having to check out the entire project -
because the user needs to access the .mpj/.xpj file. How does the
new RoboSource Control 6 handle checking out the project file?
2.) Also - Is it better to use sub-projects (merged projects)
or Source Control to support multiple users?
I believe one "con" to using merged projects is that you have
to manually deal with consolidating context IDs... Can anyone give
me some other pros and cons for each method?
3.) If I go with Source Control as the method for handling
multiple users - combining all of my topics into one project - I'm
concerned about the size of the project. I've encountered seriously
long compile times and corruption in past versions. Can anybody
provide real-world numbers for project size and compile time in
RoboHelp 6?
Thank you.

quote:
Originally posted by:
OE3-chick
Hi-
1.) Hmm.... so I think this means the the .xpj file would
still be accessed directly from a file share. So, if we worked
together and I opened the .xpj file to work on the project -
wouldn't it give you a warning that the file is already in use when
you go to open it and also work on the project? Can two people open
the same .xpj file now?
Oops, seemingly my fingers started typing the usual
answer before the brain achieved operating condition. The XPJ
contains no local stuff and can and should be committed to the
database. I was referring to CPD, PSS, and LDB.
quote:
Originally posted by:
OE3-chick
Regarding 2.) and 3.) Oop - I'm actually referring to authors
(users of the RoboHelp application). I was told that creating
seperate projects would allow multiple authors to use RoboHelp -
then they would be merged into a single project for the end
customer. So, my concern is about which method (
sub-projects/merged projects or Source Control) is better for
supporting multiple authors.
RoboSource Control is set up in such a way that multiple
authors can concurrently work at the same project. As soon as one
author manipulates a file from the project, this file is locked for
the other users. As long as different author ditribute the work on
the topics they can work without interferences. Exempt from this
optimistic description are the central files valif for the whole
project: HHC (table of contents), H and ALI (context sensitive
help), GLO (glossary), and BRS (browse sequences). the same is true
for the HHK (index), as long as you set up the project for using
this HHK-file.
So if you can teach your authors to concentrate on their
topics (and index entries) only in their work, and handle the other
stuff centrally, no one will ever notice that she is not the only
one working on the project. With up to five or six authors even the
conflicts are not so bad. Just ask the other who has locked, say,
the HHC to check it in and you can immediately work on the table of
contents yourself.
The other method using separate projects and merging the
stuff at run-time avoids these problems, but at a cost. Every
author can work on his (sub-) project to her heart's delight, but
getting the stuff together to form a seamless unit which looks to
the user like one help system only, takes some work. If users
should be able to open the help system via a context sensitive call
and the help should look a unified whole (all the help within one
window, index and TOC seamlessly merged, navigation through links
without errors), you'll have to fiddle around a bit.
quote:
Originally posted by:
OE3-chick
-- Is it better to use sub-projects (merged projects) or
Source Control to support multiple authors?
I believe one "con" to using merged projects is that you have
to manually deal with consolidating context IDs... Can anyone give
me some other pros and cons for each method?
If your programmers open the same help file for every help
call, you'll indeed have to manipulate the context IDs in a way
that RoboHelp does not support in its interface. Where a 'usual'
mapping reads:
CONTEXT_STRING=PATH/TO/MY_TOPIC.HTM
you'll have to write something like:
CONTEXT_STRING=MS-ITS::MAIN_HELP_FILE.CHM::/SPECIAL_HELP_FILE.CHM::/PATH/TO/MY_TOPIC.HTM
For each topic in one of the slave help files you'll have to
manually enter such a line into the MAP.ALI of the main project.
This works remarkably well, unless a user tries to open a
slave help by doubleclicking it in the Windows Exporer; he will get
an error message instead of a TOC.
quote:
Originally posted by:
OE3-chick
-- If I go with Source Control as the method for handling
multiple authorss - combining all of my topics into one project -
I'm concerned about the size of the project. I've encountered
seriously long compile times and corruption in past versions. Can
anybody provide real-world numbers for project size and compile
time in RoboHelp 6?
-Thank you.
Nope, as we are running X5 I can't answer this. But anyway, a
2,000 topic project takes some two minutes as far as compilation
goes; I wouldn't worry too much about this.
Regards
---Dirk Bock

Merged child project's TOC not appearing in parent project's TOC

System Information
Windows XP Professional, SP2
Windows Explorer 6.0
RoboHelp X5.0.2
Generating RoboHelp HTML Help (.chm)
Issue
I had the following Help projects:
1. CombinedProductHelp.chm (parent
project)
2. ProductHelp.chm (child 1 project)
3. ProductBestPracticesHelp.chm (child 2 project)
The parent project is a very small Help project that is used
as a place in which to merge the two child projects. I was able to
add the two child projects to the parent project’s TOC in the
RoboHelp HTML TOC editor, seemingly without any problem. The
problem arose when I generated the .chm output for the merged
projects; upon opening the parent project’s .chm file, I
discovered that the Child 1 project’s TOC wasn’t
appearing in the TOC. The Child 2 project’s TOC appeared just
fine. I was able to retrieve topics from the Child 1 project using
the Search function and index – I just couldn’t use the
TOC.
After a bit of trial and error, I discovered that the problem
was the result of the file names I had chosen for the Parent
project (CombinedProductHelp.chm) and the Child 1 project
(ProductHelp.chm). For some unknown reason, if the ENTIRE file name
that’s used for a child project is identical to a PART of
file name that’s used for a parent project, the child
project’s TOC will not appear in the merged TOC. I've used
underscores to "right-justify" the problematic file name to more
clearly illustrate this:
CombinedProductHelp.chm
________ProductHelp.chm
Resolution
You can resolve the issue by renaming either file. Any ONE of
the following examples will resolve the issue:
* Insert a letter (other than
“d”) in front of “ProductHelp.chm” (e.g.,
SProductHelp.chm)
* Insert a letter between “p” and “.”
of “ProductHelp.chm” (e.g., ProductHelpS.chm)
* Insert a letter in the “ProductHelp” portion of
“CombinedProductHelp.chm” (e.g.,
CombinedProducXtHelp.chm)
In the example above, renaming the
“CombinedProductHelp.chm” to
“CombinedHelp.chm” resolved the issue; both child
project TOCs now appear in the parent .chm TOC.

Tracey,
Safari might need some of the patches that make WebHelp
behave better (to some extent, anyway) in Netscape, Firefox and
Opera for Windows.
Let's try to pinpoint the problem.
WebHelp generally loads in this order:
--Frame outline
--Main toolbar plain background, then buttons, then the image
background, if any.
--The welcome topic
--The minibar at left-- empty frame, then background and
icons, if any (browse, synch TOC and hide X)
--Table of contents background
--TOC list.
How far does the Mac browser get when you first launch
WebHelp?
If the main topic loads, and it has links to other topics. do
they work?
Can you get the Index and search to work?
Can you hide the left pane and click Contents to show it?
Still empty?
Harvey

Why does my sub-projects open in read only when master is opened

I have created a master schedule with 4 sub-projects inserted as read only.
My problem is that when the master is opened the sub-projects will only open in read only so PMs can not update their schedules when requried.
I have sold my company on using master schedules and ow it doesnt work any better. I have not had this problem previous using MSP 2010 so can anyone help me please.

Krys,
You are using a dynamic master and that may not be necessary nor the best choice in your situation. You say you use the master as a reporting tool and for creating links between subprojects. I have a suggestion. When you need to create cross-project links,
go ahead and create a dynamic master, make the links and then save, but don't close, each the subproject file. That will preserve the links you just make. Now close the master and when it asks if you want to save changes to all files, answer "no to all". Finally
delete the master, it is no longer needed to maintain those links and in fact, having a dynamic master creates another level in the linking structure and thus increases the chance of file corruption.
When you need to do your reporting, create a static master. Simply uncheck the "link to project" option in the lower right corner of the Insert Project window. That will create a separate file that is a snapshot in time of all the subproject files. The advantage
is that you have not created a linked structure and thus have not added to the corruption dice roll, as Rod Gill (MVP) likes to say. And yes, you will have to create a new static master each reporting period, but that is easily automated with a recorded macro,
if doing it manually is a burden.
Hope this helps.
John

Excluding project topics when publishing to CHM

Using RH 9.
I read the post "unwanted topics in search results" and am still confused.
Even though a project topic is not in ToC or referenced by ToC, it still shows up in index and search results in CHM file.
Do i have to specifically create a "conditional build expression" that will identify and exclude these topics?
If so, why is that? it seems like it defeats the point of creating a ToC.

Not everyone wants all the topics in the TOC. I once had a project of around 12,000 topics where many were just for one field. I only wanted the screen level topics in the TOC. Can you imagine a TOC with 12,000 topics.
I also needed all the topics to be searchable. I have seen other authoring tools that do force you to put every topic in the TOC. No thank you.
You seem to have topics that you don't want in the output so yes you do have to exclude them with a build tag. In the Topic List you can multi-select topics and apply a tag.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Sub-projects keep disappearing

I have a master project set up with five sub-projects but just recently whenever I open the master project, the sub-projects are not there, the whole task sheet is just blank. Sometimes doing a combination of 'Show outline level 1' and then 'Show all subtasks'
will make them re-appear, sometimes it will make just one or two of them re-appear, sometimes this will not work at all.
When I go to close the master project, however, it asks me if I would like to save the changes to each of my sub-projects in turn, so it obviously thinks they are still attached. Why doesn't it show them? Is five too many sub-projects for the software to
handle?

isaacson33 --
This problem sounds like a problem that another user reported yesterday. You never told us what version of Microsoft Project you are using. It would help if we know. If you are using Microsoft Project 2010, you need to apply Service Pack
2 to your software, as this resolves the missing tasks bug. Let us know and we will try to help.
Dale A. Howard [MVP]

Why is the automatically generated RoboHelp TOC limiting itself to the top 2 topic levels?

I'm using TCS 4 with RoboHelp v10.0.1.292 and FrameMaker v 11. I created some dummy DITA files in FrameMaker11 using the default choices and organized them in a ditamap to learn how to work with multiple topic levels. My ditamap has 3 topic levels. All 3 levels display in RoboHelp's Project Manager, however only the first 2 levels display in the automatically generated TOC. (After generating WebHelp output, I can do a search and find the 3rd level content, but the 3rd level topics are not displayed in the WebHelp TOC either.)
First graphic: 3rd level files in Project Manager pod match how they are arranged in FM, and where they failed to show up in the FMTOC pod.
Second graphic: I found that I can get the 3rd level to display in the RoboHelp TOC and in WebHelp output if I click the TOC pod AUTO-CREATE TOC icon - is this the solution or is there something I just haven't got set up yet? If regenerating the TOC in RH is the solution, how do I get the accompanying file name problems to go away, i.e. the ditamap FILE name now replaces the ditamap TITLE, and worse, one of the task file names has replaced its title name.
Thanks for any clues you can provide.

I have moved this to the FrameMaker Integration forum in the hope you get a reply here.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Project Server 2010 - Error 20010 with a master project and 3 sub-projects during publication

Hi,
Here is the situation :
One master project with three sub projects.
Sub projects are really similar (Same ressources and nearly same tasks but only the first contain real work for now).
Sub projects got no sub projects nor links between projects.
The owner of the master project got read rights through projects permissions on sub projects.
Sub projects are link in "read only".
We applied Project Server 2010 SP2 last week end and the issue appeared monday.
Here are the symptoms :
When we link only one sub project (Doesn't matter which one), the owner can publish, no problems.
With 2 sub projects, the error may occur.
With 3 sub projects, the error always occurs.
With admin rights, the error doesn't occur.
Here is the error :
ID : 20010 (0x4E2A)
Description : You don't have required permissions to perform the action (Average traduction)
Detail : <detail><errinfo><general><class name="Project"><error id="20010" name="GeneralSecurityAccessDenied" uid="19515c1d-2624-466f-953a-b7fc67337b81"/></class></general></errinfo></detail>
I'm unable to determine which sub project is the culprit, if there is one, as it's working when I link only one of them.
Thanks for your time !

Fylim --
If the project manager in question does not need to edit any of the three projects, the PM does not need to have Read/Write access to any of the three projects. Because you said that the PM needs to set links in all three projects, this means that
the PM will be editing all three projects. In order to edit the three projects, the PM must have Read/Write access to all three. Setting cross-project links constitutes editing of the projects, which is why the PM must have Read/Write permission.
Make sense?
Regarding SP2, I am not aware that this would change anything, but I could be wrong. The reality is that regardless of which SP you have applied to Microsoft Project and Project Server 2010, the PM in this situation MUST have Read/Write access to the
projects that he/she needs to edit with cross-project links. Hope this helps.
Dale A. Howard [MVP]

I have problem in my project, please Help me, urgent

have problem in my project.
When i start using project, i recive a errore in flash player
if it possible troubleshooted for me
Problem file

The problem is that you have left paper on the floor near the
wastebasket.
Please you have to do a little of the work yourself.
First, post a topic that has a title regarding your problem.
That way people who know about that problem will be more likely to
take a look.
Second, don't just say you have a problem and receive and
error. Shay what kind of problem and tell us what the error says.
Third. Most people won't download a file from any random
stranger off the net. So don't expect that is going to explain it.
Fourth, even if the file does explain it, why should a
stranger have to do all the steps that you should have done?
Fifth, do a little work yourself, what have you tried to fix
it?
Sixth. Just because it is urgent to you doesn't mean it is
urgent to everybody else.
So try some of these things and post back.

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