Odd master and subprojects configuration

Question

I've inherited a project that is put together rather oddly. I
have been editing some of the topics here and there as requested,
but was prompted to take a closer look at the overall project
structure when I noticed that, after the master project was
compiled, a large number of topics returned a "page cannot be
displayed" error when I tried to open them (although oddly enough,
I *can* open them in the browse sequence, just not when I click
directly on the topic page).
I traced it down to a subproject that had been merged into
the master project at two different points. The first point was
just below a "top-level" book in the TOC. The second place was
under a "subbook" beneath a "top-level" book in the master
project's TOC.
The master project is called "Admin". I went to see which
CHMs were in Admin in the !SSL! only to find that this folder is
completely empty. All of the CHMs are in a folder called !CHMs!
(normally, when you create a project, the CHM file is in
\!SSL!\Microsoft_HTML_Help\). This is an odd configuration but it
seems to work (more or less).
I went to check each of the four subprojects (I can only find
one other subproject that's merged into the master project). Let's
call the subprojects A, B, C, and D. Subprojects A, C, and D are
structured just the way you'd expect. Each subproject contains a
single CHM fow that subproject in \!SSL!\Microsoft_HTML_Help\ so
for example, subproject A's chm can be found at
\!SSL!\Microsoft_HTML_Help\A.chm. The same for C and D. B is
another matter.
Here is the structure of subproject B's directory and
relevant subdirectories:
B folder
!SSL! folder
InfoSDK folder
InfoSDK.chm
Object folder
Admin.chm
Object.chm
Microsoft_HTML_Help
Admin.chm
B.chm
As you can see, instead of the !SSL! folder containing just
the Microsoft_HTML_Help folder which contains the subproject's chm
file, there are three folders in !SSL!, each containing one or more
chm files. The really odd thing is that two of those folders
contain the chm file from the master project (Admin.chm) and only
one folder (Microsoft_HTML_Help) contains the chm for the B
subproject.
I thought perhaps that this subproject had another subproject
nested beneath it but in looking at the TOC, I can't find any
merged project links. The B subproject itself has a large number of
folders that are heavily nested beneath each other, so it's
directory structure is both complicated and extensive.
Before anyone asks me to zip the entire thing up and send it
out, the content is proprietary and confidential and I can't send
it out into the open. I'm hoping someone can tell me based on my
description, what is going on here.
As far as the topics from the merged B subproject that
wouldn't open when I compiled and ran the master project "Admin", I
double-clicked the merged project link for B in the Admin TOC to
open the Merged Project dialog box. I discovered that the HTML Help
File pointed to the B.chm but the TOC file pointed to Admin.hhc.
When I pointed the TOC file to B.hhc and recompiled the master
project, everything opened fine.
I have a sneaky suspicion though that I may have broken
something in the process and that topics that should be available
in the master when it's compiled are no longer available.
I apologize for the length of this post and the level of
confusion it's probably generating, but this is the only way I can
think to describe the situation short of being able to actually
show you what's going on.
Any responses and ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
-Trip

Answer 1

quote:
Originally posted by:
MergeThis
The !SSL!/WhateverLayout folders are only the default folders
that RH oh, so helpfully creates for every layout you design. I
suggest that you break free from the !SSL! trap, by setting up new
layouts for these projects and generating them all to a single
folder just off the local machine root, say under C:\RH_Admin.
This layout structure not only keeps the structure clean, but
virtually eliminates the possibility of over-long link paths.
Which explains why the chm files for the Admin
master project are in !CHM! rather than !SSL!. Not being a RoboHTML
guru, I assumed that !SSL! was the required directory for all chm
files but as you explain it, they cah be contained in any folder as
long as you select that particular directory as the output folder
containing the required chm file for the project. I will certainly
explore your suggestion in future projects I develop but in terms
of this older set of projects, I'd just as soon leave well enough
alone for the time being. There's a rather large product base that
uses this set of help files and if I broke it, the consequences
wouldn't be pretty.
I still dont get why my predecessor placed the Admin.chm file
(which is the chm file for the master project) in the directory
structure of a subproject the way I've described. I can't see any
reason for it and am not sure why in creating a merge link, she
referenced the chm of the subproject but pointed the TOC to the
Admin.hhc. As far as I can tell, you don't need to do that in order
to allow the subproject books and topics to be displayed in the
master project's TOC after the merge is complete. Any ideas?
EDIT: Now this is interesting. I just had a look at the
properties of a merge project link I created and while I can select
the particular chm file in the HTML Help File drop down menu, the
TOC File selection is fixed foe the same project's .hhc file. I
wonder if the reason for including the admin.chm file in the !SSL!
folder of subproject B with the B.chm file was to allow my
predecessor to be able to select between the Admin.hhc and B.hhc
files for the TOC File. If you choose one project's chm file for
the HTML Help File and another project's hhc file for the TOC file,
what happens (given that in my experience, it makes all of the
subproject's topics unable to be opened when merged and compiled
with the master project)?