Cannot use Preview in Flare 2017

[oh5igner]

If you're having issues with Preview in Flare 2017, and getting a message saying the master page cannot be parsed, the following issue may apply. MadCap is aware of this bug (Case 106341, Bug Report 127019), but is taking the stand "we'll let you know if and when we fix it". I'd really like it to be escalated, since it renders Preview (not just Dynamic Preview, but Preview of any kind) inoperable. I find it hard to believe we're the only ones with this issue.

Hopefully, if you've been struggling with this, you'll find this explanation helpful.

In Flare, you can specify stylesheets at the topic level so that you can use different CSS for different pages. The stylesheet tells the topic what master page to use. For example, this is in our master.css:

html

{
mc-master-page: url('../MasterPages/OtherTopics.flmsp');
}

This method has worked for us in Flare 11 and Flare 12. It works in Flare 2017 when we build a target. The mc-master-page is listed as a supported property in Flare 2017 help.

However, Preview can no longer parse the master page when it is specified in this way. It really bogs down productivity when you have to build a target every time you want to see even the smallest change.

[NorthEast]

Yep, this bug is affecting us too.

I've reported this to MadCap, and the suggested workaround is to apply a master page at the topic level.

Whilst this might work for most people, it's not the same and means the topic is then hard-coded to use a particular master page. That means that a topic can't use different master pages in different targets, which you could do if you set the master page via CSS. I also don't fancy modifying almost every topic in every project I have!


The new preview in 2017 seems to have a few problems. It also doesn't work in projects that are bound to to TFS, when a target doesn't have a master stylesheet set (i.e.'default'). You'll get an access denied message for one of the stylesheets, which seems related to Flare generating read-only files in the temporary folder.

[awells12]

I'm getting a similar problem, only I'm not seeing any error messages. I just get blankness where the preview is supposed to be.

It seems to work OK when previewing using a PDF target, but whenever I try to preview using a HTML5 or CHM target, nothing shows up.

I've gotten preview to work with a HTML5/CHM target on one occasion, but every other time I tried to preview a different topic, the same topic would appear in the preview window and then I would get an error message.

</rant>

[NorthEast]

I'm getting a similar problem, only I'm not seeing any error messages. I just get blankness where the preview is supposed to be.

It seems to work OK when previewing using a PDF target, but whenever I try to preview using a HTML5 or CHM target, nothing shows up.

I've gotten preview to work with a HTML5/CHM target on one occasion, but every other time I tried to preview a different topic, the same topic would appear in the preview window and then I would get an error message.

</rant>

Contact MadCap support - it may be linked to the existing bug(s) in preview, or maybe its a new one.
The more people complain and rant, the more likely that it'll be fixed.

[awells12]

I submitted a bug...and while doing so, I discovered that the Preview does work, I just have to wait a full 60 seconds before anything shows up in the window . In some cases, it would be quicker for me to just build the target.

[moshe]

We are having a different problem with 2017 Preview. In a coworker's Flare installation, when attempting to preview a topic as PDF, the preview window doesn't open at all. Rather, the topic is sent to her Adobe PDF reader. This only occurs in her Flare installation. Before she upgraded to v.2017, this did not happen. Is there a setting to change this?

This is besides the issue of the long delay before the Preview appears.

[vicki]

This impacts us as well. We may have to go back to Flare 12 until it's resolved.

Please post here if/when a fix is made...thanks!!!

[willdawq01]

We are having a different problem with 2017 Preview. In a coworker's Flare installation, when attempting to preview a topic as PDF, the preview window doesn't open at all. Rather, the topic is sent to her Adobe PDF reader. This only occurs in her Flare installation. Before she upgraded to v.2017, this did not happen. Is there a setting to change this?

This is besides the issue of the long delay before the Preview appears.

Check to see if the Adobe Reader add-in in IE is disabled. We actually wanted this behavior in 11 and 12 and found this was the way to accomplish it. Not sure why it happened after upgrading to 2017.
As for my co-worker and I we get the blank preview window both for PDF and HTML output, but I gave up waiting for it to load after 3 minutes (and yes I timed it before giving up).

[BaritoneJP]

We are having a different problem with 2017 Preview. In a coworker's Flare installation, when attempting to preview a topic as PDF, the preview window doesn't open at all. Rather, the topic is sent to her Adobe PDF reader. This only occurs in her Flare installation. Before she upgraded to v.2017, this did not happen. Is there a setting to change this? This is besides the issue of the long delay before the Preview appears.

I'm having this issue with previewing a PDF target too. The error displayed is, "There is a problem with Adobe Acrobat/Reader. If it is running, please exit and try again. (9:9)"
Has MadCap support given anyone a workaround/fix for this (understanding this does seem to be an Adobe issue)

UPDATE: After posting this response, I found a thread on the forum about my issue: https://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=28388&p=124853&hilit=adobe+acrobat#p124853 (While this works for some, it has not worked with my installation.)

Check to see if the Adobe Reader add-in in IE is disabled. We actually wanted this behavior in 11 and 12 and found this was the way to accomplish it. Not sure why it happened after upgrading to 2017. As for my co-worker and I we get the blank preview window both for PDF and HTML output, but I gave up waiting for it to load after 3 minutes (and yes I timed it before giving up).

I have a delay, however HTML preview eventually displays - I haven't timed it.

[moshe]

We are having a different problem with 2017 Preview. In a coworker's Flare installation, when attempting to preview a topic as PDF, the preview window doesn't open at all. Rather, the topic is sent to her Adobe PDF reader. This only occurs in her Flare installation. Before she upgraded to v.2017, this did not happen. Is there a setting to change this?

Apparently in our case this was more of an issue with Adobe Reader than with Flare. My coworker's version of Adobe Reader recently was automatically updated, and now her topic preview as PDF works properly. (Except for the delay in opening).

[Feebeegeebee]

I have only just started looking at Flare 2017 and immediately came unstuck with Preview feature weirdness.
Support are currently looking into it...

(Not previewing PDF output, so this is not covered by Acrobat Reader updates.)

When I try out the new dynamic preview (to preview my HTML5 output), not 1 but 2 windows are launched.
- One launches at the front and cannot be resized or moved, and it extends beyond the bottom of my display. There's also no way to close the window.
- The second launches behind it as a grey window entitled "Preview" that cannot be brought to the front.
After some clicking and annoyance, if I grab the edge of the grey Preview window at the back and try to resize that, both preview windows seem to become merged into one window that can be moved. This happens on existing projects (and a new, dummy project, just to make sure).

In addition, when I finally get the Preview window to a usable state, when I test out any pop-up links in the preview, Flare launches a new Internet Explorer window to display them. IE is not my default browser and it is not previewing the links as pop-ups (which is surely the whole point of a WYSIWYG preview...).
I have been told by Support that "The Preview is made with Internet Explorer and is the reason for it opening in that browser."
Our customers are all non-Windows, so I have to use other browsers such as Chrome/Safari/Opera to test my output.

This is not very promising for my first try-out of Flare 2017.
Feebeegeebe

[NorthEast]

In pre-2017 preview, and maybe 2017 preview, any linked pages (including pop-ups) won't work. Flare just generates the code for the preview of that page, not anything linked from the page.


I'm massively unimpressed by preview in 2017. There are two bugs that means preview simply doesn't work in our projects - related to using TFS, and using master pages.
We pay for a maintenance plan, but are stuck on v12 and can't update to 2017 because of these bugs.
I'm used to Flare having a few glitches, but it's ridiculous when such a fundamental feature doesn't work.

[Feebeegeebee]

In pre-2017 preview, and maybe 2017 preview, any linked pages (including pop-ups) won't work. Flare just generates the code for the preview of that page, not anything linked from the page.

Confused by this, as in Flare 12 and previous versions I have used the preview so much to test pages where there are lots of popup links and links to other pages. Up until 2017, the preview has always worked really well to check that the correct type of link has been used and that it's going to the right place.

But I agree that I can't upgrade to Flare 2017 in its current state and it's very disappointing.

[Feebeegeebee]

When I try out the new dynamic preview (to preview my HTML5 output), not 1 but 2 windows are launched.
- One launches at the front and cannot be resized or moved, and it extends beyond the bottom of my display. There's also no way to close the window.
- The second launches behind it as a grey window entitled "Preview" that cannot be brought to the front.
After some clicking and annoyance, if I grab the edge of the grey Preview window at the back and try to resize that, both preview windows seem to become merged into one window that can be moved. This happens on existing projects (and a new, dummy project, just to make sure).

This issue has been ongoing with support for several weeks - although I'm guessing they are rather busy with many other issues at the moment...
I finally have a resolution - in case it helps anyone else.

In 2017 r1, the issue can be resolved by changing the display settings to 100%. (Although this is less than satisfactory for real use). At 125% the issue recurs.

The other alternative now available is to upgrade to 2017 r2, where I cannot reproduce the issue. However, I'm apprehensive about actually using 2017 r2 yet, given the number of issues reported in other topics on this forum, so am likely to continue with Flare 12 for the time being.

Regards,
Feebeegeebee

[NorthEast]

The other alternative now available is to upgrade to 2017 r2, where I cannot reproduce the issue. However, I'm apprehensive about actually using 2017 r2 yet, given the number of issues reported in other topics on this forum, so am likely to continue with Flare 12 for the time being.

Yeah, I think 2017r2 also fixes two of the bugs I saw with the preview related to (a) setting a master page using mc-master-page in your CSS, and (b) getting a stylesheet error if the project is bound to TFS.

Your workaround is presumably for a different bug with the preview.

But yes, 2017r2 is a complete car crash, so I'm not able to use it anyway!

[Beaver]

I have also the same problem, it occurres Today in Flare 2017 R2 (I think it occurs after a lot of mutations in Pagelayouts) first it works fine in R2
It occurs in all my Projects. I thought to restore my project, but it does also not work
After selection see #2 > Preview, nothing happens.
I have reported this issue to Madcap, and I hope that they can solved it.
---

[Beaver]

Madcap replied,

Let's clean the project:
> Close Flare
> Browse to the folder with your Flare project using Windows Explorer
> Delete the Analyzer and Output folder (or move the Output folder to a different location if you do not
want to lose any previously built outputs) (I renamed them to x_OLD)
> Browse into your Project folder and delete the "Users" folder inside
> Re-open Flare and your project
> Check to see if you are still experiencing the issue
Result > ISSUE IS NOT SOLVED

Let's clean the CatapultMdiEditor:
CatapultMdiEditor
If you have any Layouts you wish to save, go into the CatapultMdiEditor folder and please save the layouts to a different location.
Go to:
1. C:\Users\[Your User]\Appdata (make sure hidden files and folders are turned on)\Roaming\Madcapsoftware\Flare
2. The folder should be within the Flare directory.
3. Delete the CatapultMdiEditor folder
4. Restart flare and try again.
Result > ISSUE IS SOLVED
I sugges to clean first the CatapultMdiEditor
(I search in this Forum about CatapultMdiEditor and see that this solution to solved many other problems)

[Beaver]

FYI
- This same issue occurred in FLARE 2018 R2.
- For the first time, in months, after some not reproduce-able error