System.NullReferenceException - attempting to merge bundle

[techwriter31]

When I attempt to merge a tranlated bundle into an existing MadCap Lingo project, I receive a System.NullReferenceException error and the files aren't merged into the project. Any suggestions?

System.png

[RamonS]

The typical suggestions are
- try it again
- reinstall .NET
- contact support

The .NET originated error messages are so useless that anything from a broken file over the tide in San Diego or the number of sunshine hours in Redmond to a software bug might be the cause. Most of these error messages are as useful as the BSOD. Sometimes one can take a guess by the modules reported, but these seem to be too generic for that.

[techwriter31]

Thanks!

- I've tried it again (several times for various languages/projects)
- Will try to reinstall .NET.
- Can't contact support; I only have a Flare maintenance key.

[RamonS]

Contact support anyway, maybe they have a tip. Worst case they tell you "No". Other than that, see if you can work with the other files OK without merging. My gut feeling is that something within a file went sour, but that is mainly a suspiciously guess than anything founded on facts.

[techwriter31]

I submitted a bug to tech support. I also uninstalled/reinstalled the .NET framework, but still get the errors.

I don't have any problems merging the files for the German, French and Portuguese projects, but do receive the errors for Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish.

Other than that, see if you can work with the other files OK without merging.

By "work with the other files" do you mean rename them and manually replace them in the project?

[RamonS]

Maybe...to be honest, I don't deal that much with Lingo projects. Make a backup of everything and try things out. There isn't much else you can do or go by. You might want to take a look at the knowledge base as well, maybe it has some tips that might help, see http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/
Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe someone else has a tip.

[rob hollinger]

Were the translated bundles translated by the same translation company or by different people using different methods? The ones that worked were translated using XYZ and the ones that are causing the errors translated using ABC.
Are there files missing from the translated bundles or have any of the filenames changed?
Does the error happpen right away or does it happen sometime after its been working?

Support will be asking for the files. Be sure to zip up the Lingo Project AND the translation bundles.

[techwriter31]

Thanks for the response!

Were the translated bundles translated by the same translation company or by different people using different methods? The ones that worked were translated using XYZ and the ones that are causing the errors translated using ABC.

This is the first time we've used MadCap Lingo to translate our Flare projects. Prior to updating the English content, I created MadCap Lingo projects for each language. I then updated the English content and used the "Update Project" feature in MadCap Lingo for each of the projects, and then packaged them and sent them to the translation vendor. The translation vendor uses Trados, but has other clients who use MadCap Lingo, so they are familar with the process. When they delivered the translated content, they provided the appropriate zip files.

Are there files missing from the translated bundles or have any of the filenames changed?

When I originally packaged the files, I chose "None" as the Translation Memory, to speed up the packaging process. So, when I zipped up the files, they didn't include the TMX file. But when the translation vendor delivered the content, they also excluded the TMX file (delivered them as separate zips), so the contents of the zip files were the same. I also did a comparision of the two zip files using Beyond Compare, and all of the file names matched.

Does the error happpen right away or does it happen sometime after its been working?

The error doesn't happen immediately - it's about 5 - 10 seconds after the process has started. It appears to begin processing some of the files before the error is thrown. I created a video of it, but was unable to attach it to this post.

[rob hollinger]

Contact support with this information. They should be able to find the cause.

https://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

One other thing. Did you update the project while the files were out for translation?

[techwriter31]

Thanks! Yeah, I filed a bug with tech support (case 22173). They were able to reproduce the problem, and thought it was being caused by the image handler. So they suggested that I unzip the translations, remove the image files, rezip, then attempt the merge. But that didn't work either.

I didn't update the project while files were out for translation.

[alt_jennifer]

I've imported/merged a lot of translations through Lingo, and I've run into some similar issues. I've discovered that there's usually one file in the bunch that has some non-XML complying character/entity, or maybe even there's a non-Lingo file tucked in there somewhere (like a .backup file). The trick is finding out which file, because Lingo never identifies the culprit! I've managed to work around this bug by an annoying, but effective process:

Divide the files in half, and zip up one set of them. Try merging that into Lingo -- if it works, the problem file isn't in that batch.
You can try processing the second half, but if that doesn't work, you have to continue dividing the files into halves or sections, importing the ones that work. When you hit a batch that doesn't work, you know you're getting closer to the problem file.
Eventually, you'll get down to one last file that has to be the problem. Sometimes running it by itself will get it to work, and sometimes you have to open it and examine the source code. Look for non XML entities like   or for tags in the wrong order.

Also, sometimes I find that if I rerun a batch again, it'll work. No rhyme or reason.

I hope that helps! This is the most annoying thing about Lingo for me...

[techwriter31]

Workaround:
MadCap tech support & engineering have determined that this is a bug with the Compute Statistics feature. Prior to packaging the files in Lingo, I ran a Compute Statistics report for each project. After receiving the translated files and attempting to merge them into the project, the exception error was thrown. But if I run the Compute Statistics again prior to merging, the error isn't thrown and the files are successfully merged.