Global project linking hates the links in my imported files!

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Flareon
Propeller Head
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:18 am

Global project linking hates the links in my imported files!

Post by Flareon »

Hi,

I'm using Flare 2019 and set up a new help center project that's separate to the main help project. I've imported all the required topics (and other related files) into the help center project but when I build the help center target, the build fails when it comes across any linked topic that contains a hyperlink or a cross reference.

I really don't want to remove hyperlinks or cross references from all my topics just to be able to build the target! (But removing hyperlinks or the cross reference does work.)

Does anyone know what the issue or workaround is?

I'm getting the error message that everyone loves: Build failed: Object reference not set to an instance of an object, and more specifically:

Processing topic: Geocoder\Locations.htm...
Build failed: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Saving log to "C:\help_center\Output\<myname>\HTML5\HTML5.mclog"
</Messages>
<Warnings />
<Errors>
<LogEntry File="Project\Targets\HTML5.fltar" Message="Build failed: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
" LineIndex="-1" CharIndex="-1" Subsystem="Compiler" Target="HTML5" ErrorID="10086" />
</Errors>

My current hypothesis is that even though the folder structure is the same in my linked projects, there is a difference in the underlying naming conventions that Flare uses?

Thanks
Flareon
Flareon
Propeller Head
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:18 am

Re: Global project linking hates the links in my imported fi

Post by Flareon »

Problem Solved!

I contacted Madcap Support and the problem was the Madcap:xref style in the stylesheet which had the color set as the variable: --Dark-Gray. This variable was declared in the stylesheet under root as:

:root
{
--Brand: #076685;
--Dark-Gray: #45494c;
--Medium-Gray: #b9bec1;
--Light-Gray: #d0d3d5;
--White: #ffffff;
--Blue: #00A3F7;
}

...but for some reason, the variable wasn't being picked up and the build failed on any topic that contained a cross-reference. On advice from support I changed the madcap.xref style to the color blue and the build then worked. I then moved the :root section to the very top of the stylesheet and turned the color value back to --Dark-Gray and the build now also works using the variable. To summarize, the position of the color variables needs to be at the very top of the stylesheet.
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