MadCap Software Forums

We were using VSS or the first TFS at the time and performing the rename in source control manually didn't seem to do a delete then add. Certainly the history was retained using VSS rather than Flare.

Thanks, all. Good tips that I will pass on to my team as best practices. Always do edits, moves, and renames in separate check-in sessions. Check-in each change before making the next one. I am, again, embarking on using Central to share our Flare project and hope this works. If not, I'll be back...

We are having the same problems with GitHub and managing source control via the connector in Flare and the "sequence contains more than one element" issue. I have GitHub Desktop installed. Should we explore using that tool and completely disabling binding in Flare?

dpcremin wrote:We are having the same problems with GitHub and managing source control via the connector in Flare and the "sequence contains more than one element" issue. I have GitHub Desktop installed. Should we explore using that tool and completely disabling binding in Flare?

I would. I did.

I ran into this issue after moving files around in the Content Explorer (even though I know better ). Here's my fix, using Central:
1. Rename existing project folder on my hard drive.
2.Import the project from Central.
3. Using Windows Explorer, copy files from backup project. I suppose you can just copy the entire Content folder, but I copied only the moved files.
4. Open the new project in Flare, Commit, and Push. This adds the files to their new location.
5. Using File List in Flare, delete files in old location and Commit, Push again.
I still have files to move, but I plan to add the files to the new location using Flare's based on existing feature, Commit, Push, and then delete the old files.

For reference, I get this error periodically - usually, as expected, when I've been moving files around.
Generally the error is fixed if I close Flare, commit all current changes (I use Git Extensions) and open Flare again. It seems to me that the Working Directory has just become a bit messed up and needs a reset.

Flare 2019 r2, git/Azure here. Same issue. I can't open my project at all because of this error. I can't be bothered doing their work for them with the bug reports etc. anymore. It's not like they fix them! Looks like this has been around for years (some say a decade!) And the bronze support... I'm trying to think of a single response that I found helpful. I feel like we've paid for the privilege of being their unpaid testers.

It should have been a clue when I read that MadCap don't use their own source control tool when they do their documentation. Something something about branching. Now I know the real answer! I kind of think there needs to be a MadCap Flare Sufferer's Group. There's potentially a great product here, and I'm sure there are many dedicated and hardworking individuals at MadCap frustrated by management, too. There is something seriously wrong at MadCap and it's no good paying for features that not only not work, but are marketed to you as working, and then proceeds to drain hours upon hours of your time as you scramble to not look like the idiot in the team for suggesting the switch in the first place.

What would have been great is some resource that was concerned with reality rather than marketing and advised me:
1) Use source control, but don't use Flare for that... use git it in the project directory and manage it externally.
2) Don't keep the PDF preview window open all the time
3) An FAQ about moving files / renaming files... where are the landmines and how to avoid them.
- would have saved many hours.

Flare 2019 (not r2).
We have been using MadCap Central for 6 months now and I just received this message for the first time this morning. I did not rename files. Instead, I modified meta tags in two topic files, saved the files, tried to commit to Central, and I received the error.
I followed the steps in #TR Lisa's Dec 13, 2018 post and fixed the problem I was having. I just successfully bound the modified files to Central.

I had been renaming targets and changing their contents.

- I clicked Commit All, entered my commit comment, and tried to continue.
- The "Sequence contains..." error appeared.
- I clicked Don't Send on the error dialog to make it go away*.
- I then clicked Synchronize and Flare proceeded without error.
- In BitBucket my changes are all there, labeled with my commit comment.

It seems the commit does work, despite the rogue error message. In my experience of Flare (about 18 months' solid use) the sadly overactive error dialog usually reveals errors in Flare's code (not your project) which should have been quietly handled and never displayed to the user.

[EDIT] After yet more frustration with Flare's inept source control operations, I've found that once Flare starts displaying this spurious error it is better to simply Save All and close Flare. I then use SourceTree to perform the commit and push to BitBucket. This seems to clear Flare's mess, allowing it to be reopened for further work.

* There's no point sending bug reports. Like Adobe, MadCap spends its money on marketing and overpriced conferences, not competent developers who are prepared to analyze and fix years-old bugs.