CHM compile has error

[rjhoughton]

Running:

Windows 7 64-bit OS
Flare 6.1
Analyzer 3

Issue:

Target for HTML Help goes through entire build process, then gets to the CHM compiler at the end and throws an error.

"An internal error has occurred. An error record has been saved to c:\.err."

The file size is 52KB after the "problem" compile. It's also not openable.
The normal file size is 5,177KB.

The HTML Help compile works for all my other projects, just not THIS project. I assume there is corruption somewhere, but there are over 2,700 help topics in this project. I've run the analyzer. There's nothing in the results that is anything like a database error.

I've also done Build > Clean Project.
I've registered the itcc.dll (actually, my sys admin did, I could not register .dlls on my system).

Help? I do have support, and will submit a ticket if I need to. This only occurred AFTER I switched computers to Windows 7 64-bit OS.

[LTinker68]

Make a copy of the HTML Help target and save it outside the project as a backup. Then delete the target in the project and recreate it. Don't modify it at all initially. Do a build and see if it gets through it ok. If it does, start modifying the settings in the target, but a bit at a time. Do a build in between modifications. If the problem just started happening, then the target file may have gotten corrupted, or some setting for it for a 32-bit computer didn't translate well to the 64-bit computer.

Also, instead of just cleaning the project, try deleting the entire output folder. Flare will recreate it the next time you build one of the targets.

[rjhoughton]

I tried all of your advice, and it still gets the same error.

I'm going to review the most recently added help topics, and go from there. I'd like to avoid creating a brand new project and adding each help topic one at a time (that could take over a week with 2700~ topics if I compile after each topic is added).

Rachel

[ChoccieMuffin]

I have used a product called HTML QA in the past, not sure if that would be worth taking a look at. Though if you have support, give them a call and see if they can find the problem for you. You will probably have to zip and send your project, but from the few times I've had problems they've been brilliant at spotting my sillies, so should be able to find yours too.

[rjhoughton]

After some intensive searching, I have narrowed down the issues to 6 folders in my project. All 6 folders contain files that have been changed/updated since 9/1/10.

I have tried adding back a folder without the updated files, and it still errors out.

Thoughts? Might there be permissions issues on those folders I'm not aware of?

Rachel

[Andrew]

Kind of silly question: have you checked out the c:\.err file referred to in the message? ".err" is not actually a valid file name, but perhaps you can find some kind of x.err file (where x is some file name) that shows what is wrong.

[rjhoughton]

I finally found the .err file. I think it disappears after a while (it was in the "VirtualStore" folder).

This is the error:

Monday, October 18, 2010 10:06:03

HHA Version 4.74.8702
htmlproc.cpp(114) : Assertion failure: (pszTmp == m_pCompiler->m_pHtmlMem->psz)

I already have my projects at the top level of my C: drive (I ran into the filename character limit issue earlier this year), so I'm mystified as to why these 6 folders cause this compiler error when the rest of the project compiles just fine.

Rachel

[Andrew]

How long are the path names for those folders?

Also, you can check through a few of the other troubleshooting tips here:
http://helpware.net/FAR/far_faq.htm#HTM ... ompilation

Hopefully, that may resolve the issue.

[rjhoughton]

*headsmack*

My issue is fixed.

It had nothing to do with file permissions, individual folders, or long filenames/pathnames.

Thanks to Beyond Compare, I finally figured out that my target file (.fltar) was woefully insufficient - my previous project (which this project was based on) had a much more robust target file. Copied the target file, and voila, my issue is fixed.

Grrr. At least it's fixed! (And before it's an urgent need to generate that file for release!)

Rachel

[Andrew]

Do you know what was missing from the target that cause this error? Might be useful if anyone else runs across it.

[chrisd]

Does anyone have a solution to this error?

We have started getting this error on the CHM help file for one of our products.

We are using Flare 8.1 at the moment. I did download a trial of Flare v10 and get the same error.

Our project is fairly large, around 1000 topics.

I have tried other output e.g. HTML5 and this works fine, so it is CHM specific.

Do we have to many topics?

Any help / advice will be useful .

Thanks

Chris

[pibcak]

FWIW, recently experienced this exact issue (as soon as the process got to "Running CHM Compiler" it choked and threw a generic error) and the solution ended up being deleting the target (after making a backup, just in case) and recreating it. Corrupt .fltar file I guess. So if anybody runs into this problem in the future and google gets them to this thread (which is how I got here), there's one thing you can try.

[GeorgeBell]

I have used a product called HTML QA in the past, not sure if that would be worth taking a look at. Though if you have support, give them a call and see if they can find the problem for you. You will probably have to zip and send your project, but from the few times I've had problems they've been brilliant at spotting my sillies, so should be able to find yours too.

Sorry to be dense, but Google has failed me in finding "HTML QA". Could you possibly provide more contact information please?

Many thanks.

[ChoccieMuffin]

I have used a product called HTML QA in the past, not sure if that would be worth taking a look at. Though if you have support, give them a call and see if they can find the problem for you. You will probably have to zip and send your project, but from the few times I've had problems they've been brilliant at spotting my sillies, so should be able to find yours too.

Sorry to be dense, but Google has failed me in finding "HTML QA". Could you possibly provide more contact information please?

Many thanks.

Sorry, my comment was from more than five years ago and I don't have any info about the product now. But the advice to contact Madcap still stands.

[KHupp]

I have had this issue a few times. Once in Flare 9 and again now in Flare 12. The issue is the Microsoft CHM support within Windows.
After days of dealing with support, searching the I-net and doing trial/error troubleshooting, the overwhelming evidence points to shortening the file/folder path of the project.
The CHM stores a certain amount of the folder structure, so if the folder path and file name get to long, then the compile fails. Makes me remember the dark days of Windows (and DOS) when we were limited to the number of characters used in files (8.3) and the total path length.
I didn't find what the magic number is that breaks the CHM, but I do know my solution has worked both times the issue came up.

Solution:
I have re-structured my folder structure to be more abbreviated and this has solved the problem.

Here is my example:
C:\Flare\My First Project\Chapter one\Section twelve\sub-section four\widgets are good\widget definition.htm

shorten to:
C:\Flare\MFP\Ch01\Sect12\Sub_Sec04\Wid_good\Wid_Def.htm
Much shorter path that is stored within the CHM file.
Make sure all renaming is done within Flares Content Explorer or you will have a real headache re-associating files, links, images, etc.!

Hope this helps...

Keith