Fixing Compilation Errors

[JAHartman]

Hi,

After compiling my HTML project, Flare is listing several "Missing linked file.." error messages. I have been able to fix most of these opening the topics, finding the reported link, then updating the link path. However, there are a few errors left that are reporting a missing snippet file that I no longer use. The file has been removed from all topics and from the project itself, yet Flare is still reporting it as part of a few topics. I have not been able to fix this.

Flare is also listing several "Generating alias file: Topic excluded from output" and "Generating alias file: Missing topic" errors. I have checked the file location for each of the topics reported as missing and they all exist in the folders that Flare is reporting them missing in. Do I need to delete the references in the alias file itself using the text editor to clear these?

Thanks,

Judy Hartman

[LTinker68]

However, there are a few errors left that are reporting a missing snippet file that I no longer use. The file has been removed from all topics and from the project itself, yet Flare is still reporting it as part of a few topics.

Did you do a find in source code in Flare looking for the snippet name?

Flare is also listing several "Generating alias file: Topic excluded from output"...

That sounds like there's a conditional tag on one of the topics that's preventing it from being included in the output but there's a reference to it in the alias file. I'm assuming this error only occurs when you build WebHelp, since print output wouldn't care about the alias file. You might want to double-check that you want to include the topic and that there's not a topic- or folder-level condition tag on the topic that's set to exclude it from the output.

"Generating alias file: Missing topic" errors. I have checked the file location for each of the topics reported as missing and they all exist in the folders that Flare is reporting them missing in. Do I need to delete the references in the alias file itself using the text editor to clear these?

You might want to open the alias file using the Internal Text Editor or Notepad and make sure that the reference is pointing to the correct folder and topic and that there aren't two references to the topic in the alias file. I haven't played with alias files much yet (haven't had a need to), but I wonder if you move files around in Flare and choose to update links if it will also update the path in the alias file. If all else fails, remove that particular line from the alias file and recreate it, if you want.

[JAHartman]

I have not tried any of those suggestions...I will do so.

Thanks so much!

Judy

[JAHartman]

I have managed to clear up all of the errors except the "Generating alias file: Topic excluded from output"... errors.

Lisa, you are right...the files generating the errors are conditioned out of the Help file I am generating. They do not belong in there but I will need them at a later time. If I don't want them in this Help file, do I have to unassign the mappings to clear the errors?

[LTinker68]

To be honest, I haven't played with alias files in Flare because most of my projects have either been intranet-based and not tied to software screens, or there were only Help menu links available and we used the URL instead of the maps/aliases method to access the screens.

There is a field in the Target Editor where you can specify an alias file, and in the alias file you specify the header file. Like I said, it's been awhile since I've played with alias and header files, so I don't know if it's better to specify two alias files and one header file or one alias file and two header files. Either way, you need to have two of something and one of those contains the information that you want in TargetA and the other contains the information you want in TargetB. When you build TargetA, only the topics referenced in the appropriate file is included, which should get rid of that error you're seeing.

[wclass]

First up, the "... topic excluded..." messages are really warnings, not errors, so you can ignore them and your project will work if you have purposely excluded the information.

But if there are too many errors it can be annoying. How many targets do you need? There are a few choices.

If you just have the one, but at the moment you have excluded topics while you are working on them, then yes, you would have to unassign the mappings. Make a backup of the alias file first so that you move it back in later when you need it.

If you do need 2 outputs and are using the conditions to create them, then you need to create an alias file for each target. You can create these from the same header file.

Personally, I use the "ignore the warnings" method rather than trying to maintain extra alias files. I document an application that creates a main app plus a small subset from the same code base - all the screen and map ids are the same. For the subset help I use conditions to eliminate the topics that aren't part of it, but use the same alias file, and hence, I end up with lots of warnings (several screens full). Since the errors all appear together at compile time, I can scroll up/down to make sure I'm not missing other errors. (Hmmm, a Warnings tab might be useful at this point).

[JAHartman]

I only need one target for now. There are about 15 or so of those errors left...as long as they are just warning me that the topics are excluded I am fine with leaving them in there.

Thanks so much to all for the help!

Judy