out-of-box images

[JennyQ]

I'd like to strip out the stock icons to minimize the size of the image folder in the target. We have our own set and we don't need to have more than necessary in the output.

I did the following:
-Deleted them from C:\Program Files\MadCap Software\MadCap Flare V4\Flare.app\Resources\WebHelp\Default.flwht\Images
-Cleared my browser cache
-Deleted the old Output folder

When I generate a new WebHelp target, the deleted images appear in the browser window even though they are not in the new...\WebHelp\Skin\Images folder

I hoped to get a list of error messages on missing icon files when I built the target. Then I could figure out what the smallest set of required images might be. These phantom images are puzzling. How do I get rid of them? Is there an easier way to do this?

Thanks,
JennyQ

[lacastle]

For me, those default images take up only 184 KB of space. Why do you need to get rid of them?

[JennyQ]

We prefer not to ship non-company images and reduce the number of files to the essentials.....

[RamonS]

The number of files with WebHelp is huge to begin with, so I wonder why a dozen or so image files make a difference and if eradicating them is worth the effort. There isn't any royalty obligation or such, so I, too, wonder what the issue is with having those files in there.
It depends on which skin you use. Based on the folder mentioned it seems as that those are the images for the default skin. There will also be no error message or such, the best you can hope for is a red X in a box where the image file is supposed to be.
Also, when you delete it in the application resources you will need to reinstall Flare in order to get them back. I recommend investigating where in the output the images are located and remove those as a post-processing step via batch file.

[LTinker68]

When I generate a new WebHelp target, the deleted images appear in the browser window even though they are not in the new...\WebHelp\Skin\Images folder

I have a feeling some of the calls to the default images are made in the software itself and/or in JavaScript files so Flare includes them every time you do the build. Other than deleting them via post-build processing like RamonS mentions, I don't think there is a way to automatically have them removed.

You should submit a feature request at http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx. I, too, would like unnecessary images or ones that I've replaced removed from the output. Granted, they're not large file-size wise, but I'm fairly anal about keeping files and such organized and I'd rather those images not be included. Especially those images related to features I haven't enabled and don't even have a license for, like the review/comment images related to the MadCap Feedback feature.

[JennyQ]

Thanks, Lisa.

That was really the question. Not whether I should remove them, but how they get there when you have eliminated them from what we perceive to be the image source. For test purposes, I have one image in the source folder and one in the output folder, yet I get the entire set of images in the browser view. Flare is cacheing those images somewhere and not clearing the cache when you clean the project. I think that is a bug, not a feature.

Like you, I don't want to distribute unnecessary files to customers if we can avoid it.

Jenny

[Richard Ferrell]

The images are actually Include in your skins .FLSKN file, so if you have a skin that uses those icons and that skin is in your project, those images will be copied out to your output file, So the best way is to not have any extra or unused skins in your project.

[JennyQ]

Aha! So, Richard, that is why I see obsolete images in the browser, even though I deleted them from the original source.

If I make a change to the skin and save it, will it go back to that original source in the programs directory to sweep the available images in the \Images folder?

[LTinker68]

The images are actually Include in your skins .FLSKN file, so if you have a skin that uses those icons and that skin is in your project, those images will be copied out to your output file, So the best way is to not have any extra or unused skins in your project.

So if you don't use a feature (like Feedback) or don't use some of the toolbar icons, then you'd have to go into those options in the skin and set the image field to "none"? Guess that makes sense. Just annoying to have to do. Especially since I already specified which toolbar icons I wanted to include, so it would be nice if it would exclude images for the toolbar icons I haven't selected.

[RamonS]

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