Madbuild not rendering .svg illustrations? (Visio and Flare)

[sdcinvan]

Hello all,

I really thought I had this all figured out a few days ago. Because I was successful saving a simple Adobe Illustrator logo as .eps and using it in Flare (via GhostScript). Now, I need to save some complex network diagrams from Visio for use in Flare generated PDF documents. This task is not going well.

Goal: I just want to use a vector image from a Visio source in Flare for publishing as a PDF. Is that too much to ask?

This is what I have tried and the results:

File type...The Good........................................................................The Bad.........................................................Notes

.svg______A direct output from Visio, publishes perfecting inside of Flare_______Madbuild ignores all .svg images!____________________This is the perfect solution, if I can make MadBuild work with .svg!

.xps______Only vector format compatible with MadCap Capture._______________When published, it is inexplicably published as a low-____Why is this the only vector format that publishes as a low resolution bitmap in PDF?
__________Very small file size (500Kb vs 8Mb for .svg or .eps).________________resolution bitmap image!! Drats - foiled again!

.eps______Standard file format, works well with logo/source file in Adobe_______To get an .eps requires two steps in Visio. 1) Save as
__________Illustrator.__________________________________________________.ps, Use gsViewer to convert to .eps. File looks good
_____________________________________________________________________in gsViewer but the .eps image is flipped 90 deg in Flare!

.ps_____________________________________________________Not converting the image.... same problem as .eps


Does anyone have any advice? After everything I have learned about Flare, I would be very surprized that there isn't a solution that doesn't involve using a bitmap image.

Thank you,
Shawn

[sdcinvan]

Just ran MadBuild on my local desktop and sure enough, .svg files are also ignored.

So, it appears that .svg files only work if you are publishing inside Flare. Hopefully, I am doing something wrong because otherwise, this is going to be a big problem.

[NorthEast]

I use SVGs (from Illustrator), and can build a project/target with SVG images from the command line.
I also checked this with a SVG saved from Visio, and that works fine as well.

I'd suggest contacting MadCap support if you can replicate a bug with a specific SVG image.

[sdcinvan]

Last night I made a modification to the Madbuild script by adding -log true

This morning, I opened up the log and found this:

Code: Select all

LogEntries>
        <LogEntry File="../../Content/Resources/Images/netdiag_in-direct_conn.svg" Message="Java is required to process SVG files. You can download the latest version from:

http://www.java.com/en/download/" LineIndex="-1" CharIndex="-1" Subsystem="Image Processor" Target="InstallGuide_HTML5" ErrorID="-1" />

Java is missing?

Not in a million years would I have guessed we needed Java for MadBuild!

I am tempted to add this as a bug or feature request because if this is so important, it should be indicated during the install. And what's with the "
&#xA" - almost as if Madbuild is swearing at me! LOL And thank you MadCap for telling me in a log file that many people probably never read.

[RamonS]

...or one could just read the system requirements before complaining
http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/mobile/Adv ... ements.htm

[sdcinvan]

...or one could just read the system requirements before complaining
http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/mobile/Adv ... ements.htm

That wasn't very nice...but you did smile.

Besides, I did read the system requirements before I installed MadBuild on a minimalistic Win2K8 VM. Please note the requirements specification for Java states, "Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6.0.15 or later (for Adobe AIR compiling and for use of the equation editor)". By that specification, I don't need Java because I am not doing any Adobe AIR nor am I using the equation editor. So there!

BTW, there is nothing specific in either the KB or Flare 9 documents (AFAIK) about requiring Java for publishing .svg images.

Anyhow, I wasn't really complaining, I took the time to post this just in case it is helpful to others and I was only suggesting a way to possibly improve user experience.

[RamonS]

The requirement for Java is not marked as optional so you do need it no matter what. That not all areas of usage are listed may be misleading, but it isn't that MadCap didn't tell you upfront that you need Java.

[sdcinvan]

At any rate, sometime in the past few hours, the discription for the java requirements changed from:

"Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6.0.15 or later (for Adobe AIR compiling and for use of the equation editor)"

TO

"Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6.0.15 or later (for Adobe AIR compiling, for use of the equation editor, and conversion of images in certain outputs)"

That is much better!

And to your point...

The requirement for Java is not marked as optional so you do need it no matter what.

I don't need any of the specified operating systems.
I don't need Microsoft Internet Explorer
I don't need Adobe Acrobat Reader

And until now, I did not know that I absolutely required Java.

Anyway, it's all good now. No point in continuing this.

[RamonS]

I don't need any of the specified operating systems.

So on which OS do you run Flare if not on one of the listed ones?

I get your point, but your complaint here was stretching the demands of what has to be hand delivered to you a bit. It was all there, but it is had to be someone else at fault.

[NorthEast]

Mind, it's still a bit strange that your SVG images work fine when you build from Flare, but not the command line. It'd suggest that Java is only a requirement for the command line (generation of SVG images), and the build processes are different.

This concerns me a bit, because we have a few projects which generate the help as part of the build process, and it means that pre-checking the help build from the Flare app is not an adequate test because the command line build may give different results.

[Msquared]

Interesting point Dave, and something to be aware of, although, like you, I find it a bit puzzling. I wouldn't expect the processing of SVG images to be done differently for command line processing and processing directly from Flare. Unless it's a Windows thing, perhaps, and Flare and MadBuild are using whatever APIs are most appropriate for their implementation?

[Msquared]

And what's with the "
&#xA" - almost as if Madbuild is swearing at me!

MadBuild is saying "Line Feed, LineFeed". I assume it's trying to make the logfile output look a little less cluttered if you were to view it as HTML.

[sdcinvan]

Mind, it's still a bit strange that your SVG images work fine when you build from Flare, but not the command line. It'd suggest that Java is only a requirement for the command line (generation of SVG images), and the build processes are different.

This concerns me a bit, because we have a few projects which generate the help as part of the build process, and it means that pre-checking the help build from the Flare app is not an adequate test because the command line build may give different results.

Hi Dave,

There is nothing to be concerned with.

I had mentioned that the MadBuild process was occurring on a separate Windows 2008 server (answers your question about the OS). This is a minimalistic VM so naturally, I only install what is absolutely the minimum to allow MadBuild to function correctly. That is the computer that originally didn't have Java installed.

[sdcinvan]

And what's with the "
&#xA" - almost as if Madbuild is swearing at me!

MadBuild is saying "Line Feed, LineFeed". I assume it's trying to make the logfile output look a little less cluttered if you were to view it as HTML.

Thanks Marjorie,

I guess I didn't recognize it in hexadecimal. Now I see it.

[sdcinvan]

Just to make sure we are clear...

There are no issues with .svg images working from inside Flare but failing when using MadBuild.

My problem was specifically related to not having Java installed on my MadBuild (only) Windows 2008 VM.

[Msquared]

I guess I didn't recognize it in hexadecimal

A large part of my mis-spent youth was spent reading hex dumps or debugging code in hex, because of lack of tools to do it any other way. There was a time where I could read (and patch) Motorola 68000 assembler directly in hex.

[sdcinvan]

I guess I didn't recognize it in hexadecimal

A large part of my mis-spent youth was spent reading hex dumps or debugging code in hex, because of lack of tools to do it any other way. There was a time where I could read (and patch) Motorola 68000 assembler directly in hex.

You cannot appreciate how awesome I think you are at this moment.

I took a different early path and became a master on the Z80 processor. I could make that baby sing... but that was only an 8 bit instruction set... you were doing 16 bit.

[SergeiS]

Just in case someone with higher Flare versions encounters this issue
I know my reply is not about MadBuild, but I spent 2 hours searching for solutions and want to share this information

Issue
In our case, we received computers with Windows 10 64-bit and Flare 2021 R2 64-bit

When inserting SVG images into a topic, Flare just showed a gray rectangle "Load failed"

When building an HTML target, there were NO build warnings, and the HTML output showed these SVG images as expected

When building a PDF target, for each SVG image there was a build warning, and the PDF output did NOT show these SVG images at all:
10032 - Java is required to process SVG files. Download OpenJDK (free) or Oracle JRE from: https://www.madcapsoftware.com/downloads/java.aspx

Solution
Looks like our computers did not have Java installed (regular Java - not SDK / JDK)
We installed the latest Java packages 32-bit and 64-bit from https://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp