Our command-line interface (yes, those still exist) has many commands that are a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters.
Some time ago, possibly even in the RH days, I found I was having problems due to topic files that were named with mixed-case.
So, I set about renaming them all with lower-case-only filenames.
Unfortunately, I kept getting these nasty error messages in my Publish output log, where a file was identified as having a problem, and then the "broken" link was shown as a full path, including topic filename, followed IMMEDIATELY by a slash and the name of another file. No space. Just the proper filespec of the offended topic, with the filename of the unsuccessfully-linked topic file, looking like this
file:///c:/docs/productname/projversion/prodhelp/Content/administration/topic01.htm/Topic02.htm
There were MANY. Over the months and years, I hunted them down and killed them in help projects for several products.
Somehow, I always seemed to overlook some. I have not had a project Publish itself without at least a few of those errors since I've had Flare. Again, I started with Flare version 1-dot-something and I'm now running 7.2.
I take RELIGIOUS, FANATICAL care to make all my filenames lowercase only, with underscores where spaces would go. Topics, graphics, snippets, whatever.... If I have a chance to name it while it's being created or handled, I ensure that it's ALL lowercase, ALL the time.
So how could I possibly keep missing some, or getting them wrong?
Today, I stumbled upon the how.
Attached is a photo of my screen, showing Flare. I had created a snippet and was plugging it into a few topics. I called up Link View, to remind me which ones I'd already done. And there it was. Look at the name of the file where I've circled it in yellow in the Content Explorer panel. Now, look at the name of the same file where I've circled it in yellow in the Link View for that new-today snippet.
My conclusion: For years, Flare has been internally substituting. Or, when I renamed some of those early topic files - and ALWAYS said yes to the dialog that asked if I wanted to update links - Flare was preserving the old name somewhere.
I know for a fact that "hsm_showpolicies.htm" has been all lowercase for years. I went back and looked at earlier project versions.
Somewhere in its guts, Flare is remembering what that file was named in 2006. And choosing to substitute that old name for the real name. This is the first time I've had it happen where I can see it while I'm working.
I would just LO-O-O-O-O-OVE to have somebody try to explain how that's a feature.
Go ahead.
Give it a whirl.
Whatever the feature is, it's existed since day one of Flare. I don't recall seeing it documented, but that's not new. They like to call things by names nobody would think to call them.
-k
PS: Since the time of RH (before switching to Flare) I started on 32-bit Windows XP, moved to 64-bit Windows XP, and last year switched to 64-bit Windows 7, always the "Pro" versions (we skipped Vista). I keep .NET up-to-date.