Build Error Messages

[smajors]

I get these error message every time I try to build and I do not know how to fix them.

"Link points outside project file" and "Missing linked source file".

I couldn't find any resolution in the PDF guides and I tried to search for the answer but couldn't find one.

Does anyone know how to fix these error messages?

Also, when I try to rename the folder that my Project and output is in, it won't load the project in Flare.

Thanks in advance!

[Nita Beck]

Let's look at the first issue first.

I'm guessing that you copied some topics in from another Flare project. Those topics have links in them to topics or other files (e.g., images, stylesheets, snippets) in the other Flare project, not in your Flare project. In short, the links are broken, so you will need to resolve them before you can get a clean build. When you do the build that gets those errors, save the log. Then, open Project Organizer>Reports and open that log file. You can now double-click an item and Flare will open the file with the problem. You may need to hunt, but examine each hyperlink or cross-reference in that topic to find the faulty one. If there is nothing obvious, you will need to dig deeper. Does the topic include an image or a snippet that is in that other Flare project and not your project? Is the topic associated with a stylesheet that is in that other Flare project and not your project?

Although Flare will freely let you copy a topic from one project to another (after all, they are just .htm files), those files are more than likely linked to other files. If you don't bring in those other files too, or if you don't remove the links in the copied files back to those other files, you'll continue to get those build errors.

Regarding your second issue, are you trying to rename the folder where the project is located while Flare is open? I'm pretty sure that if you close Flare, you can rename the project's folder without issue. But don't rename the Content or Project folders. Those need to remain as-is for Flare.

Regarding your trying to rename the Output folder, you probably want to leave that alone, too. But you can tell Flare how to name the subfolders that are within it. Open the target file; on the General tab, you'll see a field where you can name the folder where that target will be built. If you have more than one target, do this for each target. (And without going off on too much of a tangent, you should read up in the Flare documentation about destinations. They are an additional place where you can have Flare place a COPY of the output it generates. Destinations aren't required, but they might be of interest to you.)

Hope this helps. If not, post back.

[smajors]

Nita,

I did figure out how to fix broken links, thank you!

However, for the renaming folder issue...I'll re-summarize what happened becuase I'm still confused.

I only have ever created 1 Flare project. The "Master Project Source Files" Folder is located in a folder called "Online User Guides". I tried to rename the Online User Guides folder to Online Procedures, but then when I went back into Flare to load my project, it wouldn't load or couldn't find it. So I went back to the folder and changed it back to the original "Online User Guides" and then my project would load again. So I guess I'm asking is, is there a way I can rename the folder on the drive to Online Procedures again, or does this affect other things in the project and this is why it wouldn't build?

Also I'm wondering...There have been 2 other users who have worked in this Flare project and we each have an automatic output folder and I'm not sure why these are there. I also see in my output folder some other folders that I do not use as destinations so I'm not sure why they are there either.

Thanks again!

[ChoccieMuffin]

I suspect you're trying to open your project from the Recent Projects list, but that ain't gonna work because the folder the project used to be in doesn't exist any more.

To open the Flare project in the newly renamed folder, in Explorer double-click the flprj file. (You could navigate within Flare, File > Open, but opening from Explorer is probably the easiest way.) When you've done this once, the project will appear on the Start page in Flare ready for the next time.

Can't help with your other question...

[Nita Beck]

Also I'm wondering...There have been 2 other users who have worked in this Flare project and we each have an automatic output folder and I'm not sure why these are there. I also see in my output folder some other folders that I do not use as destinations so I'm not sure why they are there either.

Generally speaking, you don't need to worry about the Output folder or anything in it. Flare builds that folder and all the folders in it automatically whenever you request a build. In fact, with Flare closed, you could delete the Output folder outright, and the next time you open the project, Flare will automatically add the Output folder and as soon as you do a build, Flare will automatically build the subfolders in it. (Alternatively, with Flare running, use the Project > Clean Project command to have Flare wipe out the contents of the Output folder. That's sometimes a good thing to do before doing a fresh build.)

The contents of your Output folder will vary slightly from the contents of your colleagues' Output folder in this one way: Inside your Output folder, there will be a folder named with your Windows user name. Inside each of the others' Output folder, there will be a folder named with each of their user names.

The important thing to note about the Output folder is that somewhere down deep will be the output that Flare generated. If you haven't told Flare what to name the folder containing that output (that is, if in the target's properties you've left the Output Folder field set to "default"), it'll name the folder using the target name. If your project has multiple targets, each of them will be in their own folder, deep inside the Output folder.

I hope this clarifies things for you.

[smajors]

Thanks to both of you. I was finally able to rename the folder just fine, that adviced help. I was making it more complicated than it needed to be.

Nita, I assume the new build will replace the old output content?

Also, I've been noticing my build time takes at leats 10 minutes, to make it go faster, should I choose the option to only publish files with changes?

Thanks!

[Nita Beck]

Yes, when Flare does a build, it replaces the old content. There are times, however, when it's good practice to start with an empty Output folder. Honestly, at the moment, I can't recall when those circumstances might be.

Be sure not to confuse building with publishing. When Flare builds, it builds from scratch. Publishing is having Flare COPY the output it builds to the folder (or perhaps FTP site) you designate as the destination. You can elect to republish ALL files or just the files that changed.

Regarding how long your build it taking, you might find some useful advice here: http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare ... %7C_____36

[smajors]

Aha, thanks for clarifying. I appreciate your help! I think this case is closed.

[smajors]

I forgot to mention one more compilor error that I get that I'm not sure how to fix.

It says "Internal error: The specified path, file name, or both are too long. The fully qualified file name must be less than 260 characters, and the directory name must be less than 258 characters."

I've never gotten this error before and I don't believe anything has changed in the directory. I was able to narrow down the problem becuase this error started yesterday when I tried to publish a section I had in draft status and I removed that condition tag to build and publish it and that's when I got the error while it was buildling. So today, I put it the condition back on for draft status so it would be excluded from the build and I didn't get the error.

So at least I know what section of the project is causing the error, but the error report doesn't tell me what file is causing the issue.

I've been trying to research this issue on the forums but didn't find a good answer for my issue. Until I get a response, I'll try to look into the procedures I worked on yesterday in this section that might be causing the problem.

Thanks!

[Nita Beck]

When you changed the name of some folder, that folder might now have a longer name than it used to have. In any case, you'd hit the limit on how long the paths to topics can be.

Move your project to a location that isn't nested so deeply on your C drive. Then you should be able to build.

[smajors]

Nita,

I don't have access to move the folder anywhere else, it's on my workplace's computer drive and I don't have access to other folders.

This is the current directory path my project is located in:

H:\HR\Learning Development\Online Procedures\FMH Master Project Source Files

Is this what's causing the internal error? I only changed the Online User Guides folder to "Online Procedures" and that name is the same length.

[smajors]

Also I just noticed something interesting..I renamed the folder and was able to open the project from the newly renamed folder after I built and published, however, then it automatically created a folder with the old name and it also has a Flare project in it...I'm wondering why...this is very odd.

[smajors]

Seems like I've found a solution...

In the Target, the Output folder hadn't been changed to the folder I renamed the original to...so I just had to update that and it built and published fine without any errors!

The Target output folder path still hadn't been changed and for some reason when I went to build it, it recreated a folder with the old name and put the project and project files in there...I deleted it. That was very strange.

I hope this ultimately solves the build error.