HTML5 compiles all topics not just ones in TOC - why?

[likeller]

I am noticing that when I do an HTML5 build, Flare is running through all my topics in the Contents folder, not just the ones in the TOC associated with the HTML5 target - why does it do that? (I don't have this problem for PDF outputs for example).
How do I make it stop?

It wouldn't necessarily matter, because the sidebar menu displays only the topics in my TOC, except that:

(1) When I do a search for something in the online output, the search results are from all my topics, not just the ones in my TOC, and these are not topics I want to be displayed.
(2) I am increasingly getting the build error "Object reference not set to an instance of an object". Before I was able to tweak something and by chance it would go away. Now it won't go away at all so it's worrisome. The last topic before the build fails no longer exists (I deleted it). Except that it was never in this TOC, it was once in a different TOC with a different target but not this one! I have no idea what could be referencing it, probably some other topic in the Contents folder, but it is one of those other files I don't want to be complied with this target anyway.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated because I'm quite stuck.
Thanks!

[RamonS]

By design Flare includes everything in the content folder in the output unless you explicitly set conditions that exclude the content. That is typically desired because a lot of content that needs to be in the help is not listed as entry in the ToC.
The best way is to apply conditions and explicitly exclude the content you do not want to be in the HTML5 help.

[likeller]

So I figured out the issue is a wrongly referenced table style, which is even harder to fix.

I once renamed the folder that table styles is in (Resources), then renamed it back to the original (because there are files that generate automatically in "Resources" so it defeated the purpose of renaming it, whoops). After re-renaming, I had some glitches where some tables were missing a link to the style reference and I fixed them. So now I'm unsure about what's generating the error. It says: "Missing linked stylesheet file:///old_filename.css". I can't figure out where it is being referenced as there is nowhere on the target to specify a table style, only a regular style sheet, as far as I know.


I also recreated the target and am getting the exact same issue.

[likeller]

By design Flare includes everything in the content folder in the output unless you explicitly set conditions that exclude the content. That is typically desired because a lot of content that needs to be in the help is not listed as entry in the ToC.
The best way is to apply conditions and explicitly exclude the content you do not want to be in the HTML5 help.

I also found that feature and clicked it. That's how I found out that with non-TOC files no longer being compiled, the build still wouldn't finish because of a missing table stylesheet.

[atomdocs]

Another method for excluding unrelated content from a build: Open your HTML5 target, display the Advanced tab, and select Exclude content not linked directly or indirectly from the target. Anything that is not in your TOC, and not linked to anything that is included in your project, will not be included in the build.

[likeller]

I managed to resolve the missing stylesheet issues. At least they don't appear in "warnings" anymore in the build. There are now 0 warnings but 219 'ignored warnings' which are not open for viewing in any way. Should I be concerned about ignored warnings?

The build still won't finish, with the same error, except now it reaches final steps: "Writing search entry cache" and "Generating final output" before the build fails.

I realize this is a different issue than the thread title, but now I'm even more stumped.


Thanks

[doc_guy]

Go look at your build log and see what file was being processed immediately before it failed. That can often point you in the right direction. Open that file in the text editor and check to see if you have an references to the incorrect style sheet in the source code.

For pesky errors, I've sometimes made a copy of my project, and then I delete half of the topics, then build the output to see if I still get the error. If I don't get the error, then the problem was in the group of topics I deleted. If I do get the error, then the problem is in a topic still in my project. I delete half of the remaining files and continue searching for the problem.

Keep track of which files you delete each time so when the error goes away you know which group of topics has the error.

It's a painful process, but it has helped identify the problem topics for me in the past.

[JenAllen]

I just went to the Advanced tab to set the Exclude unlinked content option, and it's gone! I've used that for years -- where did it go and why? More importantly, does anyone know how to get it back??

I've got a lot of help systems that depend on that option and not on conditionals. It would be a huge effort to track down all the various topics I've added that aren't ready for prime time and conditionalize those when I expected to be able to exclude them with a check box on the target instead.

I'm using the latest release of Flare, 2020 r2.

Please help!

Thanks.

Jen

[Nita Beck]

I just went to the Advanced tab to set the Exclude unlinked content option, and it's gone! I've used that for years -- where did it go and why? More importantly, does anyone know how to get it back??

I've got a lot of help systems that depend on that option and not on conditionals. It would be a huge effort to track down all the various topics I've added that aren't ready for prime time and conditionalize those when I expected to be able to exclude them with a check box on the target instead.

I'm using the latest release of Flare, 2020 r2.

Please help!

Thanks.

Jen

The option is still there, on the Advanced tab, just moved down a bit and now offered in a drop-down. Look for the "Content to include" drop-down list. One of the options is "Content linked directly or indirectly from the target". MadCap's added a second option "Content linked directly from the TOC."