Ideas why Flare variable auto-suggest would stop working?

[skwpt]

Say I had a variable called Management Console that output the value Management Console. (I know, I am very creative )

Whenever I started to type mana... the variable would pop up, and I could select it. However, it quickly became obvious that I'd gone overboard with the variable name because lots of words that start with mana don't need the Management Console variable.

I created a new variable, called MC, with the same definition on output (Management Console), and I started to use that, instead. But I have had to manually click insert variable. I left the original in place because I think if I delete a variable, Flare does not give me the option to convert existing instances to text. I was afraid I'd end up with the dreaded "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" message, so I left it alone with a plan to search all topics and convert Management Console to MC and then delete Management Console.

While all this was percolating in the back of my mind, I noticed that NONE of my variables are giving me an auto suggestion. And I didn't touch the others.

Any ideas what I might have done to muff this up and how I can resolve it?

(I've done the Flare folder cleanup, as well as graceful shutdown/restarts multiple times, to no effect)

[emsachs]

Did you accidentally turn off File > Options > Auto Suggestion?

[skwpt]

Auto Suggestion is still enabled under both Settings and in the area for Enable/disable files.

I disabled both and restarted Flare. Auto suggestions for the long variable names came back, but I can't get Flare to suggest variables for the more abbreviated versions.

So either there is a conflict or (more likely), a 2-character variable name is not long enough. It's possible that I missed that naming convention wisdom in the variables guide. I'll go look for the minimum character length and fiddle around with hat.

[doc_guy]

In my experience, Flare checks for the variable value, not the variable name when it does autocomplete. Make sure you have the correct text as the variable value.

Also, make sure you set the auto-suggest length in your properties. By default it is set to 3 characters, but you can modify that longer or shorter to meet your needs:

[skwpt]

Thanks very much. Flare won't let me change the default minimum from 3 to 2 (even if I overwrite the value), but since the application checks for the variable value, I probably shouldn't have created the abbreviated names, anyway.

Something new to add to my cleanup list.

[Nita Beck]

I had this happen to me back in Flare 10, where (for just one project) Flare stopped suggesting variables, even though I had auto-suggest variables turned on. I raised the problem with Tech Support, and the solution offered did work.

First, I was told to delete the usual suspects (Analyzer folder, Output folder, etc.), which did not work. (I see that you've tried this solution already.)

Next, I was told to...

Code: Select all

-Close out of Flare.
-Browse to the following path with Windows Explorer: C:\Users\[User ID]\AppData\Roaming\MadCap Software\Flare 
-Delete the CatapultMdiEditor folder.

Then reopen Flare and see if you still experience the issue.

.. which DID work. I got my auto-suggested variables back!

Word to the wise: An unexpected consequence of the solution was that I lost my window layout, I guess because the stuff in the CatapultMdiEditor folder included the layout. This was a minor annoyance. I quickly recreated my window layout and I was off and running.

HTH. Please let us know either way if this solution worked for you.

[skwpt]

Nita, thank you, and apologies for my slow reply. I subscribe to topics, but I am not receiving notifications.

Deleting the CatapultMdiEditor folder has been part of my regular "cleanup" process since my first support ticket, which I opened because I can never ever ever rename or move files without the dependency check hanging. Ever.

Variable auto suggestions did come back! I wish I could say with certainty what fixed it. Perhaps it was from a clean-up and restart. Or it might have been after I cast a tea kettle and summoned a Care Bear.

Thanks all for the input. There is always a logical reason for Flare behavior, though it sometimes takes a bit of detective work. It's pretty easy for me to inadvertently screw things up--especially as I am a lone writer new(ish) to Flare.

[DLL]

Hello. I am having the same problem on one of my project in Flare 2017 r3. I tried clearing the XmlBookViewerMdiEditor directory in my settings, the Analyzer, Output and User directories in my project, and all I'm getting is snippets auto-suggestions if I turn that on, and nothing if I turn that off. Does anyone know of any other possible causes or fixes?

It seems to be doing that for only one of my projects, but it's a pretty important one. I also tried temporarily replacing all my Project files with the one from a project where I didn't that issue, and to zip and unzip the project using Flare's Zip Project functionality, to no avail.

[kaygro]

Hello. I am having the same problem on one of my project in Flare 2017 r3. I tried clearing the XmlBookViewerMdiEditor directory in my settings, the Analyzer, Output and User directories in my project, and all I'm getting is snippets auto-suggestions if I turn that on, and nothing if I turn that off. Does anyone know of any other possible causes or fixes?

It seems to be doing that for only one of my projects, but it's a pretty important one. I also tried temporarily replacing all my Project files with the one from a project where I didn't that issue, and to zip and unzip the project using Flare's Zip Project functionality, to no avail.

I am also having this issue with Flare 2017 r3, even after trying the suggested fixes (the "usual clean-up") in this thread.

Can anyone help us out?

[sarahb]

I am experiencing the same issue with Flare 2017 r3. Any ideas?

[DLL]

This issue would frequently occur to me because we work with branches in a version control system and we do not keep the Analyzer cache under version control. Hence, every time I created a new branch, it would not have the Analyzer cache. Variable auto-suggestion will not work until the analyzer cache contains all of your project's variables, and it seems only specific triggers will cause Flare to fill this part of the Analyzer cache.

The workaround I have found is to open a topic in Flare's XML editor, then open the Link Viewer window. It will start analyzing the project for references to the topic, which will require Flare to build the project's complete Analyzer cache. At some point while building the cache, Variable Auto-Suggestion will start working again. This can take several minutes depending on how big your project is.