"Internal Error: Parameter Not Valid"

[ryan]

I get this when building PDF output. However, all other outputs generate fine.

Anyone know what this error means?

Thanks!

[LTinker68]

At what point in the build process does it fail? What's the last line or two in the build process screen?

[ryan]

This error occurs at the end of the build process:

Linking cross-references...
Creating chapters...
Paginating...
Collecting TOC and Index data..
Generating TOC and Index...
Updating cross-references...
Adding PDF for PDFtarget.htm...
Saving PDF PDFtarget.pdf...
Compiler (Internal Error): Parameter is not valid.

Aborted.

[LTinker68]

You're not building back into the content folder (Content Explorer) are you? Are you building the output to your local machine or over the network?

Also, what version of Flare are you running?

[adri]

I'm getting the same error - only with pdf output. Version 4.1 with SP1. I just saw this for the first time today after I installed SP1.

[Richard Ferrell]

I am not sure why that is occurring, Please open a support ticket by using the following link.

https://www.madcapsoftware.com/support/contact.aspx

[lauren]

I am having the same problem. Only occurs with the PDF. All other outputs are fine.

Any update on how to fix this would be most appreciated.

[sarah_downing]

I'm getting this error as well. Any updates?

Thanks!

[lauren]

I finally found a fix that works for me!

I can't say if it will work for everyone, but it could be a good spot to start the elimination process. Of course it could be one of those things that is completely obvious to more experienced users. I myself having only been using Flare for about 1 month now, so please forgive me if this seems like a 'dumb' post.

Anyway, the issue at hand:

I couldn't find any info that was helping me in the forums. I am already running Flare v4.1.40 and my Sample and Test projects all worked fine, but the real deal project would not import to PDF at all. Ever.
So... to test where the issue was, I created a new project, imported files bit by bit from my real project and built the PDF in between each import.
I started with the import of all Topics, Images and Snippets. PDF output generated fine although there were some errors due to my Variables and Table Styles not existing.
Next I imported the Variables and Table Styles. PDF generated perfectly.
Finally I imported the Page Layouts and Stylesheets. PDF generated perfectly when my stylesheet was used but not when the Page Layout was used.

The CULPRIT: the custom Page Layout I was using. I can only assume this was because I had shifted all the margins out quite a bit. Or perhaps it was because I have an image in the header?

Anyway, I have gone back to using the default page layout in my real project and I can now generate a PDF output with receiving the "Internal Error: Parameter Not Valid" message.

Just thought I'd let you all know in case someone else has the same issue. Hopefully it will be a good starting point for pin-pointing the issue. Perhaps it may also help in any bug fixing that might be required?

Either way. I'm now a happy camper.

[LTinker68]

I suggest you submit a bug report to http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx and attach that page layout to the bug report.

[Richard Ferrell]

In your page layout, if you have an image in your Header or Footer besure that that image doesn't touch the Border os the header or footer in the page layout this should work for you. This will be corrected in a service update to Flare v.4

[lauren]

In your page layout, if you have an image in your Header or Footer besure that that image doesn't touch the Border os the header or footer in the page layout this should work for you. This will be corrected in a service update to Flare v.4

Thanks for the update. I knew it would be something simple like that.

I had a look again this morning and resized the image to make sure it was no longer touching the borders. I also set the padding to 5px left & right and 1px top & bottom. The error still occurred. For now I have removed the image altogether and this seems to have done the trick. I will await the service update and try again after that.

I'm still a happy camper! Although I'm a little melty in this heat wave we are having here in Melbourne.

[KevinDAmery]

I'm still a happy camper! Although I'm a little melty in this heat wave we are having here in Melbourne.

Could be worse: we just got over a spell of -15 Celsius, then yesterday we got 20cm of snow.

[Vibha]

Well for me the problem was with the stylesheet. I tried to update the Thumbnail property for the parent img style.
Every time i was setting the mc-thumbnail property, the build was failing. Setting it to any specific option - link, pop-up hover or anything like that gave me build error.

Solution:

I created a copy of the original img style. Added the thumbnail specifics. Applied it to all the images and build. It worked after 2 hours of struggle!

I still wonder why it didn't work with the parent image style.

[doc_guy]

You don't want to put this on your parent image style. You typically want to apply this to a class of the image element, not the image element itself. There are various images that are used in your output that you DON"T want to be thumbnails including drop-down images, folder icons, expanding text, etc. So you want to add a class to the image element, and then use that class on images that should be thumbnails.