Dependencies - not updating?

[Cecily]

I'm not sure if I'm missing something, going mad, or have found a bug, but the list of dependencies doesn't seem to be updating. I'm using version 5, with source control via TFS.

There is a topic I want to delete, so I changed and removed links in other topics, then in the Content Explorer viewed Properties > Show Dependencies to check it was safe to delete. However, it listed two items: a topic from which I'd removed the link and the alias file.

I recompiled and opened the allegedly dependent topic, but couldn't see the link, yet it was still listed as a dependency.

I then renamed the file in Content Explorer, WITHOUT updating links and recompiled, which of course genereated a "Missing file" error (so I changed the name back).

Is there some way the old topic could be linked that is not easily visible?


I then opened the alias file and removed the link, but when I recompiled I got an error saying 'Topic identifier "blah.htm" not declared in any header file' (so I reinstated it).


I'm not sure what to do now. I could just leave the topic there, but that's poor practice and might confuse any subsequent author working on the project.

[wclass]

... and opened the allegedly dependent topic, but couldn't see the link, yet it was still listed as a dependency.

I'd check the source code of the allegedly dependent topic - the link might be hanging around in a second spot, or maybe didn't get properly removed and some span is left. I'd check the code of the alias file as well - you need to remove the whole "<Map name= ... />" line, not just the file name. In general you have to update links when deleting to make sure you remove items from the alias file, otherwise you have to do it manually.

[Cecily]

Aha. That's great. I've found and removed the hidden dependency to the topic, via the text editor.

I'm still in a muddle with the alias file though - not helped by the fact that this project has two of them (and two header files), and I can only fully test if I've broken it or not once the project and software are built together, released and installed, which the developers only do every week or so. Aargh.