My RoboHelp Tale--Delete if not interested.

[LaVonna Funkhouser <lffunkhouser -at- HALNET -dot- COM>]

Yesterday I asked for RoboHelp experts on this list to speak
up because I was in a quandry.  I decided that I was not
sure enough about what was occurring to write to anyone
directly, but thanks to those who did speak up.

Following is the problem and solution:

The Tale of the Unchanging .hh File
                     or
Why Does RoboHelp Have Such a Sorry Manual?

After I finally had a successful compile (The compile
problems were related to our LAN.), I received many error
messages that stated "Invalid or missing context string."  I
looked at some of the strings that RoboHelp was unhappy
with, and I deduced that the context string field frowned
when given a character of punctuation (in this case,
a / or a ,).  The RoboHelp manual, however, does *not* warn the user
to avoid these characters.  In fact, you can't even find
"context string" under "C" in the index!!!

I used the proper editing procedure to edit my topics, and I
took out the marks of punctuation.  Again I compiled, and
again I received "Invalid or missing context string"
messages that pointed to certain lines in the .hh file (the
file used for context sensitivity).  The lines still showed
the *old* strings with the punctuation.  ("Why doesn't the
.hh reflect my properly made editing?" she wondered in
frustration.)

I eventually tried to convince myself that I didn't need
context sensitivity after all, and I unchecked the boxes
that caused the .hh file to be created.  I compiled, and to
my surprise, I had no errors!  Hurrah!  Minutes later,
however, I decided that I was wrong about not needing the
.hh file, and I changed those settings back.  ("Here we go
again; back to the same old errors," she surmised.)

Again, I compiled the file.  Lo and behold!  Still no
errors!  Apparently, the .hh file was not getting properly
changed by RoboHelp when I edited my punctuation marks out
of the context string.  Compiling with the different
settings then changing the setting back was apparently
enough to force a new .hh file to be created.  I believe
that deleting the .hh file and forcing RoboHelp to create it
again from scratch would also have solved my problem.

Thus ends my tale.

Has the bug been fixed with later versions?  I don't know.
I also could not find a readme file.  Would I have
benefitted from a better manual with a better index?  YES!
Yes!  A thousand times, Yes!

Whew!  Thanks for listening.

Yours truly,
LaVonna, who qualifies as a frustrated new user when it
comes to online help
lffunkhouser -at- halnet -dot- com

ps:  BTW, I'm not ready to bash the software, yet.  It is
performing quite well.  The afore mentioned problem, while a
bug, had a simple solution *once I found it*!  Again, better
docs would have helped.