An internal error has occured.

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dimitris
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Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2005 6:44 pm

An internal error has occured.

Unread post by dimitris »

I use H&M for the last 5 years for many different applications without problem. However, in one application it cannot generate HTML help file. It compiles fine, but when starts HHC I get this error:
An internal error has occured. The program will now close.
It creates ~tmpchm directory, all files look fine, but log file is empty (0 bytes).
I can create Winhelp file for this application without problem.
Please help.
Thanks a lot in advance,
Dimitris
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Tim Green
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Re: An internal error has occured.

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Dimitris,

Problems like this are almost always caused by a damaged or misconfigured CHM compiler installation. You don't have to do anything for this to happen, the CHM compiler sometimes just "goes wrong" and even loses its Registry entries. To correct this, first download the HTML Help Workshop compiler package installer here:

http://www.ec-software.com/downloads_mscomp.html

Before installing, uninstall HTML Help Workshop in the Windows Control Panel and restart Windows. Then run the installer. During the installation you will get a misleading message saying that you "already have a newer version of HTML Help". This only refers to the runtime components for displaying CHM files, which will always be newer because the versions in HTML Help Workshop haven't been updated since Windows 98. The compiler has installed OK. 8)

After installing go to Tools > Customize > Compilers in HM4 and make sure the path to the current location of the hhc.exe compiler is still correct.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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dimitris
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2005 6:44 pm

Re: An internal error has occured.

Unread post by dimitris »

Tim hi and thank you for trying to help me.
I followed your directions with the right order (uninstall, restart, re-install) but the problem remains exactly as before. I don't think it is a compiler instalation problem, because for all other applications it works fine. My impression is that it is related to this project, but it gives me no clue what causes the error.
Any more suggestions please?
Thanks a lot in advance,
Dimitris
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Tim Green
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Re: An internal error has occured.

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Dimitris,

The next thing to do is to check the topic IDs in your project by going through all the topics with the Topic Options tab activated. Correct any IDs with characters other than a..z, A..Z, 0..9 and the _ underscore character. That is over-strict, but that is the easiest way to eliminate all problematic characters. Also make sure that there are no special characters or spaces in your project file name or your CHM file name (which should match exactly) and no special characters in the path to the CHM file.

The CHM compiler is an old program and it is very sensitive to many special characters and spaces in references.

If you continue to have problems you can get more information about the error by compiling manually, this will allow you view the full
CHM compiler log:

1. Compile to CHM with Help & Manual and DEselect the "Delete temporary files option in the Publish dialog. This will create a directory called \~tmpchm in your project directory.
2. Open Microsoft HTML Help Workshop (this was installed automatically when you installed the HTML Help compiler).
3. In Workshop, select File - Open and open the *.hhp file in your \~tmpchm directory.
4. Without making any changes select File - Compile and click on the [Compile] button.

If this doesn't help please mail your .hmx project file to support AT ec-software.com (replace the AT with @) and we'll check it for you.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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dimitris
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Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2005 6:44 pm

Re: An internal error has occured.

Unread post by dimitris »

Tim thanks a lot. The error was found. It was one dot character [.] inside one topic option. Now everything works fine.

Just one more question.
While using HLP file, I have connected all menu items with help topics, and a user can find fast help by moving mouse pointer above a menu item and pressing F1 key. Is anything like that available for HTML help?
Dimitris
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Tim Green
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Re: An internal error has occured.

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Dimitris,
Is anything like that available for HTML help?
Yes, HTML Help/CHM is fully context-sensitive, similar to HLP, although there are some differences. You will have to program the calls in your application differently, however. How this is done depends on the programming language you are using, but they are all accessing the HTML Help API, which is documented in detail in the help file included with HTML Help Workshop.

You can find tutorials for interfacing with CHM files for most current programming languages here:
http://www.ec-software.com/support_tutorials.html

.NET programmers can find a good basic introduction here:
http://helpware.net/mshelp2/demo2/h1xNET.htm
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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dimitris
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Re: An internal error has occured.

Unread post by dimitris »

I am using Delphi7. Is there any relative utility for HTML help?
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Tim Green
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Re: An internal error has occured.

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Dimitris,

Yes, we have a set of free components for interfacing with help files in earlier versions of Delphi. You can download it from this page, along with some other Delphi freebies:

http://www.ec-software.com/downloads_delphi.html

These components aren't needed in Delphi 2005 and later, because they include integrated support for CHM files.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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