Diagonal lines at end of long table

HM5 served us well, now its time has come and it has been replaced... If you have HM5 questions, please post them here.

Moderators: Alexander Halser, Tim Green

Post Reply
Sonia Guimond
Posts: 79
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:16 pm

Diagonal lines at end of long table

Unread post by Sonia Guimond »

Hi,

I am working on a (very) long table, and I see diagonal lines at the end of the table (see screen capture included). The resulting xml file (I work in uncompressed mode) is 177 ko.

Is there a maximum size to tables? Should I be splitting this table to avoid any problem? (I produce PDF and Webhelp).

Version of H&M = 5.4.0. Build 1201, If you need additional information, please let me know.

Regards,

Sonia Guimond
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23156
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Diagonal lines at end of long table

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Sonia,

You should update to the current version (5.5 Build 1273) but that won't have any effect on your issue. There is a maximum length for tables that can be handled in the editor. The shading lines just indicate that the table contents can't be viewed or edited, but this will not affect the output. However, if you are getting this effect it is a pretty reliable indicator that both your table and the topic that contains it are too big by quite a large margin -- also to be accessible to users, who seldom read down more than a couple of pages in a topic. I suggest both splitting up the table and splitting up the content it contains across multiple topics to make the contents more accessible to your users. :)
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
Sonia Guimond
Posts: 79
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:16 pm

Re: Diagonal lines at end of long table

Unread post by Sonia Guimond »

Tim,

Thanks so much for the prompt reply. Sonia
User avatar
Winsteps
Posts: 443
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:34 am

Re: Diagonal lines at end of long table

Unread post by Winsteps »

Tim: I use tables for glossaries, long lists of possible error messages, etc. - What are the maximum size constraints for a table or a topic before I have to split to two tables or to two topics ?
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23156
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Diagonal lines at end of long table

Unread post by Tim Green »

Winsteps wrote:Tim: I use tables for glossaries, long lists of possible error messages, etc. - What are the maximum size constraints for a table or a topic before I have to split to two tables or to two topics ?
If you are not seeing the shaded lines you are OK, and even if they appear you are still OK, you just need to shorten the table a little to continue editing. This restriction is does not actually have to do with the table content but with the way Windows renders graphics. This may sound strange, but Help & Manual handles table editing by rendering the entire table as a graphic except the cell you are editing, which opens a special editor within the editor. Depending on your version of Windows you can only display graphics that are a maximum of 16,000 or 32,000 pixels long or wide. When the rendered table passes this limit you get the shaded area instead of the table contents. This has no effect on the integrity of the table content, it just can't be rendered as a graphic. :)
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23156
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Diagonal lines at end of long table

Unread post by Tim Green »

Update: The limits should actually be 32.000 x 32.000 pixels on Windows 32 and 2G x 2G pixels on Windows 64. If you are running the 64-bit version of Windows 7 (strongly recommended) or Windows Vista (not so much but still OK) then you should probably not run into this problem. I am checking this with the editor programmers and will conform or correct this when I hear from them. (The 64-bit version of Windows XP cannot be recommended for anything, however. It is more trouble than it is worth...)
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
Post Reply