? graphics named "hmfile_hash_[number]" versus orig. name

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Dave Gehman
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Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:05 pm

? graphics named "hmfile_hash_[number]" versus orig. name

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Our images are all PNG type.

In WebHelp, some of our graphics still carry their original file name, for example, "newui-a-createnewdesign.png" in the page source. And that's the name someone would have available if someone right-clicked and opted to save the image.

However, a number of graphic file names have become "hmfile_hash_[number}" where [number} is an 8-digit hex number ("32411b9c," for example).

Most of these "hash" names have been substituted for a longish name given to them by our graphics expert. He has a penchant for including as much as possible in the file name, and that's not a bad thing.

For example, "01_01_04 Example Parent Child Hierarchy.png" has become "hmfile_hash_02177161."

Is this due to the length of the original file name?
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Tim Green
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Re: ? graphics named "hmfile_hash_[number]" versus orig. nam

Unread post by Tim Green »

Is this due to the length of the original file name?
No, it's due to using characters in the file name that are not allowed in HTML. This will generally be spaces, but can also include accented characters, umlauts (üöä) and other special or unusual characters. If the original file name wasn't changed your images wouldn't display in your web pages because the browser wouldn't be able to find them. Help+Manual changes them to the hash + number format to make absolutely certain that their are no duplicate name collisions, which could easily happen when correcting some different names in a standardized way.

To avoid this just follow the following rules for file naming:
  • Only a..z, A..Z, 0..9, - and _ in file names. No other characters.
  • No spaces, accents, umlauts, non-alphanumeric characters.
  • Don't start filenames with a number.
These rules are stricter than absolutely necessary but reliable and easy to remember. 8)
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Dave Gehman
Posts: 575
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:05 pm

Re: ? graphics named "hmfile_hash_[number]" versus orig. nam

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Life is fun. The guy who is most upset at the name change is the guy who insists on starting the file name with a number.... :D
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Tim Green
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Re: ? graphics named "hmfile_hash_[number]" versus orig. nam

Unread post by Tim Green »

Dave Gehman wrote:Life is fun. The guy who is most upset at the name change is the guy who insists on starting the file name with a number.... :D
You may be able to dispense with that part. Try it without changing the numbers (i.e. just eliminate spaces and special characters) and see how you go before going global on it. 8)
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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