Bitmap error in PDF (Black boxes)

Please post bug reports for earlier versions of Help & Manual (3 and 4) here, along with reports for TNT.

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Svein
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2002 11:54 am
Location: Norway

Bitmap error in PDF (Black boxes)

Unread post by Svein »

Yesterday I posted some comment in User To User help about problems about bitmaps turning black in PDF format. But I think this issue belongs here, so this is what I have experienced:

When compiling a H&M-project to PDF, I have problems with bitmaps turning black... But, the black boxes are not completely black. In the bottom there sometimes appear pixels in other colors. To me this looks like an error appearing when converting the bitmap. And it's always like this when I compile to PDF output or Printing Manual. I haven't seen the same problem when compiling to Winhelp output. And another thing: It's not the same bitmaps that appear black each time I try to compile to PDF. Sometimes a bitmap is OK, sometimes it's not.

Here is an excemple of a black bitmap, before and after:
Before (in H&M)
Image

After (in PDF)
Image

And yes, I have the latest version (3.1.651).
So we users need a new bugfix!!"
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Alexander Halser
EC-Software Support
Posts: 4098
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 7:24 pm
Location: Salzburg, Austria
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Unread post by Alexander Halser »

Please include details about your system and your help project in your problem description:

• Which Windows version?
• I suppose you are running XP as the problem seems to appear more often on XP machines. Which build exactly?
• What is the default printer on this machine (model, driver) resp. what is the printer that you use for PDF generation as the reference device?
• Did you print/export your manual with the standard manual template or with a modified template?
• Which color depth have the images that appear black - true color or less?
• Is there a particular pattern to the black images, e.g. do the images randomly appear black and sometimes not?
• Does this happen with all help projects and can you create a small example that produces the bug reliably?
• Do you have another machine with a different Windows version and/or printer that you could use to test the PDF export with?

I believe you can imagine how hard it is to track a bug that does not occour reliably. We can't even duplicate it occasionally here.
Alexander Halser
Senior Software Architect, EC Software GmbH
User avatar
Svein
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2002 11:54 am
Location: Norway

Unread post by Svein »

* I'm running Windows XP (Version 5.1, build 2600.xpclnt_qfe.010827-1803)
* The default printer is HP Laserjet 4050 T. I'm using driver "HP Laserjet 4050 Series PCL6" wich is distribuated with XP.
* I use a modified manual template, of course, since the manual should be in norwegian.
* The captured bitmaps where saved as 24-bits bitmap.
* The bitmaps appear randomly black. Somtimes OK, sometimes not
* ...and you are right, it's a problem on XP. Now I'm running the project on a Windows 98 machine. The PDF seemes to be OK.
But it can still be a bug in H&M anyway, but a bug that only is trigged on XP for some unknown reasons. So until you find the bug, I will use the Win98 machine for producing PDF output.

I have ziped the project, so you can try it yourself, if you have a machine with XP. You can download it as a zipfile:
http://www.sunsoft.no/download/hm-project.zip

This project should produce a 40 pages PDF file, and I have never seen the PDF produced without the black box bug.
JXBURNS
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Nov 03, 2002 2:08 pm
Location: Suffolk, UK

Unread post by JXBURNS »

I have EXACTLY the same problem with 3.2.0.704 but ONLY when I have added a manual page break. Remove the page break and the graphics return fine. But I am using a HP 1220C on Windows XP..

Rgds John
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