Bullets in PDF when building from cmd

[zvasku]

Hello,

I'm using HM 5.3.2 b1083 and I have problem with bullets in lists when generating to PDF. If I generate PDF from editor all is ok. If I generate from command line (using FinalBulder) bullets are missing.
Changing font options (embedding, CID) has no effect.
Is it a bug or have I missed something?

Thanks
Zdenek

[zvasku]

I found the problem is when running from finalbuilder server (asp.net). It seems to be related to process and user language settings.

[Tim Green]

Hi Zdenek,

This sounds odd -- I'm passing the question on to the HM developers, I'll let you know as soon as I hear from them.

[zvasku]

There are two situations:

1. I have logged on my computer as Administrator and run HM using command line. Generated PDF is ok.

2. HM is executed by service FinalBuilderServer (as SYSTEM) -> FBCMD (as Administrator) -> helpman.exe (as Administrator). Generated PDF doesn't have bullets in list. When I enable Desktop acces for FinalBuilder service, HM5 shows error on startup (but content of windows is not drawn) and hangs on can not load DLL.

[Alexander Halser]

Which version of FinalBuilder do you use? We need to create a test case to duplicate this here.

[zvasku]

FBServer 6.3.0.773
FinalBuilder 6.3.0.1916
Server IIS 5.1 Windows XP Pro SP3

[gerrianne]

Hi,

We have the same problem as described in this thread:

We have H&M projects containing many bullet lists.
When we generate a PDF file directly from H&M, all bullets appear correctly in the PDF output.
When we generate a PDF file using the command line (which we do automatically each night), most bullets disappear in the PDF file.

This is the xml code of a bullet that is NOT generated to PDF (by using command line):
<list id="21" type="ul" listtype="bullet" formatstring="·" format-charset="SYMBOL_CHARSET" levelreset="true" legalstyle="false" startfrom="1" styleclass="Bulleted" style="font-family:Symbol; font-size:10pt; color:#008080;">
<li styleclass="Bulleted"><text styleclass="Bulleted" translate="true">piet Is called once by a </text><var styleclass="Caution"><%BPMSUITE%></var><text styleclass="Bulleted" translate="true"> component to read and store the settings.</text></li>

This is the xml code of a bullet that is CORRECTLY generated to PDF (by using command line):
<list id="19" type="ul" listtype="bullet" formatstring="•" format-charset="DEFAULT_CHARSET" levelreset="true" legalstyle="false" startfrom="1" styleclass="Bulleted" style="font-family:Verdana; font-size:10pt; color:#008080;">
<li styleclass="Bulleted"><text styleclass="Bulleted" translate="true"><gs>A customised Logon Service implementation must adhere to the syntax in ls.h and semantics of the functions described in this section.</text></li>

This is the command line code we use to generate the PDF file (this code is run by a batch file):
SET PATH=C:\Program Files\EC Software;%PATH%
helpman.exe "..\Engels\Server Guide\Server Guide.hmxp" /PDF="..\..\Deliverables\PDF\Engels\serverguide.pdf" /O="..\..\_hmskins\Variabelen_EN.hmskin" /O="..\..\_hmskins\Variabelen_voorloopzinnen_EN.hmskin" /O="..\..\_hmskins\Variabelen_Versienummer.hmskin" /I=PDF /Template="..\..\_hmtemplates\5niv_A4_BPMone_EN.mnl"

Further specifications:
H&M: version 5.3.2. Build 1083 (it also occured with 5.2.0, this is why we installed a new build)
Platform: Windows Server 2003, standard edition, service pack 1
CID font mode: unicode
Do NOT embed these fonts: none

Do you have any suggestions how this problem can be solved?

King regards,

Gerrianne

[Tim Green]

Hi Gerrianne,

I've asked our developers to look into this. the main difference here seems to be between the two character sets used. This may not help, since it's working when you compile without the command line, but try changing your PDF font embedding options to embed the Symbol font in your PDF (Configuration > Publishing Options > PDF > Font Embedding).

[Tim Green]

Follow-up: Our developer says that the problem is almost certainly caused by restricted Windows permissions for the copy of Help & Manual you are using for your command line build. Our guess is that the CLI build/machine is executing under a user account with restricted permissions that are preventing full access to the files and folders involved. This is particularly likely in the case of FinalBuilder server.

If we need to perform tests we are going to need two things: 1) A test project with at least two topics, one with functioning bullets and one with bullets that are not functioning. 2) A detailed description of the permissions and settings of the user account used to start the batch process. Please mail everything to support AT ec-software.com (replace the AT with @).

[Sonia Guimond]

Hi,

I have been experiencing a similar problem.

When I generate a PDF file directly from H&M, all bullets appear correctly in the PDF output.

When I generate PDF files by running a .bat file, the generation runs smoothly (the HTML, PDF and RTF are all produced), but bullets disappear.

I’m generating Webhelp, PDF and RTF in batch. Since it takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to generate everything, I usually start the generation before leaving at the end of the day.

I do not use Finalbuilder Server.
I just run the .bat file (double-click on the file).
I lock my PC before leaving, and I let the batch run.

I did notice one thing. Bullets disappear from the PDFs that are produced in batch after I lock my PC.

Let’s say that I start the batch at 16:00 (I’m still at office working on my PC). All PDF generated between 16:00 and 16:30 are OK (the bullets display correctly). When I leave at 16:30 (and lock my PC), all PDF produced after I lock the PC do not display the bullets.

Version: H&M: version 5.3.2. Build

If you need additional information, please let me know.

King regards,

Sonia Guimond

[Tim Green]

Hi Sonia,

We have found that this problem can be caused by the build computer not having the font used for your bullets installed. For example, if you are using the Symbol font for your bullets and the computer generating your overnight build doesn't have the Symbol font installed, you will get either blanks instead of bullets or a different character from another font.

[zvasku]

For us,

it's on the same machine with same user.

Zdenek

[Roy Henry]

I just noticed a similar problem in our latest build. Strangely, even though the .pdf build is missing the bullet symbol on bullet points, the .chm build is not missing the bullet symbols for the same document on the same build server. The .pdf builds on my local machine also are not missing the bullet symbols. We are currently using H&M 5.3.2 Build 1083. We will be upgrading to H&M 5.4 this week.

[Sonia Guimond]

Roy,

I'm using 5.4.0 (build 1201) and I no longer see the problem.

Regards, Sonia

[zvasku]

Roy,

I'm using 5.4.0 (build 1201) and I no longer see the problem.

Regards, Sonia

Same for me.

Zdenek