Conref and record macro not working in XMetal 6.0

[joehansen]

Hi

I'm using XMetal 6.0.0.122 Enterprise Ed.
When I use the “Record Macro” function I can record it but it won't run.
I can't figure out what's wrong. Have studied the user guide carefully, and searched the forum without luck.

I have also encountered one additional problem concerning the use of the conref attribute.
When I click the button to the right of the conref attribute in the Attribute Inspector, the “Attach Conref Attribute” dialog opens. When I click the Browse button to insert my topic, the field continues to display [No file selected].

When I insert the conref attribute directly in the xml code, everything works fine.

Hope you can help me with these two issues.

Best Regards
Joe Hansen

Reply

[Derek Read]

The record functionality for macros is limited to simple keyboard entries. It does not remember any mouse actions, nor does it remember any menu selections, etc. Perhaps that is the issue you are seeing if the macro being saved in the list of macros — it might be running but just not have any actions it can perform.

For your conref issue I think we will need to see a copy of the file you are adding the conref to and a copy of the file you are selecting. Once we have those we might be able to reproduce your issue. If you can reproduce the problem with one of the samples (see: Help > Samples) then please let us know which one, where you are inserting the conref, which file and element in that file that you are selecting to conref to.

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[joehansen]

Hi Derek

Thank you for your reply.
Regarding the macro I tried to record mouse clicks, so nice to know that this doesn't work 🙂

Regarding my conref problem I have attached a zip file.
The zip file contains my conref topic plus my xml file that I conref to.

Hope you can throw a little light on my problem.

Thanks in advance.

Best Regards
Joe Hansen

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[Derek Read]

I think I must be doing something different from you because what I'm doing is working:

1) Save the two files somewhere (the paths are relative so location should not matter as long as they are in the same folder). In my case they are in a folder on my Desktop.

2) Open admonition_task.xml in XMetaL Author Enterprise 6.0.0.021 in Tags On or Normal view.

3) Press F11 to check references. I see that the first element references a in the other file and that its content is being displayed as expected. The second element appears with a yellow background, indicating that the “local” content is being shown.

4) Open the Attribute Inspector and see that the conref attribute for the second is referencing a non-existing id in the other file: “note-2717” (which explains why the content cannot be rendered and the local content is being shown instead).

5) For the same conref attribute click the … button and the Attach Content Reference dialog opens (or right click the element and select “Attach Content Reference”).

6) See that is the default element chosen in the first dropdown. This makes sense because we are attaching to a and content needs to be compatible. See also that the existing value in the “referenced element” textbox is “admonition_notice.xml#topic_C378232AE03A419F8F3D9D4BCE617E59/note-2717”.

7) Select the Browse button just to be sure we have the right file, then select admonition_notice.xml

8) In the list of elements shown (they are gathered from that file and remember that I have element type note selected) I see the following id values:
note-2712
note-2713
note-2714
note-2715

9) Because note-2717 does not exist (it isn't in the file so should not be listed here) I select one of the others, note-2712 (“Wear safety harness”), then click OK.

10) The second element now displays the content from note-2712 and its conref attribute is set to “admonition_notice.xml#topic_C378232AE03A419F8F3D9D4BCE617E59/note-2712” (you need to select “Show Local Content” for the element in order to view its “local” attributes).

I've also tried 6.0.1.030 with same results. Do you have a different set of steps?

Perhaps a CMS system is involved? If so your steps will be different depending on your CMS integration and the CMS functionality (specially the part where you are browsing for a file as the CMS systems file browsing UI will appear at that point).

Reply

[joehansen]

Hi Derek

Thank you again for your quick and thorough response.

I tried to do exactly the same as you, but it still does not work for me.
It is step 7 in your procedure, where i try to select the file by browsing.
It is not displayed in the Referenced Element drop down list. And thus I am not able to see the id values.

No CMS system is involved at this point, but is under development. I have my two files on my local PC and in the same directory.

I have a colleague who runs XMetal 5.5.0.219 and she has exactly the same problem. So we are a bit puzzled. I can see that you have tried with 6.0.0.021 and 6.0.1.030, so I think we will install our version and re-instal 6.0.1.030 instead and hope for the best.

Thank you again for your assistance.
BR
Joe Hansen

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[Derek Read]

Perhaps this has something to do with the file path or where they are stored?
Are the files stored on your local machine? (ie: C:some_foldersome_folder…)

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[joehansen]

I have been thinking the same thing, that it may have something to do with the way the files are stored. They are located on my machine in C:My Documents.
I have also tried with the files stored on a network drive but that's the same.

I thnik that this is not an Xmetal issue, but rather has soemthing to do with the location of the files.
I tried with the Xmetal sample files, but still same problem.

I will try to run them directly from a USB stick instead.

BR
Joe Hansen

Reply

[Derek Read]

Strange. A path like “C:My Documents” is pretty normal and I can't see that being an issue (works for me here) so perhaps there is something else unique about your systems (as you say the same problem is affecting a colleague as well).

We have no reports similar to this logged in our support system and our bug tracker. Perhaps you can guess what you both might have running or how your system might be configured that would make it different. I would start with tools or applications that might alter the way Windows functions (virus scanners, encryption software, etc). If you have anything like that and you can disable them or better yet uninstall them (ideally one by one if there are multiple such system-affecting tools) that would be a good test to identify any conflicts.

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[joehansen]

Hi

Just wanted to let you all know that I uninstalled XMetal 6.0.0.122. Then I installed 6.0.1.030, which is the same version as you used when trying to reproduce the error and was not able to.

Now my conref attribute works fine, so it seems that version 6.0.0.122 has a problem with the conref attribute.

Best Regards
Joe Hansen

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