* Unhelpful website creation error message

[ELM]

When building a website I get the error message "An error occurred during webpage creation." with no other information. How can I get more information on what is causing this error. A new website was generated.

[tatewise]

Please give a bit more background information.

Exactly what commands are you using?
At what stage does the error arise?
Has website creation worked before?
If so, what has changed?
In the new website is anything obviously missing?

Try using the Family Historian Sample Project - does that work OK?

Have you recently migrated to Windows 10?

[ELM]

Exactly what commands are you using?
Publish>Create a Website clicking next at each step keeping selection as for previous site
At what stage does the error arise?
Progress box comes up and goes through
Creating page for individual …
Creating table of contents item …
Completing web site creation …
Then the error message.
Has website creation worked before? Yes in 2011
If so, what has changed? Only the data
In the new website is anything obviously missing?
On two pages a family tree is missing. They were created by saving a diagram in pdf.
Both are displayed in the 2011 website.

In step 4 – Adding Items for Table Of Contents
for the pages with the missing tree a tried to edit the entry.
Selected the pdf file from the list
on pressing OK I get error message Picture not found !

Have you recently migrated to Windows 10? No – using Windows 8

[ELM]

Tried rebuilding the website without the pages with pdf files on and it worked without an error message.

[tatewise]

So one change is that you have updated from FH V4 via V5 to V6 since last creating website.

Do the two PDF Diagram files open in Adobe Acrobat Reader?

Try recreating those Diagrams and saving as PDF again.

[ELM]

So one change is that you have updated from FH V4 via V5 to V6 since last creating website. - Yes
Do the two PDF Diagram files open in Adobe Acrobat Reader? - Yes
Try recreating those Diagrams and saving as PDF again.
I recreated the Diagrams and then tried to change the Table of Contents Entry for the diagram.
Selecting the diagram I get a preview of the diagram and press open,
The file name goes in to the Picture box
pressing OK I get an error box “Picture not found”. But it was selected ok !!

[tatewise]

Did you say you were using the Picture option?

If so, when you use the << Select dialogue, (.PDF) would NOT be listed as a valid file type, so you must have switched to All files (*.*) to select your PDF diagram file, and therein lies the problem - a PDF is NOT an image Picture file.

You should be using Gedcom File or other Download.

See the Help button for that step and also how_to:make_family_tree:step_4_add_items_for_table_of_contents|> Family Tree Wizard ~ Step 4 – Add Items for Table of Contents which gives more details.

Note that explaining exactly what command you used just before the error, got us to the solution much more quickly, and the error message was quite explicit.

[ELM]

Thanks Mike
By changing to Gedcom or other download I created the website with out errors.
When I was first getting the errors the only error I was getting said nothing about “Picture not found”.

I looked at the link to the Knowledge Base where there was Family Tree Tips ~ Diagram Hyperlinks PDF.
When I tried this the hyperlinks are displayed but are too long to fit on one line.
I then found that trying to use the links from the pdf only the first line was used and thus was an invalid address.
If I make the boxes bigger they revert to the original size on export.
I tried using the html <a href=...> tab but that was not accepted by the diagram text edit.
Is there a way around this problem?

[tatewise]

I wonder if the upgrades from V4 via V5 to V6 resulted in some incompatibilty in the saved Website Creation settings.

What exactly did you put in the Text Scheme Hyperlink Template?
It should only result in something short like www.domain.com/ind99.html per box.

Not sure what you mean by html <a href= > tab?

[ELM]

Mike
I must have been almost asleep when I made the last post. I should be html <a href=...> tag!!

I have made the boxes bigger by making one box bigger and making all the boxes the same size so now the hyperlinks fit on one page.

I had a look at your site and I like what you have done. It gives me some ideas of developing my own site.

Thanks for your help.

[WillBenson]

I have just upgraded from V3 to V6, after 9 years

The first time I used the V6 "Create a Website" function I also received this error, even though it appeared to create every required file.

I discovered it was because I had set my fhstyle.css file to read-only because I didn't want it overwritten. This error never came up in V3.

[tatewise]

OK Will, in how_to:make_family_tree|> Make a Family Tree CD/DVD or Website under how_to:make_family_tree:tips_and_tricks_and_popups|> Family Tree ~ Tips and Tricks and Popups it explains how to Alter CSS Default Styles. Essentially the trick is to put files you want kept inside a sub-folder called say custom, then although FH Wizard empties files from the webpage folder it does not touch folders.

If you have not done so, then I advise you convert all your V3 Gedcom to V6 Projects.
See how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers under Project Structure & Location and how_to:v4:understanding_projects|> Understanding Projects.

[WillBenson]

Thank you.

A massive change from V3 to V6 - I'm enjoying it.