WD97: Error "The RTF file .\<name> Is Corrupted At Offset..."

• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to compile a Word 97 Rich Text Format (RTF) file in the Help Compiler that ships with Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 or the Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 Help Workshop, you may receive the following messages:

   HC4002: Warning:
        The RTF file .\<filename> is corrupted at offset <###>

   HC4005: Warning:
        The .\<filename> help file has not been created.

CAUSE

RTF readers should ignore RTF flags that they do not understand. Word 97 writes a few new RTF flags. The older Help Compilers are not correctly discarding the new RTF flags and are attempting to process them. Since the flags are new, the Help Compiler is failing during the compilation process.

RESOLUTION

This problem is corrected in Help Workshop version 4.03, which is available for download from the Microsoft Software Library:

 ~ Hcwsetup.exe (size: 1596080 bytes) 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q119591
   TITLE     : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

Microsoft Office 97, Developer Edition.

Microsoft Developer Network - Library - Jan 97

     Updated Microsoft Help Workshop 4.02\HELPSHOP\SETUP.EXE

     Emterprise and Professional Editions
     \DevStudio\Vc\Unsupported Tools\Hcw

MORE INFORMATION

Help Workshop is a program that you use to create Help (.hlp) files, edit project and contents files, and test and report on help files. Help Workshop takes the information in the project (.hpj) file to combine the topic (.rtf) files, bitmaps, and other sources into one Help file that can be viewed using the Microsoft Windows Help program.

Help WorkShop 4.02 will compile help files from RTF written both by the 16- bit versions of Word, such as Word 6.0, and also the 32-bit versions such as Word 7.0 and Word 97.

Help Workshop 4.02 will not compile projects created in the MS-DOS version of the Help Compiler.

A help file created in Help Workshop 4.02 will not run under Windows 3.x because the Help Workshop 4.02 creates 32-bit help files and Windows 3.x is a 16-bit operating environment.

REFERENCES

For additional information about the Microsoft Office 97 Developer Edition, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q162962
   TITLE     : New Features in MS Office 97 Developer Edition Tools