Mobipocket creator error

[Ron.]

I run windows 7 x64 I am trying to use mobipocket creator without success. I can't give you much info other than that because the program does nothing at all. I have never seen the program function so I do not know if it is supposed to look like it does in the screen shot or not. the program opens as you can see, but that's all it does

[DMSmillie]

Definitely not what it should look like - attached screen shot shows the opening screen the way it should look (I'm using Windows Vista). Have you tried uninstalling it and re-installing? It's possibly a glitched installation.

[Ron.]

Yes several times, I have tried running it as administrator and in compatibility mode as well. always looks like same, gives no error message of any kind. I just get that screen which does nothing at all.

[DMSmillie]

Hmmm... well, it's just a guess, but Mobipocket Creator is a couple of years old at least, and no longer being updated (since Mobipocket was taken over by Amazon, and MPC supplanted by Kindlegen, to all intents and purposes) - I wonder if perhaps there's something in it that isn't compatible with Windows 7? It's the only other thing I can think of, I'm afraid. Maybe someone else will come up with something more constructive...

[Ron.]

I created another user account and it works from that account. I just have to change users to use the app now, wish I knew why it wont work under my account though. better then nothing I guess...

[DMSmillie]

How strange! But yes, as you say, at least it's working.

[buddytheelf]

since i can't figure out where to post a question i'll ask here...

i keep getting this error when i try to build a table of contents. i've made ebooks multiple times and this is the first time i've had the problem. would anyone know how to fix it?

Mobipocket Creator Publisher v 4.2 build 41

Microsoft Internet Explorer
4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/5.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; MDDR; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729)0

Line: 94
Character: 3
Code: 0

Message: Object doesn't support this action
Url: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Mobipocket.com/Mobipocket%20Creator/rsrc/html/table_of_contents.html

[DaleDe]

There is something it does not like about the character on line 94 in the third character from the left but without seeing it it is impossible to know. Either count down 94 lines and figure it out or post the toc.

Of course the error might be on line 93 or earlier and not detected until it gets to line 94.

[buddytheelf]

Thanks. It's odd, though, since many of the codes are:

<div class="image">
<img src="picture.jpg">
</div>

Namely that line specifically and the preceding ones as well. This is the first time that I have come into this problem after creating many before it in the same fashion.

I am wondering if it is because, in this document, I put a class in the <h3> tags i.e. <h3 class="h3"> and I am trying to use the <h3> tags as the toc references. But, I don't see why it would have a problem with that.

[DaleDe]

class is for CSS and it is bad form to use a tag as the content of a class. CSS is not supported by Mobi and must be converted to something mobil understands so indeed this may be the problem.

Dale

[DMSmillie]

Actually, that looks like it's referencing one of the Mobipocket Creator files, as indicated by that URL. The error message "Object doesn't support this action" fits with that, since line 94 in the referenced file (C:/Program%20Files/Mobipocket.com/Mobipocket%20Creator/rsrc/html/table_of_contents.html) is part of the Javascript function "update_toc()", and the error message is a typical Javascript execution error. That line reads:

weholder.external.set_toc_parameters(document.forms[0].toc_title.value, parameters);

(The text on that line starts on character 3 because it's indented by two characters.)

Perhaps someone with a better knowledge than me of Javascript and using it to manipulate document objects might be able to suggest what might actually be triggering this error?

[buddytheelf]

thanks. that's actually what i was thinking. i know my code is ok as i have done it in the past. and css works fine with it as well. so it's weird that mobipocket creator is acting up all of a sudden. hmmm...

[DMSmillie]

Trying to think what I'd be trying if I was getting this error, and the first two things that come to mind are running the HTML and CSS files that form the book through the W3C validators, just to be sure there isn't a typo or syntax error lurking in there that's tripping MPC up, and then uninstalling and then reinstalling Mobipocket Creator, in case something in that has been corrupted in some way.

[buddytheelf]

How would I run it through "W3C validators"?

I basically ended up pasting the Table of Contents in the document itself instead of having two separate files. It works fine that way. Plus, I think it's better because I can format it anyway I like that way. If I run into that problem for the next book I do, though, I will probably end up uninstalling and reinstalling it to see if that works.

[DMSmillie]

W3C (X)HTML validator = http://validator.w3.org/
W3C CSS validator = http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

W3C = World Wide Web Consortium = the international consortium responsible for HTML and CSS standards