Checking Your HBK File

Once you have created an HBK file, you can check it for errors using the Handbook Utilities. In order to access Handbook Utilities, you must close Mathcad and restart it in HBKmode. HBKmode is a run-time execution of Mathcad that can be started using the Run command from the Start menu in Windows. Note you must be an administrator on the machine to be able to run HBKmode.

To run HBKmode:

  1. Select Run from the Start menu on your Windows toolbar.
  2. Browse for the Mathcad executable, mathcad.exe, and select it.
  3. At the end of the path to this executable, type a space and then "/hbkmode." The entire path might look like this in the Run dialog box:

    "C:\Program Files\Mathcad\Mathcad 14\mathcad.exe" /hbkmode

    Be sure to type /hbkmode outside the quotes that ordinarily enclose the path of an executable.
  4. Click "OK" in the Run dialog box.

After Mathcad launches, the Handbook Utilities dialog box appears with two check box options, "Check Handbook" and "Generate Index."

Select "Check Handbook" to check your book for errors. This utility checks for problems in your HBK file, the structure and content of the worksheets that comprise your E-book, and links between files. If HBKmode encounters any errors, a report is generated listing the errors. The error log file, ErrorLog.txt, appears in the HANDBOOK folder and includes details about the following errors:

You may notice that the errors have region numbers associated with them. These correspond to the regions in a Mathcad file. They are generally in order, but sometimes get out of order, due to editing the file. To see the number of a region,

  1. Open a Mathcad file.
  2. Click in a region.
  3. Press [Ctrl] [Shift] L.
  4. The Status bar at the bottom of the Mathcad screen will show a message such as "Region label is: 3, Region count is: 0."

The Region count is the number of the region. The very first region in the file is numbered 0. You must scroll and check until you find the region with the error.

If you make any changes to the worksheets in your E-book, you may want to recheck links using this utility.

When you are satisfied with your work, you can open your E-book.

Note: