What happened to the attitude you used to have at school
What happened to the attitude when you broke all the rules
(The Farm, "Groovy Train")

# List of Messages

[ 1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70 | 71-80 | 81-90 | 91-.. ]

Below you can find a list of messages that can show up when processing hsc sources. Most of them also include a short explanation what could have caused the problem and how to fix it. However, this is not an HTML tutorial. Fully understanding these messages requires some experience from the user.

warning 1: unable to open project file
  The project-file specified could not be opened. This indicates no problem if you specified a project file using `PrjFile` for the first time; it will be created automatically after the HTML object has successfully been processed.
fatal error 2: project file corrupt
  The data found in the project file are not of the required format. Most likely, the file version is outdated. Remove the old file, `hsc` will create a new one next time it is invoked.
fatal error 3: unexpected end of file
  There are still characters to be read from input, but the file is already at the end; `hsc` tells you what it still expected to read.
fatal error 4: error reading file
  On attempting to read from an input file, an error has occured. This usually is on a hardware level, and can only be fixed by one of those tools to validate and repair a disk structure common on every platform.
fatal error 5: too many messages or errors
  There were more messages/errors than specified via `MAXERR`/`MAXMSG`. `hsc` will abort.
fatal error 6: can not open file for input
  An input file could not be opened. A more detailed description that tells you why is displayed, too.
note 7: stripped tag <tag>
  Notifies user that a tag has been removed. This usually happens because the user requested this with one of the commandline options.
error 8: image file corrupt
  While looking for size information inside a picture file, `hsc` found something about the format it could not understand. It is likely that this image is corrupted and will not display correctly in a browser, so this is considered an error. If you are sure the image is OK, you should mail it to the author to get `hsc` fixed.
bad style 9: expected heading `<Hx>`
  A heading should not be more than one level below the heading which preceded it. That is, an `<H3>` element should not follow an `<H1>` element directly. The first heading showing up in a document should be `<H1>`.
bad style 10: "click here" syndrome detected
  A keyword defined with the special attribute `HSC.CLICK-HERE` has been found within the text inside an anchor specification. I.e. you used some term like ``Click here'' inside the text describing a link. This is very clumsy and should be avoided; see Composing Good HTML or the W3C Recommendations for details.
error 11: unknown tag <tag>
  You refered to an unknown tag or macro.
error 12: tag <tag> occured too often
  A tag that is expected to occure only once appeared at least twice. Remove all unneccessary occurences of the tag.
error 13: unmatched end-tag <tag>
  You called a end-tag without using the corresponding start-tag before.
warning 14: illegal end-tag nesting
  A end-tag appeared where a different end-tag was expected to appear before. Example: instead of

      <b><i>bold and italic</b></i>

  you should write

      <b><i>bold and italic</i></b>

  Note the different location of `</I>` in both cases.
warning 15: required tag <tag> missing
  A tag that is required for every document is missing.
warning 16: end-tag <tag> missing
  You called an start-tag, but didn't end it. Insert the required end-tag.
error 17: unknown tag modifier /modifier
  You have used an unknown modifier to define the characteristics of an tag or macro.
warning 18: unknown entity
  You used an entity, that `hsc` doesn't know. This can happen if you made a typo, or the entity has not been defined within hsc.prefs.
warning 19: ";" expected after entity
  Entities require a semicolon (```;`'') to end them. For instance, if you try to use ```&uuml`'' instead of ```&uuml;`'' (to get an ```ü`'', this message will show up. Simply append the ```;`'' to fix it.
error 20: unknown attribute attrib
  You tried to access an attribute which has not been defined before.
warning 21: path to URI not found: file
  An attribute refers to a local resource (like another document or image) that doesn't exist. Common reasons for that are typos, a case-sensitive file system or indeed a missing file.
warning 22: argument without quote
  You passed a value to an attribute, but did not embed it into single or double quotes. This can lead to problems with older browsers.
error 23: empty reference to attribute attrib
  An attribute refers to an attribute that has been defined, but no value has been set for. Usually, you try to refer to an attribute inside a macro, that no value has been passed to within the call of the macro.
warning 24: attribute option ``option'' not allowed in this context
  You have used an option to define the characteristics of an attribute, which is not allowed to appear at this location.
bad style 25: `<BLINK>` sucks
  Some browser support the non-html-tag `<BLINK>`. It is used to make text blinking, which annoys many users. Additionally, most of them don't know how to configure their browser that it doesn't blink, so you really should avoid it.
error 26: default value for attribute attrib already set
  You tried to assign more than one default value within an attribute declaration. For instance, like in

          <$define HUGO:string="hugo"="or sepp?">

  Remove the part corresponding to ```="or sepp?"`''.
error 27: attempt to modify constant attribute attrib
  You tried to assign a new value to an attribute declared as constant. That is, the attribute option `/CONST` has been specified when defining it earlier.
fatal error 28: no content within current context
  You tried to call `<$content>` outside any container macro.
error 29: tag <A> without HREF or NAME
  An anchor tag has been specified without one of the required attributes `HREF` or `NAME`.
error 30: unmatched ">"
  A ``greater than'' sign appeared inside the text. You should write "`&gt;`" instead. This can also happen, if you made an error calling a tag, and `hsc`'s parser couln't recover.
error 31: expected "element_expected", found "element_found"
  A syntax element did not occur where it has been expected.
message 32:
  Unused or undocumented.
warning 33: linefeed found inside string
message 34:
  Unused or undocumented.
error 35: unknown value value for enumerator attribute attrib
  You tried to set an enumerator to a value it doesn't support.
warning 36: server relative URI to uri

  An URI-attribute started with a slash (```/`'') (like for example ```/image/next.png`''), denoting a so called server relative URI. This is a really braindead concept, which might help to save a few bytes in your HTML object, but will make your documents unreadable if stored on your local disk, as they depend on a specific server structure.

  Normally, `hsc` is unable to validate links or obtain image sizes of data referenced using server relative URIs because of reasons that should be obvious to everyone.

  If you because of some obscure reasons (or simply stupidity) insist on using URIs of such kind, you can set the commandline option `ServerDir` to specifiy the root directory for server relative URIs.

warning 37: tag <tag> is obsolete
  The tag was defined within some old HTML version, but should not be used any more (eg. `<LISTING>`).
warning 38: tag <tag> is only used by jerks
  This tag is no legal HTML tag and is only supported by special browsers.
error 39: custom user message
  This text and class of this message can be controlled by the user using `<$message>`.
fatal error 40: can not open preferences file
  The file hsc.prefs could not be found at any of the expected locations.
warning 41: unknown environment variable ``envvar''
  The function `GetEnv()` could not access the environment variable specified an returned an empty value.
error 42: missing value for attribute attrib
  Non-boolean attributes require an value set.
error 43: unknown attribute option option
  You defined a new attribute, but used an option that is unknown.
error 44: required attribute attrib missing
  An attribute that is required has not been set within the call of a tag or macro.
warning 45: unexpected value for attribute attrib: expected ``value'', found ``value''
  This message can show up if you have specified `GetSize` when invoking `hsc`, and have set the attribute `WIDTH` and/or `HEIGHT` by hand. It denotes that the values you have used differ from those `hsc` has evaluated from the image data.
note 46: replaced char by entity
  Informs you that a special character (non-7-bit-ASCII) has been replaced by it's corresponding entity.
error 47: illegal white space
  A white space occurred at a place where it was not supposed to.
portability problem 48: line feed inside sgml-comment
portability problem 49: ">" inside sgml-comment
portability problem 50: sgml-comment ends inside quotes
  The messages#48 to #50 point out problems that are known bugs of several browsers. A general comment on sgml-comments: Try to avoid them, use the `<* comment *>` tag instead.
warning 51: no entry for document "document" in project data to check id id
  This message is active only if you specified a project file when invoking `hsc` using the option `PrjFile`. It tells you that a reference to an ID inside another document could not be checked because the document linked to is not mentioned in the project file.

  Usually, this happens when you did not process the above mentioned document with a project file specified before. Do not worry about that too much, after processing all documents of your project at least once, this message usually does not show up any more.

  If it still is there, then you are refering to documents that are part of none or another project using another project-file; if so, there is no work-around for this case.
message 52:
  Unused or undocumented.
error 53: unmatched conditional `<$else|$elseif>`
  An `<$else>` tag has been at an unexpected position. Usually a single preceding `<$if>` has two or more corresponding `<$else>` tags assigned.
warning 54: calling external command returned value
  You have invoked a shell-command using `<$exec>` and it returned a value unequal to zero, which usually denotes an error while processing the command. For error analysis, look at the output that the command (hopefully) has made.
warning 55: text outside sgml-comment context
  This message often shows up, if you are not using an even number of hypens (```-`'') as delimters inside your source. For example,

      <!-------->

  (8 hyphens) works fine, whereas

      <!--------->

  (9 hyphens) will cause problems.
message 56:
  Unused or undocumented.
error 57: no start tag for end tag <tag>
  An end tag has been detected without it's corresponding start tag occuring before.
portability problem 58: icon-entity entity found
  Icon-entities are not (yet) widely supported.
warning 59: redefined tag <tag>
  You have just redefined a tag or macro that has already been declared before. The previous declaration will be thrown away.
error 60: tag <tag> must be inside tag <tag>
  Before you are allowed to use the first tag, the second tag has to occur before. Example: `<INPUT>` may only occur inside `<FORM>`.
error 61: tag <tag> not allowed within tag <tag>
  A tag occurs inside another tag that does not allow this. For example, you can't recursively use `<A>` inside `<A>`.
error 62: no attributes allowed for end-tags
  You tried to pass values to a end-tag or macro. If you need an attribute for a end-macro only, you still have to define and pass it within the start-macro; the end-macro will have access to all these attributes and its values.
warning 63: redefinition of attribute attrib
  You redefined an alredy existing attribute. If this occures during the definition of a new macro, you just tried to give two arguments the same name.
error 64: illegal attribute identifier "attribute_name"
  You have tried to use an attribute name which contains characters not allowed for that. Legal characters for attribute names are letters, digits, underscore (```_`''), period (```.`'') and hyphen (```-`'').
error 65: unknown binary operator "operator"
  Within an expression, you have used an binary operator that is not one of those mentioned in the list of operators.
error 66: illegal end-tag
  You tried to use a simple tag as a container, for example `</IMG>`
bad style 67: recommended tag <tag> missing
  A tag that ought to appear is missing.
note 68: unknown filetype
  `hsc` could not determine the size of a link destination.
error 69: illegal entity definition
  Something is wrong with a `<$defent>` or `<$deficon>` call.
warning 70: can not strip special tag <tag>
  You have tried to strip one of `hsc`'s special tags using the commandline option `StripTags`. This does not make much sense, because all these tags will not show up in the output anyway.
error 71: illegal numeric value value for attribute attrib/entity
  A numeric value must only consist of digits. Only integer values are allowed, therefor even a period (```.`'') must not be used.
warning 72: illegal color value
  A color value must fit the template ```#rrggbb`'' or be one of the values declared in the special attribute `HSC.COLOR-NAMES` defined in hsc.prefs
message 73:
  Unused or undocumented.
warning 74: unknown id id
  You forgot to specify the ID mentioned using `<A NAME=..>`, or just made a typo.
warning 75: local id id already declared
  You tried to redefine an ID that has already been declared before within the current document.
bad style 76: frames are disgusting
  This message should need no comment; anyway, read Why Frames Suck (Most of the Time) or Why Frames Suck for more details.
note 77: replacing icon-entity
  A icon-entity has been found is was replaced by an `<IMG>`. This message will only show up if you have passed the commandline option `IconBase`.
bad style 78: succeeding white space for tag <tag>
  See below.
portability problem 79: preceding white space for end tag <tag>
  These two messages point out that instead of (read the underscore (```_`'')) as a blank)

  > `<STRONG>`__important__`</STRONG>`

  you better should use

  > `<STRONG>`important`</STRONG>`

  It only affects tags like `<A>`, `<TITLE>`, headings and physical/locigal styles.

  This message might seem unreasonable, as according to the specifications for HTML readers such white spaces should be skipped. However, some browsers fail to do so.

message 80:
  Unused or undocumented.
warning 81: value for attribute attrib requires quotes
  If a attribute value contains any characters other then letters, digits, period (```.`'') or hyphen (```-`''), it needs to be quoted.
note 82: changed quotes for attribute attrib from [style] to [style]
  The quote style has been changed for a specific attribute. This message will only show up if you have passed the commandline option `QuoteStyle`.
message 83:
  Unused or undocumented.
warning 84: unknown attribute attrib for tag <tag>
  A tag call contains an unknown attribute, which was not defined with the corresponding `<$deftag>`. This does not denote a serious problem, as HTML provides a vast selection of esoteric attributes and browsers usually ignore unknown attributes, but you should confirm you did not make a typo.
error 85: unknown attribute attrib for tag <tag>
  A macro call contains an unknown attribute, which was not defined with the corresponding `<$macro>`. As it would not make sense to pass unknown attributes to macros, this is considered an error. Look at the macro declaration which attribute you meant.
warning 86: error removing file filename
  After processing an `<$exec>` with `REMOVE` enabled, the file could not be deleted. This can happen if you for example declared macros or opened container tags without closing them in the file created by an external command and included it afterwards; `hsc` keeps a lock on files that might need to be referred to later in messages.
warning 87: attribute attribute attrib is obsolete
  This attribute is considered obsolete, most likely because its function should now be implemented using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). You may still want to use it (and ignore this message) to stay compatible with older browsers.
warning 88: empty tag not closed
  A tag with empty content model was not closed in XHTML mode. Tags that are not containers may be minimized to `<TAG />` in XHTML. Actually, `<TAG>``</TAG>` would be legal, too, but `hsc` doesn't support this, both for technical reasons and because the first form is shorter. The reason for not allowing the form `<TAG/>` (note the missing blank!) is mainly a technical one, apart from the fact that it should be avoided so older browsers will still recognize the tag and throw away the slash as an unknown ``attribute''. If you forget the closing slash in a tag such as `<br />`, `hsc` will complain about it with this message and add the slash in the output. If you want to create HTML4 and XHTML from the same `hsc` source, omit the slash in the source and ignore this message.
error 89: attribute after slash
  This message shows up if you put any attributes after the closing slash in an empty tag in XHTML mode (see msg. #88 above), as in `<img src="foo.gif" / alt="bar">`.
warning 90: syntax error in CSS
  A `STYLE` attribute contained CSS specifications `hsc` could not understand. There will usually be a message hinting at the reason (such as ``missing value'', ``value foo is invalid for CSS property bar'', etc.) displayed with this warning.
warning 91: CSS style redefined
  A CSS property appeared more than once in a tag. This can happen when `hsc` tries to merge several `STYLE` attributes into one, or if you specify a `width` or `height` property while running `hsc` with the `GETSIZE` commandline option.
warning 92: dubious entity definition
  A `<$defent>` call was found that might not do what you wanted. Either you specified a RPLC code for an entity with a numeric code >255, or you tried to redefine an entity. Both may indeed be intended, in which case you should tell `hsc` to ignore this warning.
warning 93: External URI does not exist
  An external URI was found nonexistant, i.e. the server returned a 5xx or 4xx error code.
warning 94: Dubious external URI
  An external URI was checked and could not be successfully retrieved, i.e. the server returned something that was neither a success nor an error code. This includes temporarily or permanently moved resources for which the server will issue a redirect. This can usually be ignored, but for best performance you should still check and possibly adjust your link.
error 95: Cannot check external URI
  External URIs cannot currently be checked. On Unices, this is a fairly severe condition, as it means that `hsc` failed to create a network socket. On AmigaOS, it can simply mean you don't have bsdsocket.library and should get a TCP stack before asking `hsc` to use one.