Building an HELP

[RuiLoureiro]

Hi
           I want to add an window HELP in the menu iten (in my program),
           but i dont know how to build the Help and what procedure to call
           Can anyone help me ? Is there a simply example ?
           Thanks
Rui           

[ragdog]

hi

try this for open help files!

.data
szPathtoHelp db "\masm32\help\masm32.hlp",0

invoke WinHelp, NULL,addr szPathtoHelp, HELP_CONTENTS, 0

for .chm files use ShellExecute


greets

[GregL]

To create a .chm help file use HTML Help Workshop.

[RuiLoureiro]

Thanks ragdog and Greg,

Ok but how do i write a file like masm32.hlp.
Whats the format of this type of file

Rui

[ragdog]

Here is a list and helps for making
Free Help Authoring, Manual and Documentation Writing Tools.

http://www.thefreecountry.com/programming/helpauthoring.shtml

or make your Help text in RTF-Format and use RTF2HLP
http://www.ariacom.com/brRTF2HLP.asp

or use WinHelp Master 1.6

I think .chm help files is better then can you all building in html and compile this to .chm!!

greets, :U
ragdog

[GregL]

RuiLoureiro,

WinHelp (.hlp) is the older format. Notice the masm32 v10 help files have been converted to .chm format.

[lingo]

I use Help & Manual v.4.5
http://www.helpandmanual.com/

[hutch--]

Rui,

Greg is right here, later Windows versions no longer support the old Winhelp format so you need to construct the newer CHM type of help file. My suggestion is to download KOMPOSER as a free HTML page composer, create your help file first as HTML then build it into a CHM help file with the HTML workshop from Microsoft. Be warned that the HTML workshop is a bad mannered old pig to use but the compiler works fine.

[lingo]

I upgraded to Help & Manual v.5.0.3.549
New version is awesome!
Just try it.

[RuiLoureiro]

Hi all
         Thank you all
         Thank you Hutch for your suggestion.
         I have one problem Hutch: i hate HTML. So i dont go to make anything in HTML
         So i need to think how to do a simple help

Rui
         

[jj2007]

         I have one problem Hutch: i hate HTML. So i dont go to make anything in HTML
         So i need to think how to do a simple help

Use RTF2HLP, see RagDog's post above. Easy, free and straightforward, and the MS bloat factor is acceptable. If you don't need bookmarks and fancy graphics, you can use WordPad instead of Word to create the RTF, and reduce file size by 30%.

[RuiLoureiro]

Use RTF2HLP, see RagDog's post above.
'

                Thanks jj2007. I will go to try it

              EDIT:  i used RFT2HLP with Test file and it works fine in my program.
                        Thank you very much jj2007 and ragdog, Greg, Hutch and lingo
Rui

[hutch--]

Rui,

The problem wih Winhelp is it has been removed from Vista and is no longer supported where CHM is in fact no big del to do if you use a HTML composer. I suggested KOMPOSER as its much like a word processor to use but can do proper HTML as results. For Winhelp I own the 1992 version of Microsoft Word that produces correct RTF and have a complete set of macros for automating winhelp files but the new ones are easy enough to build once you get the idea of how they work.

[jj2007]

When I open hlhelp.chm, and click on "Overview", then press Control F, nothing happens.
Right-clicking does not help, either. But as an experienced client of Microsoft, I never give up, and indeed, clicking into the right pane, then pressing Control F opens a find box. So I type

function

into "Find what", and get the message "Finished searching the document". No results in the whole document  ::)

Unless there are some well-hidden options for super-power-users, for me chm is a clear case of banana marketing: let the product mature at the customer's place.

By the way: Does it already work properly on Vista? I only have XP...

[hutch--]

JJ,

I find search on CHM files useless so I don't waste my time trying to create it. I build the index and contents so they are easy enough to read and don't bother with the rest. Help with search and other facilities could be done much better but I am not going to waste the time writing the help engine to do it.