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Q: How
do I jump to a Secondary Window from a button?
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A:
If you have ever tried to make a jump to a secondary window from a
text link then you know it's pretty easy. You highlight your text,
press F4 to display the Topic jumps screen and type in "contextString>miniWin",
where contextString is the destination topic. However, the same
syntax does not work from a button, goodness knows why, but it
requires a slightly different approach. Insert a button using
"Insert | Button". Add your caption and then use the
ellipsis button next the the "Topic" radio button to
select your destination page. DotHLP will insert a Hidden macro
which will look something like this:-
JI(contextString)
Modify it so that you insert your full help file name and secondary
window name like this:-
JI(myfile.hlp>miniWin, contextString)
Now it will work! |
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Q: How
do I display the Contents from Visual Basic?
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A:
First you need a CommonDialog control on your form. In this example
I've called it "dlgCommonDialog and in the form's Load event
I've added:-
App.HelpFile =
"myfile.hlp"
dlgCommonDialog.HelpFile =
App.HelpFile
Now, you can add a menu item to display the contents and add the
following code:-
Const
HelpFinder = &HB
dlgCommonDialog.HelpCommand =
HelpFinder
dlgCommonDialog.ShowHelp
This will show the hierarchical contents. |
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Q: How do I make a jump to another CHM file?
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A:
It's a lot easier if the CHM files are in the same directory, then
you don't have to worry about path names. Also, the CHM files should
not have spaces in their names! Highlight the text you want to jump
from and press F4. In the "Jump To" field at the top of
the screen type in:-
its:Second.chm::\ChapterOne.html
Where "Second.chm" is your other chm file and "ChapterOne"
is the context string of the page you want to jump to. Always add
the ".html" extension when making this kind of jump. |
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Q: How do I display
a page in a .CHM file using the command line?
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A: Select
"Start | Run" and type in:-
hh.exe -mapid
2000 "c:\Program Files\MyTest\Test.chm"
This will display HelpID 2000. |
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Q:
How can I Merge Two help files into One?
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A: The
basic concept is that you create two separate help files and then
use one master contents file to link them together. For example,
create a new project called "A" and enter the following
two topics:-
A Cat
A Dog
And compile as normal. Now create another help file called
"B" but give it the same project directory as
"A" and add the following two topics:-
Be yourself
Be excellent to
everybody
And compile as normal. So we now have two separate help files. To
link them we first pick the master help file, in this case
"A". We link the files through the Contents. So go back to
Project "A" and click on the Contents tab.
On the bottom right you'll see
three tabs, "Link Files", "Index Files" and
"Tabs". If you click on "Index Files" and type
in "search=b.hlp" then press F8 for compile and uncheck
the "Auto Generate Contents" option and compile.
You'll now have a help file which
doesn't look very different, but if you click the Index you will now
see the two entries from our "B.HLP" file.
Now we'll merge the contents files.
Decide where you want the "B.CNT" contents to appear in
your help file, in this case you can move to the last contents
entry, then click [Add Below]. The Edit Contents Entry screen
appears. In the "Entry Type" at the top, select
"Include" and type in a Title of "b.cnt", click
OK and compile. You'll see the two help files are now merged. That's
the basic principle of modular help.
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Q:
How can I display my help file from the command-line?
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A: If
you're using NT/Win2000 then replace the "winhelp.exe"
below with "winhlp32.exe". Select "Start
| Run" from the taskbar and type in:-
winhelp.exe
"c:\Program Files\DotHLP\DotHLP.hlp"
to display the main
help file. You can also call specific pages by referencing their
HelpIDs:-
winhelp.exe
-n 3100 "c:\Program Files\DotHLP\DotHLP.hlp"
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Q: How do I share data between two installations?
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A:
Select "Tools | Backups and Restores" to create a backup
zip file that contains all your project data, including graphics.
Then copy this zip file to your second installation and select
"Tools | Backups and Restores", then select the
"Restores" tab and use the ellipsis button to find your
zip file. This will restore a perfect copy of your project. Note: If
you don't see this menu option then please select "Help |
Advanced Options" first, from the menu. |
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Q: How do I copy a Project?
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A:
Select "File | New Project" and fill in the New project
name and directories as you normally would, but instead of clicking
Next, at the bottom of the Step1 page, select the project you want
to copy from and click Finish. An exact copy of your original
project will now be created. This can be especially useful in
version control. |
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Q: How do you add fonts? I have fonts
specific to my country, i.e. "Arial CE" etc.
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A:
WinHelp is restricted to a specific number of fonts, 20 in the 32bit
version. DotHLP helps you to manage this limitation by controlling
the number of fonts within your project. If you select "Tools
| Project Font Registry" you can add or delete fonts from the
available list.
Be aware though that any fonts within your help file should also be
on your users machines. When WinHelp tries to display your font and
finds that the fonts are not present on the users system it will try
and replace the font with the nearest match based on the Charset.
This may be undesirable for you so it is recommended to stay within
the limits of the default fonts that your users are guaranteed to
have, i.e. the standard fonts that are installed by Windows. |
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Q: Why can't I see the Contents tab in my help file? It
works fine on my machine but when I copy it to another machine I
only see the Index and Find tabs?
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A:
You need to copy across the contents file. This has the same name
as your help file but has the extension "*.cnt". Once this
file is in the same directory as your help file you'll see the contents. |
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Q: Why can't I see the original context
strings in my imported help project?
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A:
When a HLP is decompiled the original context strings are not extracted
because they are not stored within the HLP file. Instead the string
that you see represents how the help file locates the jumps internally
and this context string will work for jumps within your help file.
If you have the original *.rtf and *.hpj files then you can import
the HPJ file and your context strings will be intact. |
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Q: How can I link to a web site from
my help file?
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A:
To add a link from your help topic to an internet URL you simply highlight
the text you want to be your link, select the Macro toolbar button
and type in the following:-
!ExecFile("http://www.AuricVisions.com/download.htm","",5,"")
Replacing your web address for the one above. If there is a browser
installed on the users PC then it will be loaded and the url accessed.
You can also call the email client by using the macro:-
!ExecFile("mailto:support@AuricVisions.com","",5,"") |
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Q: Can I install DotHLP/DotCHM on
more than one machine?
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A:
A license is a single-user license, unless stated otherwise. Simply
put, the license works like the analogy of reading a book, i.e. only one person can
read it at one time. A license can only be installed on one machine
and the registered user's laptop if required. If you need further licenses please let us know.
There are no restrictions or licensing issues for the help files produced.
These are all completely yours. |
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Q: My bullets look fine within DotHLP
but appear as "1"s when I compile, why?
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A:
You need to upgrade to the latest version then select "Tools
| Synchronize Font Tables". You bullets will now look the same
in DotHLP and your .HLP file. You may need to reformat your bullets
within DotHLP but from herein they will be fine. |
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Q: Why
do I see references like {bml screen.shg} instead of a graphic?
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A:
If you've imported your help file then you'll see these references
that are compiled visually but appear as text references within DotHLP.
If you insert a hypergraphic, i.e. with the extension ".shg",
then DotHLP will look to see if there is a corresponding bitmap, if
there is then that is displayed even though the hypergraphic is referenced.
If no corresponding bitmap is found then the text reference you see
above is inserted. |
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Q: Why
are some of my fonts compiling in a different color?
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A:
Your font tables are out of synch with DotHLP. This can happen when
you paste text from MS Word etc. You can remedy it by first backing
up your project then selecting "Tools | Synchronize Font Tables".
This should cure the problem. |
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Q: How do you display the Contents
from MS-Access?
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A:
Declare the WinHelp API like this:
Declare Function DisplayWinHelp
Lib "USER32" Alias "WinHelpA" (ByVal intHWnd
As Long, ByVal strHelp As String, ByVal hCommand As Long, ByVal dwData
As Any) As Long
Then add a function like this:
Function DisplayHelpContents(stFile As
String) As Boolean
Dim lngRetCode As Long
'&HB = Contents
lngRetCode = DisplayWinHelp(0, stFile, &HB, 0&)
DisplayHelpContents = True
End Function
And call it like this:
DisplayHelpContents("OrderHelp.HLP") |
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Q:
I'll have to send to my translator a revision of my project. What
files do I send?
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A:
When you select "Translation | Export for External Translation",
select the Revision option and click OK. This will create a file in
your Language Export directory called TrRevision.zip. That's all you
need to send. When you send this file to your Translator, tell them
to copy it into their "Translation Assistant" installation
directory and start the Translation Assistant. The Revision will be
automatically recognized and imported and the Translator will be presented
with a report of the additions and changes. You can do an experiment
in a temporary directory to simulate what the Translator will see. |
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Q:
I'm sending my Translator another help project to translate. Do
I need to send him a new setup.exe or can he use the first one I
sent?
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A:
You don't have to, but it depends on the Translator. If you feel that
they could be confused send them the two files, the setup.exe and
the trdata.zip. Otherwise send them just the new trdata.zip and tell
them to copy it into a temporary directory with the original setup.exe,
then install the setup.exe. The important point is to tell them to
install into a new directory, not the same directory as the previous
translation. Each translation must be kept separate. |
