Adding Help To My Application

2 Aug 2006 12:12 PM

darjonase

Alright all...

I want to add a help section to my application and I am having some
trouble. I know you can use the HTML Help Workshop, but this
application is dreadful. It is very old school with having to add HTML
tags all over the place. I downloaded and am currently using version
4.74.8702.0 (copyright 96-99), which as far as I can tell is the
latest.

Is there no other way to implement help? Can't I somehow use a tool
like Dreamweaver or Frontpage?

This is killing me and is the number one reason I have NEVER
implemented a help section in any of my applications.

Thanks for any input,
Darian

2 Aug 2006 12:26 PM

Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]

<darjon***@gmail.com> schrieb:

> I want to add a help section to my application and I am having some
> trouble. I know you can use the HTML Help Workshop, but this
> application is dreadful. It is very old school with having to add HTML
> tags all over the place. I downloaded and am currently using version
> 4.74.8702.0 (copyright 96-99), which as far as I can tell is the
> latest.
>
> Is there no other way to implement help? Can't I somehow use a tool
> like Dreamweaver or Frontpage?

There are some third-party tools which provide the functionatliy of HTML
Help Workshop and additional features. However, note that it should be
possible to create the HTML files using another tool like Frontpage and use
these files in your HTML Help Workshop project.

--
M S Herfried K. Wagner
M V P <URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/>
V B <URL:http://classicvb.org/petition/>

2 Aug 2006 12:58 PM

MyndPhlyp

<darjon***@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1154520762.376347.303300@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Alright all...
>
> I want to add a help section to my application and I am having some
> trouble. I know you can use the HTML Help Workshop, but this
> application is dreadful. It is very old school with having to add HTML
> tags all over the place. I downloaded and am currently using version
> 4.74.8702.0 (copyright 96-99), which as far as I can tell is the
> latest.
>
> Is there no other way to implement help? Can't I somehow use a tool
> like Dreamweaver or Frontpage?

ROFL! Yeah, HTML Help is a bit of a "chore" to use. Not very intuitive; the
editor is worse than using Notepad (or vi for those of us who use *NIX); and
the Help subsystem is... rather lacking.

Direct answer to your question: Yes, you can use any WYGWYG (What You Got Is
What You Get) HTML editor. Dumb it down to HTML 4.01 rather than XHTML.
[i.e., a break tag should be <br> rather than <br />.] You can link in CSS
or have it embedded in the pages. I've tried maintaining directory
structures within the "site" using relative URLs but the HTML Help compiler
had a tendency to mess up on the links. As a result I now maintain all my
pages in the root directory. You can embed JavaScript too.

A fair resource for HTML Help can be found here:

http://www.mshelpwiki.com/

Also, don't overlook the newsgroup:

news://microsoft.pub.helpauthoring

The Help file, and your Help project, should reside on the local machine. A
security patch from Redmond (I don't recall which one offhand)
prevents/hinders execution of Help and EXEs that reside on mapped drives by
default. [Silly actually especially when the Help and/or EXE reside on the
server that authenticated the user. But that's just IMO.]

If you haven't taken up drinking yet, now would be a good time.

4 Aug 2006 3:49 AM

ric_deez

Seriously mate,

Have a look at an application called Help n manual or something
similar. I spent about $100 bucks on it a couple of years ago and it
has paid for itself many times over.

No, I don't work there, but would thoroughly recommend the app.

Regards,

Ric
darjon***@gmail.com wrote:
Show quoteHide quote

> Alright all...
>
> I want to add a help section to my application and I am having some
> trouble. I know you can use the HTML Help Workshop, but this
> application is dreadful. It is very old school with having to add HTML
> tags all over the place. I downloaded and am currently using version
> 4.74.8702.0 (copyright 96-99), which as far as I can tell is the
> latest.
>
> Is there no other way to implement help? Can't I somehow use a tool
> like Dreamweaver or Frontpage?
>
> This is killing me and is the number one reason I have NEVER
> implemented a help section in any of my applications.
>
> Thanks for any input,
> Darian