Help File

This command will display the help file specified, and, if you also include a context value, will go right to that page.

The one command will work with both (.HLP) or (.CHM) Since the release of Windows Vista the .HLP type help files are no longer being supported.

WHELP f/c/e

Required - This is the name of the help file to use. If it's not in the current subdirectory, you must also include a complete path.

TOPIC f/c/e

If you specify a value here it will be searched for in the index of the help file. If found, the appropriate page will be displayed. This is checked first before the Context option.

CONTEXT f/c/e

The context value of the page you want to start with. If this is set to 0 the program will start at the contents page.

COMMENTS

At the current time this command only works with Windows Help (.HLP) and (.CHM) files.

NOTE: My HTML Help file doesn't work on a network drive – I just see error messages instead of the topic pages!

Recent security updates to Windows XP have introduced some severe restrictions for accessing HTML Help files across network drives. Under Windows XP most file links in HTML Help files will now generally not work at all and HTML Help itself is also severely restricted. Without registry changes on the user's computer HTML Help now cannot be used at all on networks. More details and a fix for this problem are available New CHM Network Registration Tool: If you decide not to edit the registry you can always copy the help file to a local hard drive.

Sample

//******************************************************************************

// do_help - This now uses the standard Adv7Docs.CHM file. Now supports .chm

//******************************************************************************

:do_help

#proc

define do_help_field type a size 15 local

define do_help_prg type a size 8 local

define do_help_desc type a size 30 local

func do_help

do_help_desc = ''

//display any help for the option if it is available

do_help_desc = parsefile(whoami(),pfName)

if mid(up(do_help_desc),1,4) <> 'WTAS' then \

if mid(up(do_help_desc),1,3) = 'WBK' then delc do_help_desc start 1 nchr 1

// we are using the tpath INI file path because we also will be copying the .chm file

// to WS folder on there local drive.

if FILE_EXISTS(tpath()+'adv7Docs.chm')

// use the new .chm HTML Help file format

whelp tpath()+'adv7Docs.chm' topic do_help_desc

else

// use old winhelp32.exe .hlp format not supported by VISTA Op system.

whelp tpath()+'adv7Docs' topic do_help_desc

endif

ret .t.

#endp

::end of do_help proc

Page url: http://www.cassoftware.com/tas/manual/helpfile.htm