Improved Help files

[Black Mamba]

Hello!

First of all, thanks for this nice file manager I've discovered recently. I have one small request now (there will be others ): could you improve the Help file? I mean you could switch to the more elegant .chm system. The actual .hlp is looking... old to me. And is pretty hard to find fast what I need.

[admin]

I have one small request now (there will be others ): could you improve the Help file? I mean you could switch to the more elegant .chm system. The actual .hlp is looking... old to me. And is pretty hard to find fast what I need.

Hi! I tell you what: I hate the whole help business. But, of course, it has to be done. And yes, .hlp is looking old to me, too.

Now, what is the least sweaty way to migrate from hlp to chm? Is there a conversion tool? How do I edit a chm project? Any help (no pun intended) appreciated...

[Black Mamba]

Sorry, I'm not experienced at all with this kind of job. But I looked a little bit for a solution.

I wanted to know if there are any freeware programs that will enable me to convert a hlp file to a chm file apart from html help workshop. If there isn't could somebody give me a basic guide on how i can do this with html workshop.

You need to have the project file (not compiled) to convert the .hlp file to convert to .chm

If you start with a new project then you can start with first screen to select the convert file.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/defau ... 1Start.asp

http://www.herdsoft.com/linux/themen/hlp_to_chm.html

[CyGho]

How do I edit a chm project?

HelpMaker is a free tool to edit chm files:
http://www.vizacc.com/

[admin]

How do I edit a chm project?

HelpMaker is a free tool to edit chm files:
http://www.vizacc.com/

Thanks. Have you tried it?

[CyGho]

Yes i've tested it for my site (i only place programs witch i tested out). I installed it again to see if you can import the xyplorer.hlp file and compile it to chm (choose HTML-help at compile settings) and that works (see screenshot). There will be a little editing to do i'm sure but it will save a lot of work:

[admin]

Yes i've tested it for my site (i only place programs witch i tested out). I installed it again to see if you can import the xyplorer.hlp file and compile it to chm (choose HTML-help at compile settings) and that works (see screenshot). There will be a little editing to do i'm sure but it will save a lot of work.

Cool, thanks!

[admin]

Yes i've tested it for my site.

One more question: in XY you can display little free floating help windows (e.g. click Help in the File View's ctx menu). Is this (aka context-sensitive help) possible with chm?

[admin]

Another point to consider:

The most important disadvantages of HTML Help are that it requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 or later, plus the HTML Help ActiveX library, and it is an order of magnitude slower than WinHelp. If your customers may still be using Windows 95 or NT4, using HTML Help is not recommended. These operating systems do not support HTML Help out of the box, and Windows 95 machines are probably too slow to work with HTML Help comfortably. Even though WinHelp may be a little bit old-fashioned, it is still fully supported by the latest versions of Windows, like 2000 and XP.

[admin]

How do I edit a chm project?

HelpMaker is a free tool to edit chm files:
http://www.vizacc.com/

I tried the latest version I could find:
HelpMaker v7.2 Build #4 - version 7.02.004
Source: http://www.vizacc.com/downloads/vahelp72004.exe

But it did not work for me: neither importing XYplorer.hpj nor decompiling XYplorer.hlp generated anything but rubbish.
Also, the program appears far too feature-loaded for my purposes.

So, can anybody recommend a simple and functioning help authoring tool, that can import an existing .hpj project and generate plain Windows .hlp files? (Freeware would be nice.) Please don't recommend anything you don't know from your prolonged personal experience! I've tested about 30 such tools and all were disappointing.