Thread View: borland.public.cppbuilder.nativeapi
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Started by Phil Manger
Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:40
"Upgrading" help system
Author: Phil Manger
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:40
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:40
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I don't know whether this is the appropriate newsgroup in which to ask this question. The release of Vista has forced on me a task I had been hoping to avoid. As most of you probably know, Vista (as a result of a deliberate decision by Microsoft) breaks help systems that call on winhlp32.exe -- in other words most help systems developed with all versions of C++ Builder up through 6.0 (I haven't checked out BDS 2006 yet). I have a bunch of old applications that use the old Windows help system, and I need to change them because the apps are still "live". I've already successfully incorporated HTML Help in a recent project -- I had no trouble implib-ing hhctrl.ocx to htmlhelp.lib. But the project and help system were both designed for HTML Help from the ground up. I did not use the ICustomHelpViewer interface, but just used Windows API function calls to link the help system to the application. Is there any compelling reason to go back into those old apps and insert ICustomHelpViewer? Or can I just trap for F1 keystrokes on the controls of interest (it's the context-sensitive help that give me the most concern here) and use the API function calls? (I've heard that using the Application OnHelp event doesn't always work.) Windows HTML Help workshop has a feature that converts your old help pages to .htm files, but it looks like there still would be a lot of work to do on the HTML side if I use the ICustomHelpViewer approach -- not to mention, ICustomHelpViewer does not appear to be all that easy to use on the application side. Using API calls, I could just simply call up the .htm pages I need. Maybe someone reading this has already done a conversion and could advise me on this. Phil Manger
Re: "Upgrading" help system
Author: Phil Manger
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:08
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:08
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Phil Manger wrote: > Windows HTML Help workshop has a feature that converts your old help > pages to .htm files, but it looks like there still would be a lot of > work to do on the HTML side if I use the ICustomHelpViewer approach -- > not to mention, ICustomHelpViewer does not appear to be all that easy to > use on the application side. Using API calls, I could just simply call > up the .htm pages I need. > Here's an addendum to this post: Yes, HTML Help workshop converts old help pages to .htm files and they are viewable in a web browser and will compile into a .chm file. But they don't look anything like the original help pages, and quite a bit of work has to be done on them before they are presentable, whether you use ICustomHelpViewer or not. Phil Manger
Re: "Upgrading" help system
Author: poojo hackma
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:44
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:44
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Just a comment: I really liked the help system used by Builder 6. (Is that winhlp32.exe? I just use the help. I don't create it.) BDS and Visual Studio both use the HTML help. This system responds slower to selections (because of the browser interface), eliminates the helpful context sensitive index search, and hogs more desktop space than I care for. I'm sure it is easier for large companies like Microsoft to develop help systems like this, because they only have to create one set of help files that can be posted on their website or shipped with their product. Not all companies develop online help pages, so their performance drops. I think it should be a developer's choice: HTML help or winhlp32. Like I said, just a comment.
Re: "Upgrading" help system
Author: Jim Dodd
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:01
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:01
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Phil Manger wrote: > Phil Manger wrote: >> Windows HTML Help workshop has a feature that converts your old help >> pages to .htm files, but it looks like there still would be a lot of >> work to do on the HTML side if I use the ICustomHelpViewer approach >> -- not to mention, ICustomHelpViewer does not appear to be all that >> easy to use on the application side. Using API calls, I could just >> simply call up the .htm pages I need. >> > Here's an addendum to this post: > > Yes, HTML Help workshop converts old help pages to .htm files and they > are viewable in a web browser and will compile into a .chm file. But > they don't look anything like the original help pages, and quite a bit > of work has to be done on them before they are presentable, whether you > use ICustomHelpViewer or not. > > Phil Manger Hi Phil, I'm not sure if this will do any good but there is an HTML Help kit available from the Helpware Group for C++ Builder (and for Delphi on the same page) here: http://www.helpware.net/downloads/index.htm#TheCBuilderHHKit I haven't tried this so I can't say whether it will work in your situation. Good luck. This sounds like a task we are all going to be stuck with in the future. Regards, Jim Dodd Onset Computer Corp.
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