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1994-07-10
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Manual for HHELP Version 1.0
July 1994
-------------------------------------------------------
HHELP is Copyright (c) 1994. All Rights Reserved
Adlersparre & Associates Inc.
304-1803 Douglas Street,
Victoria, BC,
Canada, V8T 5C3
Phone: (604) 384-1118 Fax: (604) 384-3363
Email: uf499@freenet.victoria.bc.ca
Bulletin Board Support:
----------------------
Management Advancement Services (MAS)
New York City
Modem: (718) 444-4555
Adlersparre & Associates Inc.
Victoria, BC
Modem: (604) 384-3564
Product support is available through Email, BBS or FAX only
HHELP Overview
--------------
HHELP is a DOS program which will display Windows 3.1
format help files without Windows (or in a DOS box
running in Windows). HHELP supports hypertext jumps,
popups, keyword search, bookmarks, and multiple help
files (selectable from a menu). You can launch your
favorite graphics display program to present graphic
images from wherever you wish in the text. Includes
screen capture functions and mouse support. You can
use HHELP to display your own help files. You can
also display them from within your favorite applica-
tions or from within your own software.
This manual is for the evaluation release of HHELP.EXE. The evalua-
tion version is fully featured with no disabled functions. If after 30
days of evaluation you decide to continue to use the product, you must
register HHELP. The cost is $35.00 (US). You will receive the current
NON-EVALUATION version of HHELP, a help file containing full
documentation, and several useful help files which may be used under
Windows or with HHELP under DOS.
Corporate and Government site licenses are available for HHELP and
must be obtained for the use of HHELP in any organization.
HHELP Features
--------------
HHELP is a DOS program which will display Windows 3.1 format help
files in text mode under DOS without Windows or in a DOS box running
in Windows.
HHELP will read and display almost any Windows help file created with
the HC31.EXE or HCP.EXE help compilers.
HHELP supports many of the help features found in the WINHELP Windows
utility, such as jumps, popups, keyword search, bookmarks, and
multiple help files.
HHELP supports text, not graphics. HHELP does not support external
GLOSSARY files or non-scrolling text regions. You can, however define
hotspots in a help file which will trigger HHELP to load and execute a
graphics viewer program of your choice. A sample viewer with a .GIF
image is provided as a demonstration.
HHELP captures the current screen when invoked, and will also allow
you to load a data file. In the screen and data file windows, HHELP
senses words or phrases which match those in the internal help file
keyword list as the mouse is moved over them.
You can click the left button on a data screen and go immediately to
the help topic, or click the right button and go into the search menu
to the closest keyword phrase match. Thus you have true context
sensitive help.
Installation
------------
You should run the INSTALL.EXE program supplied with HHELP to install
the software for you.
The install program will ask if it is ok to add C:\HHELP to your PATH
statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT. If this is done, all the files copied into
C:\HHELP can remain there. If not, you must move the files to subdirec-
tories in your PATH, or you must make C:\HHELP your current directory
before starting HHELP. In any case, the HHELP.INI file MUST be located
in C:\HHELP for this evaluation to work, even if C:\HHELP is not added
to your path.
For this evaluation version, all HHELP related files must exist in the
subdirectory C:\HHELP which will be created by the INSTALL program.
The HHELP related files which reside in C:\HHELP are:
HHELP.EXE the hhelp program
HHLOAD.EXE the TSR to invoke HHELP
AVLOAD.EXE the TSR to invoke graphics viewer(s)
HVIEW.EXE a sample graphic viewer from A&A Inc.
HHELP.INI the HHELP configuration file
HH.BAT a sample batch file to load the TSRs
HHU.BAT a sample batch file to unload the TSRs
HHELP.HLP a help file containing information on using HHELP
FIRSTAID.HLP a sample help file for Windows or HHELP
IMAGE.GIF a sample graphic for viewing .PCX or .GIF files
HHELP.DOC this file you are reading
Customizing HHELP with the HHELP.INI File
-----------------------------------------
You can define HHELP's Categories, Help Files, Search Paths and
Graphics Viewers by editing the HHELP.INI file:
Help files are located in subdirectories of your choice and are
defined in the [MenuPath] section in HHELP.INI.
Graphics files are located in subdirectories of your choice and are
defined in the [GraphicsPath] section in HHELP.INI.
Any graphics viewer programs you will be using are defined in the
[Viewers] section of the HHELP.INI file. You MUST have the AVLOAD
and HHLOAD TSR programs loaded in memory for the graphics viewer
programs to work.
You should read through the comments in the supplied HHELP.INI file
and modify this file to suit your requirements.
In order to take advantage of loading viewers and displaying graphics,
you must create your own help files with special hotspots defined.
These are not the jump or popup hotspots found in Windows help files,
but are defined as words in bright magenta. Each word is the name of a
file, without the extension, prefixed with a special character which
identifies its graphics viewer.
* Important Note * - In order to minimize the use of conventional or
upper memory, it is recommended that LIM Expanded memory be made
available. This reduces the size of the AVLOAD and HHLOAD TSR
programs considerably, since when not in use, they reside there.
Getting Started
---------------
There are two TSR programs (AVLOAD.EXE and HHLOAD.EXE) which can be
used to load the HHELP program whenever you press ALT+?. But you don't
have to use them right away. To test HHELP you can run it from the DOS
command line and specify a help file. This will skip reading the
HHELP.INI file. Use the DOS command:
HHELP C:\HHELP\HHELP.HLP
In order to display graphics with the graphics viewer, you must
load AVLOAD and HHLOAD into memory before starting HHELP. If they
are loaded, HHELP may be run from the DOS command line or started
with the ALT+? keys, and the graphics will be displayed when selec-
ted as hotspots.
The two TSRs are loaded in memory (conventional or upper memory) as
per the example in HH.BAT supplied. Each TSR takes about 1400 bytes.
They MUST be loaded in the order shown in the HH.BAT sample batch
file, using the parameters shown. The must also be unloaded in the
order shown in the HHU.BAT sample batch file.
To invoke the HHELP program, press ALT+?. This will swap out the
current application and load the HHELP program. A mouse is needed
to use HHELP.
Press ALT+H and H to load a HELP ON HELP help file which will assist
you in navigating through the windows. If you are familiar with
Windows, you already know how to use HHELP. The help on help file is
included and is called HHELP.HLP.
Go through the tutorial in the HELP ON HELP file to see more options
and keys you can use.
To exit HHELP and return to the application, or to the DOS command
line, press ALT+X.
How Is HHELP Used
-----------------
HHELP can be started from the DOS command line or through the use of
the memory resident HHLOAD.EXE TSR program which requires about 1400
bytes. If you are using the graphics display feature in HHELP, you
will also need to load the memory resident AVLOAD.EXE TSR program
which will need about 1400 bytes also.
Using HHELP from the DOS command line is simply a matter of entering
the HHELP command. A menu is presented from the HHELP.INI file
specifications which allows you to select a help file.
You can also include the name of a help file on the command line which
will bypass the first menu and go immediately into the named help
file. While using the help file, you can press F1 and get the original
menu of help files so you can open and use more than one help file
simultaneously.
HHELP is invoked by a TSR program which activates with ALT+? to swap
the current application to EMS, XMS or DISK, capture the current
screen and invoke the help facility. The HHELP= environment variable
may be set so that a given .HLP help file is automatically invoked,
such as SET HHELP=FIRSTAID to invoke the FIRSTAID.HLP file.
You can even use the ALT+? keystrokes while under Windows in a DOS box
to invoke HHELP.
The Categories, Help Files, Search Paths and Graphics Viewers are
defined in a file called HHELP.INI.
How to Find Out More About HHELP
--------------------------------
After you have installed HHELP, review the HHELP.HLP help file. It
contains a tutorial and many helpful hints on using windows, keys,
bookmarks, search keys and other HHELP features.
Note the option in the HH.BAT batch file which will let HHELP run
in 50-line mode (if your monitor supports this mode). Showing more
text on the screen makes reading the tutorial easier.
How to Create Help Files
------------------------
There are some commercial programs available to assist with creating
help files. ROBOHELP and Help Magician are both examples of programs
for this purpose. They create Windows help files, but the files they
create can usually be displayed by HHELP under DOS without Windows.
There are also some new and exciting shareware programs which will
assist you in creating Windows help files which HHELP will also be
able to process. HHELP will process version 3.1 or later files.
You can also manually create help files using Word for Windows and a
Visual Basic manual. That method is somewhat slower than using a
program which can automate the process.
You can display most Windows help files with HHELP, but the real use
of this product is for displaying your own help files.
You can take advantage of the quick and easy display functions under
DOS. This would be a great way to turn those old 286 and 386 machines
into user friendly workstations.
Using HHELP you can create help files which run on top of any
application but do not require any changes to the application. Since
HHELP displays the screen or any data file, you can have immediate
context sensitive help for any application.
Since HHELP will load graphics viewers, you can integrate help into
imaging or GIS programs.
Other Products From Adlersparre & Associates Inc.
-------------------------------------------------
We are the creators of:
STASH Disk Filer Cross platform data compression for:
---------------- UNIX, DOS, OS/2, MVS, VM, VMS, VSE,
AS/400, UNISYS, ICL and others.
Stash provides complete ultra fast data compression and data
conversion with utilities and libraries for most platforms.
Wylbur/AT Text editor and programmable system for DOS
--------- and OS/2.
Wylbur/AT is very close in functionality to the mainframe Wylbur
product, providing screen edit commands and programmable EXEC files
which are almost completely compatible with the mainframe.
Wylbur/AT provides an English language command set to create
application programs with an interactive user interface.
Dynamic Memory Control DOS utilities for loading and removing
---------------------- Device Drivers and TSR programs.
DMC provides the ability to load and remove Device Drivers and
memory resident programs without rebooting. Loads ramdrives, network
drivers and a host of other drivers normally used in CONFIG.SYS, but
lets you unload them again even from a batch file.
Help Files
----------
We are also specialists in writing and formatting help files and Visual
Basic applications using the latest imaging and scanning graphics
presentation tools. Please contact us to discuss your help file and
technical writing requirements.