This program is FREEWARE. It may be freely copied, as long as no files are changed and no files are added (expect foreign language translations), especially viruses are forbidden :-)
It may be freely used.
It my NOT be passed on by public domain libraries or as gift for commercial product (such as magazines, computers etc.) without permission by me.
The author is in no way responsible for any damage caused by 'HelpUpdate' or 'HelpUpdate Frontend'.
Purpose:
========
To update StrongHelp compatible help texts.
Possible Usages:
- For big help files updates may be distributed, containing only changed help pages. This saves time and money, especially when distributing via phone line. Use together with HelpDiff from the same author.
- To merge texts written by hand with those created by the compter. Created by computer means eg. extracted from source code.
Installation:
=============
HelpUpdate
----------
needs no installation.
HelpUpdate Frontend
-------------------
HelpUpdate may reside inside a directory along Run$Path, eg. for usage with Make, or stay inside the application directory.
The command for starting HelpUpdate may be changed inside the file 'Messages', see tag 'COMMAND'. It is by default set to 'TaskWindow "HelpUpdateRun:HelpUpdate %0 %1 %2"'. This may be changed, eg. to run the program faster, outside Taskwindow. Another possibility is to use !Virtual, but this is not tested. The parameters '%0 %1 %2' must not be changed and must follow 'HelpUpdate' immediately. HelpUpdateRun: is set to "<Obey$Dir>.,<Run$Path>" and should suit most cases.
The language the program uses may be configured, if the automatically selected one does not suit. See below, 'ResFind'.
Usage:
=====
HelpUpdate
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Call: HelpUpdate <original> <update> [<output>]
All parameters must name directories - in the case of the third parameter, <output>, it do not need to exist -, containig StrongHelp help files, 'HelpData' and 'Index'. HelpUpdate takes the <original> directory, adds all help pages from the <update> directory and writes the result into the <output> directory. If this is not given in the command line, <original> will be overwritten. If both <original> and <update> contain help pages with identical names, which should be the normal case, the page from <update> will be taken, for obvious reasons.
HelpUpdate Frontend
-------------------
The Frontend is a WIMP-Application. It will be started with a double-click and opens a window in the middle of the screen. The three lines correspond to the three parameters of HelpUpdate. Original: and Update: may be set by dragging the directories onto the writeable icons. By setting Original: Output: will be set, too, as long as there is no value entered before. Output: can be set in the usual way with a save dialogue box, that pops up after clicking SELECT on the arrow to the right. All values may be entered by hand, of course. Clicking SELECT on the OK button starts HelpUpdate (see installation). Clicking SELECT on th RESET button resets all values. The program quits with closing the window or by selecting Quit in the menu.
!HelpUpd adapts automatically to the configured language if the corresponding messages etc. are available. For this purpose a Resources directory is contained in the application in which a subdirectory for each language supported resides. If the language you need isn't in there, please feel free to duplicate any of these language directories and translate the contents.
When you run the program a utility called ResFind is called which reads the language your computer is configured to and then looks for the corresponding language directory. If this fails the program will run in English (UK). By setting several system variables (best done in your system's !Boot file) you can change the language looked for. With this you can make sure a program runs in a certain language, e.g. to avoid a weird translation. Furthermore it is possible to name several languages you prefer to English.
This is controlled by three system variables:
HelpUpdate$Language, ResFind$LanguagesPref und ResFind$Languages$Suff.
When running the application ResFind looks for the first language supported along the following list of languages:
1. Contents of the variable HelpUpdate$Language
2. Contens of the variable ResFind$LanguagesPref
3. The configured language
4. Contens of the variable ResFind$LanguagesSuff
5. UK
Take a Norwegian user for example (lots of great programs come from there) whose computer is configured to 'Norway'. Since this language isn't too common in Europe most programs won't support it - except for Norwegian ones. But our user is pretty good in German and French but not too fond of English. Therefore he prefers these languages to UK and would thus put the following line in his system's !Boot file:
*Set ResFind$LanguagesSuff Germany,France
Running an applications (such as this one) using ResFind the list of languages looked for is 'Norway,Germany,France,UK'.
In case this user hat an application calles !Pete supporting the language 'Humor' the line
*Set Pete$Language Humor
in the !Boot file makes sure !Pete will run humorous.
