Maintaining window-level Help

Whenever changes are made to the application, you may need to update your window-level Help topics to reflect these changes. Changes in the application affect:

To efficiently maintain your window-level Help, follow these guidelines:

For this type of change:

Do this:

Obsolete features (dialogs, message boxes and windows are removed from the application)

Unassign the aliases you created for the obsolete window-level Help topics.

Remove the obsolete window-level Help topics from the project.

Updated and improved features (a dialog is changed to include new controls, some fields are removed)

Edit the content of the topics in the WYSIWYG Editor so they accurately explain how to use the features.

Names of dialogs and windows are changed

Rename the topic titles and, if necessary, the topic file names (.HTM).

New features (for example, new dialogs are added)

Create new window-level topics.

Create new aliases.

New map files (for new features)

Import the map files into the project BEFORE creating the aliases for the new topics.

Updated map files (for new and/or existing features)

Update the existing map file by removing the obsolete map file and importing the updated one. Do this BEFORE creating or updating the aliases.

 

WARNING!

  • If you’re creating both text-only topics and window-level topics, avoid using the same map file for both.

  • Each time you update your context-sensitive Help, be sure to test all topics that have been changed or added.