Copyright: (c) TK Boyd 12 Jult 00


Contents
Morse Partner (CD44)       (*.HLP ver: 24 June 00)

     Help file contents:

Introduction to the program

How to prevent the nag messages

Full table of Morse Code

A starter set of codes

To upgrade to the registered version

Recent news, and descriptions of other freeware and shareware can be found at...

            http://www.arunet.co.uk/tkboyd/offers.htm

The boring bits: (c) and version

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Intro
Introduction

Want to learn to send Morse code? With this program if you tap in Morse on a key of your computer's keyboard, what you tap will appear on the screen.

I.e.: Tap a key briefly 3 times, pause, press a key for longer three times, pause, and finally tap a key briefly three times... and you will see SOS on the screen because   ...  - - -  ...   is Morse code for SOS.

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If you have not tried the program, please be aware that when you do you will see things on the screen to reinforce your learning experience.

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PLEASE pass on CC44. It works, but you have to endure nag messages. Buy the registered version to escape them.

See also...	Getting rid of the nag messages

Thoughts on using the program

(Why "CD44'? The name derives from CoDe program)

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Some finer points of the program's operation:

The main objective of this program is to help you learn the Morse code.

Sending Morse well is much more than knowing A is .-, B is -..., etc... but knowing the code is a start!

The program does not set out to make you a good sender.

The shareware version (and, at the time of writing this help file, the better version) can only accept code sent at one speed. However, if you know the following, you can get good results, at least in terms of the display of what you send.

A 'Dit' is any keypress shorter than a pre-set interval. A longer keypress... however long it may be!... is a 'Dah'. If you send the next Dit or Dah quickly enough, it will be considered part of the current letter. Wait longer, and the Dit Dahs to date will generate a letter. The pause length is how the computer distinguishes between EEE (Dit- pause- Dit- pause Dit) and S (DitDitDit).

If you pause even longer than the pause that separates the Dit/Dahs of a single letter, you will get an underscore (i.e. '_') on the screen to stand for an inter-word space. You will never get more than one underscore between words, no matter how long the pause. If you want a good display on the screen, it pays to think ahead before you start each word. Think ahead about the code for each letter in the word.

It is possible that there is a flaw in the part of the program which is supposed to recognize inter-word pauses. If you get underscores when you shouldn't, my apologies, don't be down hearted! (The flaw, if it exists, only gives rise to extra underscores, and never to two in a row. I'm not sure if it is my beginner's Morse sending or the program giving rise to some unexpected underscores when I test it!)

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Table of Morse Codes
Full Table of Morse Codes

A .-	B -...	C -.-.	D -..	E .	F ..-.

G --.	H ....	I ..	J .---	K -.-	L .-..

M --	N -.	O ---	P .--.	Q --.-	R .-.

S ...	T -	U ..-	V ...-	W .--	X -..-

Y -.--	Z --..

0 -----	1 .----	2 ..---	3 ...--	4 ....-	5 .....

6 -....	7 --...	8 ---..	9 ----.

Other characters provided for in the program:

hyphen -....	period (full stop) .-.-.-

comma --..--	apostrophe .----

quotes .-..-.	'Ch' ----

/ -..-.	? ..--..	colon ---...

Codes of more than six dits/dahs will cause a couple of spaces to be inserted in the output.

Other codes will either result in /unknown/ or something like /..--/ which is what you get for the unknown code ..--

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Starter set of codes

These are some codes to learn first.

After each group are some words you can send with those letters.

S --- O ...

SOS

E . T - I .. M -- A .- U ..- V ...- W .--

Eat Wet Mats To Meet Vets

H .... D -.. B -... G --. R .-.

Had I An Arm I Might Swim

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Sound

The program does not emit any sound. If this is a major hassle to you, and you have purchased the better version, contact me.

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Plea
Plea to parents and teachers

Please do not assume that you can just put this on a child's computer and leave the child to get on with it. Unless you show your interest, the program will not be used very often. Encourage the child to keep a log of when the program was used, etc.

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Order best ver
Ordering the better version

Good news: To upgrade to the nagless version, you only need to add a small file to the same folder as the program you already have!

Besides removing the nags, if I can overcome some programming , the better version will allow you to adjust the speed of transmission the program accepts.

For developments since this help file was written, visit my site on the web at...

    http://www.arunet.co.uk/tkboyd/offers.htm

____________________

N.B. Your copy of the program will be customized to state the limitations on it's use.

It will have something on the screen after the words "Allowed user:", e.g. it will have "Allowed user: Mr A. Brown"

I would consider legitimate "use" by Fred to include any use in Fred's home or by people directly under his personal, in-the-same-room-with, supervision. If you want a license for an organization, e.g. 'For use by Centerville School', please tell me the size of the school, the pupils' ages, what the school's fees are (if any), and propose a license fee. Because of the nature of Morse Partner, I am going to be especially sympathetic to schools wanting site licenses for modest fees.

Please check my web site for some general geographical licenses I have granted. For example, at the time of composing this help file, anyone could have, free, a copy licensed for use in Russia.

I won't prepare your copy of the registered version without the above information!

______________________

If you order the better version, you will be sent a small text file. All you have to do is copy it to the folder in which the free version of the program resides. (See Making Ini File Work, if need be.)

______________________________________

Click here for an order form.

By the way.....

A little plea for sympathy, registration, what have you:

I enjoyed writing the underlying program. Since finishing that, I have spent over eight hours on the fiddley bits "needed" to publish the program for you... and I'm not done yet... with this draft. Next I have to write a PAD file, zip everything up, post it on the internet, update my online catalogue.... and then I can start trying to interest distributors... and providing customer support.

PLEASE register the shareware you use!

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Order form

Reluctant to send cash to an unknown person at a P.O. Box number? See special offer.

There is no charge for delivery by internet, but please add $5 / £3 if you want a disc mailed to you.

Please enclose US$15 or UK£10. If paying by check, please make payable to TK Boyd. Price subject to change. Details at my web site.

Because of the nature of this program, I am going to be especially sympathetic to schools wanting site licenses.

==============

From:  <A general indication (town, region, country) would be of interest even if you want delivery by email. Don't forget: Precise postal address needed if you want the registration key sent to you by snailmail. Also, I will wait for your check to clear if I don't have your address. Sorry!>

Name, address.....

  From:  ______________________________________________

|

|

|

|

|

Please send registered version of Morse Partner (CD44). I undertake

NOT to pass on the .ini file that will be provided; I understand that it is for use as described in next section.

Please set it up with the following short text after "Allowed user:" (Puzzled? See details)

    >>>  PUT SOMETHING HERE v v v v  ( Best: a name.... )

________________________________________________

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|

|

(Just print and put in window envelope, if you like...)

________________________________________________

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| TO:

|

|	TK Boyd, Sheepdog Software

|	PO Box 367            ** USA **

|	Essex, CT, 06426

|

|

============

Thank you!

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Trust

You don't know me; I don't know you.

If you send cash, will you get what you're paying for?

If I send product, will I get cash?

If you would like a safeguard, here's a proposal:

Send me one check payable to me for US$1 or UK£1. (Why?)

Also send to me a check from the same account payable to a mutually acceptable charity for the balance of what you would pay me. I will not present that check immediately.

I will send your registration key, probably immediately, though I reserve the right to wait for the check to clear. Once you have the key, send me a check for the amount on the charity's check. I will then cash my check and destroy (or return, if you send an sae) the charity's check.

______________

Better yet.... just take a chance and send one check/ cheque payable to me!  :-)

If you use AltaVista or DejaNews and look at newsgroup archives, you will find that I have been a presence on the net for some time, at the address given, and I don't think you'll find anyone complaining of bad treatment from me! If someone is defrauded, it is easy enough to post a warning to other citizens of the net.

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Email

My eddress is....

100665.1141@compuserve.com

There is also a "send me email" button on my web page.

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Boring
The Boring Bits- TMA48, TMA49

The program is (c) TK Boyd, Sheepdog Software.   Rights reserved, except as noted below.

Please DO pass on CD44. It has been released so that potential customers can evaluate the program.

Please do NOT pass on any access key you may be provided with. If you have an access key, the program's exec file (CD44) is not changed. Please do pass that on... just don't pass on the ini file you are using.

See also... Contents

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Disable nag
How to disable the nag messages

Two levels of access are available for this program.

It can be used immediately by anyone who downloads it from the internet. However, such users will encounter nag messages.

You can buy an access key to eliminate the nag messages. This gives you 'second level' access.

Click here to learn about the second level of access.

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Ini file installation

Once you have an ini file (initializations... see Order best version for details), you merely copy it to the same folder as CD44.exe, the shareware version of the program.

If, after you have done this, you (re-)run CD44 (Morse Partner), the program should run without nags.

If it doesn't, look in the lower right hand corner of the program's window. You should see 'f', which signals that the ini file was Found by CD44. If you see 'ni' ('No Ini') it means CD44 did not find the ini file. The usual reason for this is that you copied the ini file to the wrong folder. Be sure to put it in the folder with CD44.exe (the .exe may be hidden, depending on how you set up your system). Be sure you have not put the ini file in the folder with your shortcut to CD44.

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CLPs with Win 3.x
Command Line Parameters with Win 3.x

(Not used with CD44)

To provide a program with a command line parameter (clp) under Windows 3.x:

Install the program. Giving it it's own folder (directory) is often wise.

Launch the Windows Program Manager

Select the group you want the program to appear in

Click File|New|Program Item

Fill in the description you want to appear in the Program Manager window

Click on Browse, go to and select the relevant .EXE file. Click OK

Click on the command line entry, which should have been filled in by the previous step

Press the 'End' key

Press the space bar once

Type in whatever clp is required

Click OK

That should do it!! Now click on the program's icon in the Program Manager window to test what you have done.

See also: Why clps are a Good Thing

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CLPs with Win 9x
Command Line Parameters with Win 9x

(Not used with CD44)

To provide a program with a command line parameter (clp) under Windows 9x:

Install the program. Giving it it's own folder (directory) is often wise

Create a shortcut for it

Right click on the shortcut

Click 'Properties'

A dialog box should come up with the contents of the 'Target' edit box highlighted.

On the keyboard, press the 'Home' key

If the first character is not " (quotes, usually a shifted '2' key), then enter one.

On the keyboard, press the 'End' key

If the last character is not " (quotes, usually a shifted '2' key), then enter one.

Press the space bar once

Enter the required command line parameter(s)

Click OK

Test your shortcut!

See also: Why clps are a Good Thing

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Why clps are a good thing
Why command line parameters (clps) are a good thing

Two things I dislike:

Bloatware.

Programs that Do Things to my system.

CLPs can help with both problems. They were widely used for many years. The more user friendly (user contemptuous?) programs that we are seeing today are supposed to "just work" without any effort on the user's part. That dream comes with costs.

CLPs are not cost free, of course. I think they are the lesser of the two evils, though.

Setting them up takes a little effort. However, once set, they do a job in a simple (few ways to go wrong), robust manner. It would be very difficult for a clp ever to affect other programs... NOT something you can say of other solutions to the needs they meet. CLPs are a versatile solution to the problem they address.

To use a clp with Windows, you must either....

(Win 3.x)	Create an icon in the Program Manager window

(Win 9x)	Create a shortcut

I would rarely use a program in either environment without setting up an icon or shortcut anyway. Once you have the icon or shortcut, the clp costs little more.

When using clps to control programs, you will often have multiple icons or shortcuts for a single program. Each will have different clps and each, therefor, will launch something that behaves in a different manner. (Examples)

See also:	CLPs with Win 3.x

CLPs with Win 9x

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Examples of clp use
Examples of command line parameter (clp) use:

If you're willing to use clps, one program can have many guises.....

For example: a program could be written to drill users on facts held in external data files. You could prepare several files of facts. Which file was used could be specified with a clp. Thus "two" programs, one about, say, properties of different chemicals and another about the history of Hawaii could be created with one program, two data files and two icons.

Another example: Suppose you had a program (as I do!) to test children on 3+4=?, 5+7=?, etc. The program has been written so that an answer given too slowly doesn't count. With clps, you could set up two icons. One would launch the program in "generous" mode, i.e. the user has lots of time to answer, while the other would be for users ready for the "challenging" mode- little time to answer.

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Win 9x shortcut:
Win 9x shortcut: See Windows help file if you know nothing of shortcuts. Two important things to know:

1) Shortcuts are a Good Idea because they can go where a user might accidentally hurt them, in which case repairs are easy. Your alternative is to expose the underlying program, which may not be easily repaired.

2) Shortcuts are all you need for any or all of the following: A quick way into the program from desktop, taskbar, Start menu, or the Start|Programs menu (or a sub-menu of that).

Master shortcuts... they help!

(A detail: On the target line, put the program's path and name in quotation marks (i.e."s), and enter the clp(s) after the second quotation mark. See also Making Win9x CLPs.)

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Non clp probs
Problems arising from some software

If something doesn't work (been there?), it can be hard for the user to look into what is going on. Other times, programs "work", but do unwelcome, unnecessary things.

Some programs write things to your disc without asking you. Normally this isn't a problem, but I still see it as an unwelcome presumption. (Yes-- I really object to internet cookies, and will often leave a site that requires them.) Suppose you have two programs from different publishers both in the same folder. Not a great idea, but it should be possible in many cases. (Most of my programs could all reside in a single folder.) Suppose each generates a score from the user's performance. Suppose they both save the best ten scores on the disc, so that the best scores table can reflect prior sessions of the program's use. A good idea, so far. Suppose they both save the data in a file called HighScor.Dat. This will not work! Excepting obvious (I hope) situations (e.g. my program for creating encrypted files from other files), my programs will not write to your disc without first asking for permission. They will normally ask you what you want to do if, as might arise in the HighScor.Date example, they find that the file they are about to write would over-write a pre-existing file. To spare users endless "Is it ok to write the file" prompts, in some cases it will be possible to turn off the check... but I will try to see that you have to opt OUT of checks. Please get in touch (email) if you think one of my programs fails to make such a check.

Some programs use many small files. They use more space than you would at first think. Microsoft's Internet Explorer (ver 4.0) uses a separate file for each bookmark. The bookmark holds maybe 150 characters. However it uses a whole "page" of space on your hard drive, regardless. On my fairly mundane Windows 98 machine, 10 bookmarks tie up 320,000 bytes of disc space. (Netscape uses a better system, by the way.)(The disc space each wastes depends on how your system was set up.)

Some programs use more DLLs than others. DLLs are important, but it is easy to overuse or misuse them. I had a Compaq Presario which came with a free modest program for faxing. I installed Corel's Wordperfect suite on the machine. The faxing program no longer worked. You couldn't have both. In the end, I had to buy WinFax. Of course, WinFax is a great program. However, if there hadn't been the DLL clash, I the bundled fax software would have suited me fine.... and I would have saved hours of getting to the bottom of the problem. If such major players as Corel and Compaq have trouble staying out of each others way, do you want more exotic DLLs on you system than you can help? My Windows programs are written in Delphi. It creates a single .EXE file which requires nothing beyond the ordinary Windows resources.

When Windows 95 came out, one of the big advances was its much increased use of the registry. It really is a splendid mechanism for many things. Properly used, for instance, it makes .ini files unnecessary. Note the qualification: "properly used". If a program has a bug and disrupts the registry, it is possible for the disruption to cause other applications on your system to stop working properly. I'm humble. While I believe my programs are useful, I doubt they will be major reasons for anyone to have a computer. When I write such a program, I'll dare to use your computer's registry... if I need to. Until then, my programs will leave it alone. Even if minor programs don't disrupt it, they can clutter it.

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Learn The Test
Learn The Test: With some software, the test the user does varies so little that the user soon learns to get the answers by strategies other than knowing the material.

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Reg ver
Shareware is software distributed on a "try before you buy" basis.

Authors hope that the general public will pass on the unregistered version of their program. They want as many people as possible to see it.

Honest users who like what they see in the unregistered version will realize that the programmers have to pay bills. Generally, there is a registered version of the program with extra features to reward those who do the decent thing and pay the requested registration fee.

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Semicolon
semicolon...

The punctuation mark    ;

I.e., on many keyboards, the key to the right of the L key, unshifted.

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Snailmail
snail-mail: Traditional paid-for-with-a-stamp mail via the postal service. The British service is superb... and when was the last time you heard them given credit? It is not unusual to order something from several hours' drive away in the afternoon of day 1 and find it delivered by 9:30am on day 2. I know less of the US service, but again think it is under-rated. Anything mailed from the US (east coast, anyway) to the UK on a Monday will usually be delivered before the end of the week.

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Create a shortcut
Create a Win 9x shortcut

There are many good ways to create shortcuts in Win 9x, and their use is highly recommended.

One way is to put your mouse pointer somewhere on the desktop and right click, then (left) click New, click Shortcut.

DON'T type something into Command Line by hand... use the browse button to move to the program you want to run with the shortcut. Once you're at it, double click on it. (I refer here to creating a shortcut. Once it exists, you may want to do some editing with typing by hand.)

The 'Name for shortcut' can be whatever you want.. it provides the caption for the icon on the screen.

Once created, the shortcut can be dragged to whatever folder you want it in.

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Author, etc
TK Boyd: A teacher in British schools from 1974-1995. Wrote first program in 1968. Taught science and computing, in boarding schools. Sometimes 8-13 year olds, other times 14-18 year olds.

Sheepdog Software: Why the name? I like sheepdogs! What is a sheepdog? aka Border collie, i.e. the medium size, black and white, super charged, super intelligent dog. (Not the big long-haired Old English sheepdog.)

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Spellings
Spellings: Even though I live much of my life in the UK, I have bowed to the fact that most of my customers are in the US. So...

US readers: Apologies if some British spelling materializes.

UK readers: Apologies... when I have the volume of business that Bill Gates enjoys, I'll start doing all of this work twice so that US spellings can be replaced.

Of course: If the point of a program is to teach spelling, there should be UK and US versions, and please contact me if you think an error exists.

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Bloatware
Bloatware: Programs which take up space on the computer's disc out of proportion to the functions they perform.

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Registry
Registry: A database created and maintained by Windows. Only experienced users are wise to delve into the innards of the registry... corrupt it and your system will not work properly.

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What key?
What key? Almost any key will do. Don't use the Tab key or the Windows key. It would be best to avoid the space bar because of the wear and tear you will inflict on a mechanism which is sometimes marginal.

In it's current form, the program cannot accept a traditional Morse key, but it wouldn't be too terribly difficult to re-write it to accept one connected to the computer's game port. If you would 'invest' in the modification, contact me. (You pay development costs, and get payments from fixed number of subsequent sales.)

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Website

www.arunet.co.uk/tkboyd/offers.htm

If that yields no result, try searching for "TK Boyd", "Sheepdog Software".

If you use AltaVista, and put in +TK Boyd" +Sheepdog Software", it should take you where you want to be.

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Check / Cheque
Check / Cheque: Apologies to British customers. Anywhere you see 'check', please rest assured that I also mean 'cheque'. Payment is welcome in either US dollars or British pounds.

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Charities

If you can't find one that suits you in the following, email me the name of one that would be acceptable, with their address. (It must be reasonably well known.)

US: Mayo Clinic (www.mayo.edu); Pomfret School (www.pomfretsch.com); Habitat for Humanity (www.habitat.org)

UK: Anthony Nolan Trust (alethea.ukc.ac.uk/Misc/ANolan); Habitat for Humanity (www.habitat.org); Chichester Cathedral.

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Check $1
Sorry to trouble you with two checks...

The small one to test the validity of the account.

The big one gives me the pleasure of at least helping the charity if you (remember I don't know you!) fail to send me the final check.

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HelpScribble

HelpScribble is a help authoring tool written by Jan Goyvaerts and available for download at http://www.jgsoft.com/. This help file was created with the unregistered version of HelpScribble, which is why you can read this ad. Once the author of this help file is so honest to register the shareware he uses, you will not see this ad again in his help files.

Recompiling the help project with the registered version is all it takes to get rid of this ad and the little footers below each topic.

HelpScribble is a stand-alone help authoring tool. It does not require an expensive word processor. (Only a help compiler as Microsoft likes keeping the .hlp format secret. Not my fault.)

Here are some of HelpScribble's features:

•	The Setup program will properly install and uninstall HelpScribble and all of its components, including registry keys.

•	Create, edit and navigate through topics right in the main window. No need to mess with heaps of dialog boxes.

•	All topics are listed in a grid in the main window so you won't lose track in big help projects. You can even set bookmarks.

•	Use the built-in Browse Sequence Editor to easily create browse sequences.

•	Use the built-in Window Editor to change the look of your help window and create secondary windows.

•	Use the built-in Contents Editor to create Windows 95-style contents files. Works a lot better than Microsoft's HCW.

•	No need to mess with Microsoft's SHED: use the built-in SHG Editor to create hotspot bitmaps. Draw your hotspots on the bitmap and pick the topic to link to from the list.

•	With the built-in Macro Editor you can easily compose WinHelp macros whenever needed. It will tell you what the correct parameters are and provide information on them.

•	If you have a problem, just consult the online help. The help file was completely created with HelpScribble, of course.

•	HelpScribble is shareware. However, the unregistered version is not crippled in any way. It will only add a small note to your help topics to encourage you to be honest and to register the shareware you use.

These options are very interesting for Delphi and C++Builder developers:

•	If you are a component writer, use the Delphi Parser to build an outline help file for your component. Just fill in the spaces and you are done. HelpScribble can also extract the comments from your source file and use them as the default descriptions.

•	If you are an application writer, HelpScribble provides you with a property editor for the HelpContext property. You can select the topic you need from a list of topic titles or simply instruct to create a new topic. No need to remember obscure numbers.

•	The property editor also provides a tree view of all the components on your form and their HelpContext properties. This works very intuitively. (Much nicer than those help tools that simply mess with your .dfm files.)

•	HelpScribble can perform syntax highlighting on any Delphi source code in your help file.

HelpScribble is shareware, so feel free to grab your copy today from my web site at http://www.jgsoft.com/