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╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ ISoft D&M ║
║ P.O.Box 5517 ║
║ Coralville IA 52241 ║
║ U.S.A ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
*******************************************************************************
* helpC Help Engine Technical specification and compiler user guide *
* LAST UPDATE - Nov. 02, 1993. (c) 1992,93 - Loewy Ron. *
*******************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************
* General Overview *
*******************************************************************************
The Help Engine database is a combination of text that is read by the user,
and a Topic and Links database that allows the user to view the topics
he is interested in, using hyper-text methods.
This document describes the HLPDK language syntax, helpC compiler operation
and the native databases structure.
*******************************************************************************
* Compiler Usage *
*******************************************************************************
The helpC help compiler is a DOS command line program that receives a
help definition file (.HDF) and produce a help database.
The helpC command line is :
HELPC source.hdf [/NT:topic-table-name]
[/NL:link-table-name]
[/ND:data-file-name]
[/NK:keywords-table-name]
[/D:conditional-define]
[/ED=P|C|+]
[/EL=x]
[/FC+]
[/EA+]
[/R+] [/ST-] [/CS+] [/EP+] [/WD-][/RM-]
[/W+] [/W30] [/W31] [TH+] [/QH+] [/TV+] [/PH+] [/XD+]
[/PX+] [/MT+] [/OS2] [/TXT] [/RTF] [/PP+] [/MMV]
When the target of the compiler is one of the native help engines
the output of the compiler is a set data file called source.SET, that
includes the names of the other help database components.
Please Notice - if the /W+ /W30 or /W31 switch is defined, the compiler
will generate a .HPJ and .RTF files that can be used with the Microsoft
HC (v3.00b) or HC31 help compiler, and output a .HLP windows help file!.
By default the help compiler does not produces a help cross reference
report on the topics/links used in the database, if the /R+ switch is set,
a cross-reference report will be generated, and database integrity indicators
will be given. Notice, however, that with the /R+ switch HELPC is much
slower than with /R-.
IMPORTANT - Scan the output cross reference report for links defined, that
are not defined as topics!
Notice - An additional switch is available that instructs the help compiler
to indicate it's parse and code generation progress. Use the /EP+ switch to
see that the helpC compiler is active. Please understand that the compile
process can take a long time, on complex help databases. This switch does
nothing more that ensure to you that the help compiler is alive.
The /ST switch defines if the topic name defined in the .TOPIC command
can include embedded spaces. By default this switch is set to /ST- (No
embedded spaces).
The /CS switch turns Topics and Links case sensitivity to ON. Use this
switch with care - Only if you must have a lower/mixed case index in THELP
or PopHelp use this switch. Notice that help databases that compile fine
with case sensitivity set to off, might fail to do so in case sensitivity
on. By default this switch is set to off (-).
The /XD switch generates code to the MDVXHELP help compiler, available
free in the file DVXHLP10.ZIP on the Internet. When this switch is given,
a set of cover and section files is generated, as well as a response
file that should be used to compile the help database.
The /OS2 switch generates IPF source code. You must compile the generated code
with IPFC, from within an OS/2 session (window or full screen).
The /WD switch controls Warning Display. By default Warning Display is On, if
you do not want to see the Warnings issued by the compiler when a topic name
or link are found to be incompatible with the target source, and helpC
translate them to be syntax compatible with the target.
Use the /TXT switch to create a text file document from your .HDF source.
With this feature you can create on-line help and printed documentation
from the same source!.
Use the /RTF switch to create a word-processor ready RTF file, import this
file (and update the fields e.g.- F9 in WinWord) to create a professional
formatted documentation from the same source code!.
The /RM- switch uses disk cross-reference report tables. Usage of this
option will allow the creation of cross-reference report for huge databases.
This options will slow the creation of reports, use it only for databases
so big that the report can not be generated using memory tables.
The /ED= switch creates the external references (if any are defined) in one
of the following formats : /ED=P (Default) creates the external definitions
in a PASCAL unit, /ED=C creates the external definitions in a C header
file, and /ED=+ creates a C++ header file.
The /EL= switch sets the Error Level used. This switch can be overridden
by the .ERRORLEVEL statement. The acceptable error levels are :
0 No Check - (Default) - No action is taken.
1 Trap - The link is replaced to a special topic named ERROR.
2 Strip - The link is replaced by the Text part only.
3 Delete - The text and link parts are deleted.
9 Abort - helpC will abort with an error message, indicating the
line number.
Please refer to the Exception Handling section below about helpC error
processing.
The /FC+ switch forces topic collection, even if the error level is 0, that
does not require collection.
Use the /PP+ switch to create an export file, to be used in multiple database
target files projects.
The /EA+ switch is used to export all topics in a database, during a
PreProcess target generation, compared to exporting only topics that
have the .EXPORT attributes.
The /MMV switch is used to generate Microsoft Multimedia Viewer 2.0 code,
You must use the WMVC.EXE program that came with your copy of the Multimedia
Publishing ToolKit (MM PTK) to compile this code.
*******************************************************************************
* Command Line *
*******************************************************************************
The compiler switches are defined on the command line. These switches can
be placed before and after the source file name. The compiler will look for
a file named HELPC.CFG in the current directory, and process it before any
command line switches are processed.
Switches on the command line will over-ride switches set before them, on the
command line or in one of the lines of the response options file(s).
Response option files can be specified by prefixing their name with a @ sign.
Examples :
If our HELPC.CFG file, in the current directory is :
/W31
/R-
And we compile using HELPC HELPDEMO
The helpdemo.hdf file will be compiled, with the target set to winHelp 3.1
and no cross-reference report.
Compile using HELPC HELPDEMO /r+
Will create winHelp 3.1 sources, but a report will be generated.
Compile using HELPC /w- HELPDEMO
Will generate native format help database, no report is generated.
If we have a file called MYSWITCH.CFG with the following lines :
/TH+
/ST-
/CS+
And we compile using HELPC @MYSWITCH.CFG HELPDEMO
A THELP source, using Long Topic Names, with case sensitivity will be
generated, no cross reference report is generated. (HELPC.CFG contains /r-)
*******************************************************************************
* Help Definition Format *
*******************************************************************************
The help definition file format is as follows :
remarks ...
remarks ...
.ENTRY topic-name
[.TITLE optional title for topic]
[.TITLEATTR paragraph attributes]
[.KEYWORDS optional keywords for topic]
[.GROUPS group1 [group2 ..]]
[.LIST optional browse list for topic]
[.EXPORT]
topic text and link reference ..
topic text and link reference ..
topic text and link reference ..
topic text and link reference ..
.END-ENTRY
remarks ...
.ENTRY topic2-name
[.KEYWORDS keyword1 keyword2 ..]
[.GROUPS group3 [group2 ..]]
[.PARAGRAPH [paragraph attributes]]
topic 2 text and link reference ..
topic 2 text and link reference ..
topic 2 text and link reference ..
[.END-PARAGRAPH]
additional topic2 text ...
.END-ENTRY
.POPUP PopUp-name
[.TITLE optional title for PopUp]
definition for some reference
...
.END-POPUP
As can be seen - lines between the .ENTRY and .END-ENTRY keywords are
the lines processed by the help compiler, to create the help database,
every other line is considered a remark, and is not parsed or evaluated by
the help compiler.
The topic text and link reference lines are simple text lines, with
special link marks.
A sample will provide the details :
This is a text help line that includes one ~link~link-topic-name~ in it.
This line will be displayed in the help engine program as :
This is a text help line that includes one link in it.
The word "link" will be in a different color then the rest of the line,
to indicate that this is a link. If the user hi-lights the link, and
presses Enter (or points the mouse cursor and clicks), the help engine will
look for a topic called "link-topic-name", and display it.
Browse the HELPDEMO.HDF file for a demo of a help database definition file.
Notes :
1. The keywords .TOPIC and .END-TOPIC can be used instead of .ENTRY and
.END-ENTRY respectively.
An equivalent pair of keywords are .TOP and .ENDTOP .
You can use .EXT-TOPIC instead of .TOPIC/.ENTRY etc.. - topics created
with that statement are the same as regular topics, only - an external
reference is created for them to be linked to a PASCAL/C/C++ program.
2. Keywords are NOT case sensitive (.topic = .TOPIC = .eNTry)
3. The .TITLE keyword is optional. If no title is defined, the topic name
is used as a title. The .TITLEATTR keyword is used to describe the
title text attributes. The syntax is the same as the .PARAGRAPH text
attributes. Please refer to the Text Attributes section below for further
discussion of the optional paragraph attributes.
4. If you want the ~ sign to appear in your help database, use ~~ in your
help source file (e.g. "This is a ~~" will be "This is a ~" in the final
help database.).
5. The Optional .PARAGRAPH and .END-PARAGRAPH commands in the help topic text,
specify the start and the end of a paragraph. This feature is currently
supported only for MMViewer, winHelp, RTF and IPF sources. This feature is
important if you want to create long paragraphs that will wrap correctly
when a user re-sizes the help window. Please refer to the Text Attributes
section below for further discussion of the optional paragraph attributes.
The .PAR and .ENDPAR keywords can be used instead of the .PARAGRAPH and
.END-PARAGRAPH keywords.
6. When a .PARAGRAPH is issued, a .END-PARAGRAPH MUST be specified at the
end of the paragraph. These commands must appear as the first words in
a line. The text after the .PARAGRAPH command is NOT part of the text
of the help topic.
7. The optional .KEYWORDS command can appear after the .TITLE command
(If there is one), or the .TOPIC header (otherwise), Use this command
to help the user search for sets of topics that are connected to a
specific keyword. The syntax of this command is :
.KEYWORDS keyword-1 keyword-2 ...
Multiple .KEYWORDS lines are allowed, if there are a lot of KEYWORDS,
that will not fit on a single line, multiple .KEYWORDS lines can be
used. (NewsDB - The usenet hypertext generator uses that feature).
8. .POPUP and .END-POPUP (or .ENDPOP) are used to define PopUp topics that
are displayed on the same screen as the original topic that includes the
link to them. PopUp entries allow the user to consult a glossary, and
not lose the topic he was reading. Popups are supported in the winHelp,
OS2 IPF, Native PX/Mem and MMViewer formats. In the other formats Popups are
used as standard topics.
9. In the Text/RTF targets .POPUP entries will be automatically included in a
Glossary file that you can add as an appendix to your documentation.
10. The .GROUPS statement associate a topic with several groups, you can
create topics with menus to groups of other topics using the statement
".INSERT GROUP group-name" in your topic text. Please refer to the
Groups section of this document for additional discussion of this
function.
Multiple .GROUPS lines are allowed, if there are a lot of GROUPS,
that will not fit on a single line, multiple .GROUPS lines can be
used.
11. The .LIST attribute associates a topic to a browse sequence, in this
name. The topic will be after the previous topic that belongs to this
list, and before the next topic that belongs to this list. The list
browse sequences are currently supported in the winHelp and MMViewer
targets only.
12. Graphic support is available by using a Graphic Link. A Graphic Link
has the following format :
~Text to display if not a graphic target~graphic-name~
Where graphic-name is the name of a graphic object defined with the
.GRAPHIC statement. Please refer to the Graphics Section below for more
information.
13. If the .EXPORT attribute is specified, HELPC will automatically create
a reference to the topic in an export file. This function can be useful
when you create a multiple file target database. This command can be very
useful when you have to create a complex multi file database, and use a
"make" utility to maintain the project. For more information about this
attribute, please refer to the Complex Projects section below.
14. Sound support is available by using a Sound link. This link will play a
sound file, when the user clicks the link. The link has the following
format :
~Text-That-Will-Appear~soundLinkName~
Where Text-That-Will-Appear will be displayed on the screen, and when the
text will be clicked, the sound object defined as soundLinkName will be
played. Please refer to the Sound section below.
15. Applications can be launched from the help database by clicking a link, that
was defined as an application. The syntax is : ~Text~application-link~
where Text is the text that will appear to the user, and application-link
is the identifier of the application that will be executed, as defined in
the .APPLICATION statement. Please refer to the Application Launch section
below for more information.
16. User defined links can be created and used in the topic text, please refer
to the Links section below for discussion of this feature.
Additional commands include :
.TEXTCOLOR, .LINKCOLOR and .LINKHIGH - VGA colors of text and links in normal
and high (selected) states in the native help formats.
The syntax of these commands is :
.TEXTCOLOR w
or
.LINKCOLOR x
or
.LINKHIGH y
Where w, x and y are the color of the text/link, which is a combination of the
color of the foreground with the color of the background multiplied by 16.
The colors that can be used for both fore and background are :
Black = 0
Blue = 1
Green = 2
Cyan = 3
Red = 4
Magenta = 5
Brown = 6
LightGray = 7
The colors that can be used only for the foreground are :
DarkGray = 8
LightBlue = 9
LightGreen = 10
LightCyan = 11
LightRed = 12
LightMagenta = 13
Yellow = 14
White = 15
For example : to set the normal color of a link to light green on blue, use
.LINKCOLOR 26
where 26 = 10 + 16 * 1. (10 = light green, 1 = blue).
Creating Multiple Source Projects :
Use the .INCLUDE commands in the source of your .HDF file, to include an
additional source file. .INCLUDE is not supported in the middle of a topic.
For Example :
.. some stuff
.include 2ndfile.hdf
.. additional stuff
will process 2NDFILE.HDF in the middle of our source file.
Please notice - .INCLUDE commands can be nested in your source file,
it is however not recommended to nest them too deep, helpC does not
close the input file when a .INCLUDEd file is processed, in order to
minimize help generation time - there is however, a limit on the number
of open files that can be used by a program - this is a limit set by DOS.
Code Insertion :
Use the .INSERT CODE statement to insert target code that will not be
translated by helpC. helpC will send un-translated code to the output target
until a .END-CODE statement is found.
For example - creating a small table in winHelp format :
.. normal code
.ifdef windows
.insert code
\pard{\tab column1\tab column2\tab column3}\par
\pard{\par blabla\tab blabli ..}\par
.end-code
.endif
GUI Font based targets :
The .FIXEDFONT command is used to define a non proportional font as the
default font of the help database. Currently the only targets affected
by this command are MMViewer, winHelp and RTF. If you find that your help
databases are not aligned after they are converted to winHelp format, use
this command and re-compile. This command has no effect on targets that are
different from the targets mentioned above.
The .PCFONT command is used to define a font that has the standard PC
character set (Terminal - in windows). If you convert a text based
database that uses the PC's special characters, use this command to
set the default font. This command has no effect on targets that are
different from the targets mentioned above.
Text targets :
The .PAGELENGTH and .PAGEWIDTH statements set the printed page length in
rows, and width in columns. The syntax is .PAGELENGTH xx or .PAGEWIDTH yy .
Font Pallete :
Use the .SETFONT command to change or add fonts to the font palette, The
syntax is : .SETFONT font-number 'Font-Name-In-The-Target-Language'. If
for example we would like to change font number 3 in the windows target
to be a font X of family Y we would write :
.SETFONT 3 'Y X'
A good way to find in RTF how to describe the font you are interested in,
is to open a new document in your word processor, write a line in the
font you are interested, save the document as a RTF document, and see the
way the word processor described the font in the RTF font table.
Text Attributes :
Use the .TITLEDEFAULTS statement to set the default text attributes of the
topics titles in the help database. These defaults can be over-ridden with
the .TITLEATTR statement in the topic definition. Please refer to the Text
Attributes section below for discussion of paragraph text attributes.
Use the .ATTRDEFAULTS statement to set the default text attributes of
paragraph text in the database. Please refer to the Text Attributes section
below.
Error Handling :
Use the .ERRORLEVEL command to set the error level. The syntax is .ERRORLEVEL x
where x is one of the following :
0 No Check - (Default) - No action is taken.
1 Trap - The link is replaced to a special topic named ERROR.
2 Strip - The link is replaced by the Text part only.
3 Delete - The text and link parts are deleted.
9 Abort - helpC will abort with an error message, indicating the
line number.
Please refer to the Exception Handling section below about helpC error
processing.
Alias Topics :
Use the .ALIAS command to substitute a PopUp/Topic name with another name. The
syntax is .ALIAS newname origname. Whenever a newname link is found, the alias
of origname is used. This can be very useful when you want to give multiple
names to a topic, or when HLPDK source is the target of an incremental
compiler.
Graphic Support :
Use the .GRAPHIC statement to define a graphic object, that can be referenced
elsewhere in your document.
The syntax is :
.GRAPHIC graphic-name path-to-graphic-file
Please refer to the Graphics section below, for further information.
External Links :
Use the .EXTLINK command to define links in external database file. With this
command you can create multiple file target database projects. Please refer to
the Links section below for more information about this feature.
Sound Support :
Use the .SOUND command statement to define a sound object, that can be used as
a Sound link elsewhere in your document. The syntax is :
.SOUND sound-name sound-file-name
Please refer to the Sound section below for more information about this feature.
Application Launch :
The .APPLICATION statement is used to define an application object that can be
launched by an application-launch-link. The syntax is :
.APPLICATION application-identifier application-definition
Where application-identifier is the identifier that will be used in
application-launch-links, and application-definition is the path to the
application. If the application needs to get parameters, the path and the
parameters are specified in quotes. Please refer to the Application Launch
section below for additional information.
External Routines Support :
The .ROUTINE statement can be used to define external routines that can be
called from the help database. The syntax is :
.ROUTINE routine-name module-name parameter-definition
Where routine-name is the name of the procedure/function to be called,
module-name is the name of the library/DLL that the routine resides in (No need
to add the .DLL extension), and parameter-definition is the definition of the
parameters that the routine receives.
The parameter definitions is a string with one character describing each
parameters type. The following definitions are used :
char C definition Pascal definition
u unsigned short (WORD) Word
U unsigned long (DWORD) Longint
i short int byte
I int integer
s near char * (PSTR) PChar
S far char * (LPSTR) PChar
v void
Embedding Files :
Use the .EMBEDD statement to add files to your help database. The files defined
as embedded will appear in the [baggage] section of your winHelp/MMViewer
project definition and will be stored with the rest of the database.
The syntax is :
.EMBEDD file-id path-to-file
Where file-id is the name the file will be referenced by, and path-to-file is
the path to the file on the author's machine.
*******************************************************************************
* Links *
*******************************************************************************
Links are the special "commands" embedded in a topic text, that provide
special functionality in the target database.
All links are described in the topic text as a combination of text that will
appear, and a link identifier.
The syntax, in a topic text for a link is :
.. Some Standard Text .. ~Link Text~Link Id~ .. some more text ..
Link Id is a unique identifier that describe this link.
The most common link, is a topic link, this link allows the user to click on
the Link Text, that is usually in a different color than the rest of the text,
and by clicking on this texts, the topic in the help engine window is replaced,
with the topic that has the same identifier as the Link Id specified in the
identifier.
(A Topic is defined by a .topic statement somewhere else in the source file).
Another type of link, is the PopUp link. When the Link Id is the Id of a PopUp,
clicking on the link will display the PopUp text in a window, and retain the
original topic in the help engine window (A PopUp is defined by a .POPUP
statement somewhere else in the source file).
Links can be used, to embed non-textual information in the topic text. A
common non-textual is a graphic link, when the Link Id is the Id of a graphic
object (defined by a .graphic statement somewhere else in our source), the
place of the link will be replaced by a graphic picture, in targets that
support graphics (such as winHelp and OS/2 IPF), and remain the Link Text
in targets that do not support graphics.
Another non-textual link is a sound link. A sound link plays a sound file
when a sound object (defined with the .SOUND statement) is clicked by the user.
Applications can be launched from a link, when the link key is the identifier of
an application defined with the .APPLICATION statement.
Other links can be created using "User Defined Link Templates", with this
feature a link template can be created to support additional code translations.
Please refer to the Extending HDF section below for additional information
on User defined links.
When helpC recognizes a link, the following sequence of link recognition
occurs :
1. Try to match link with a graphic object.
2. If failed - try to match link with a sound object.
3. If failed - try to match link with an application object.
4. If failed - try to match link with a user defined link.
5. If failed - try to match link with a PopUp.
6. If failed - try to match link with a topic.
7. If failed - try to match link with an external topic. (.EXTLINK)
8. If failed - operate according to the current error-level.
*******************************************************************************
* Conditional Defines *
*******************************************************************************
The helpC compiler supports conditional define directives that allow you to
tailor your source according to define symbols that are known to the compiler.
You can use the .ifdef, .ifndef, .else and .endif directives to test the
target of your compile and do different things according to this target.
If for example you have a Windows bitmap you want to include in your generated
RTF file, when you compile to winHelp format, but, you would like to use a
statement in other targets that do not support graphics, you could do the
following :
.ifdef windows
some text {\bmc mybmp.bmp\} some more text
.else
some text AND STATEMENT HERE some more text
.endif
When the compiler will generate the code, the RTF command \bmc will be
inserted in the output of the compiler for windows targets (/W30, /W31),
and a simple text statement will be inserted otherwise.
The conditional directives supported are :
.ifdef SYMBOL - Compile code only if SYMBOL is defined.
.ifndef SYMBOL - Compile code only if SYMBOL is NOT defined.
.endif - Any .ifdef/.ifndef should be terminated by a .endif .
.else - Reverse the previous .ifdef/.ifndef
The following SYMBOLS are automatically defined by the compiler :
Symbol When Defined
------ ------------
DEF /PX+
W31 /W31
W30 /W30
THS /TH+
QHS /QH+
TVH /TV+
PHS /PH+
DVX /XD+
MEM /MT+
OS2 /OS2
TXT /TXT
WINDOWS /W30, /W31
THELP /TH+
QUICKHELP /QH+
TVHC /TV+
NATIVEPARADOX /PX+
POPHELP /PH+
DESQVIEW/X /XD+
NATIVEMEMORY /MT+
VERx.y When Compiling with helpC Vx.y
NATIVE /PX+, /MT+
DOCUMENT /TXT, /RTF
RTFBASED /W+, /RTF, /W30, /W31, /MMV
PRP /PP+
PREPROCESS /PP+
MMV /MMV
MMVIEWER /MMV
VIEWER /MMV
You can define your own conditional defines on the command line using the /D:
switch of helpC.
e.g.
Source :
... some text ..
.ifdef mydef
Special Text for mydef situation
.endif
... more text
and you compile using HELPC /D:MYDEF the special text will be included.
*******************************************************************************
* Groups *
*******************************************************************************
Topics can be associated to groups using the .GROUPS statement in the topic
heading. Menus to these groups can later be created by using the command
.INSERT GROUP group-name in the topic text.
An example will clarify the use of this function :
Let us assume that we have a car's collectors database, where the description
of each car is a topic. We would like to present a hierarchy to the user that
looks like that :
Overview Screen
|
+--------- Cars by Country
| |
| +------------ U.S.A ... List of cars manufactured in U.S.A
| +------------ U.K.
| +------------ Italy
|
+--------- Cars by Maker
| |
| +------------ Alfa-Romeo ... List of Alfa-Romeo models
| +------------ GM
| +------------ Mazda
|
+--------- Cars by type
|
+------------ 4x4 & Jeeps
+------------ Sport Cars
+------------ Family Sedans
We will create group references in the topics using the .GROUPS statement,
The Alfa Romeo Spider 2000 topic will look like :
.topic alfa_romeo_spider_2000
.title Alfa Romeo Spider 2000
.keywords alfa spider convertible sport classic
.groups Italian alfa sport
The Alfa Romeo ...
.end-topic
The Italian Cars Directory topic will be :
.topic Italy_directory
.title Italian Cars Directory
.keywords directory
Cars Manufactured in Italy :
.insert group Italian
.end-topic
If our database includes three cars that have a reference to the Italian group
this will be the equivalent of writing :
.topic Italy_directory
.title Italian Cars Directory
.keywords directory
Cars Manufactured in Italy :
~Alfa Romeo Spider 2000~alfa_romeo_spider_2000~
~Ferrari 308 GTS~Ferrari_308_gts~
~Fiat Uno 70S~fiat_uno_70s~
.end-topic
*******************************************************************************
* Text Attributes *
*******************************************************************************
Topic's text can receive visual attributes such as a font, size, bold,
italic etc.. by using the paragraph attributes on the .PARAGRAPH (.par)
line. Text attributes are currently supported in the MMViewer, winHelp and RTF
targets.
The attributes that can be applied to text are :
Font - The font the text will be displayed in.
Bold - The text is displayed in bold characters.
Italic - The text is displayed in italic characters.
Underline - The text is displayed in underline characters.
Size - The size of the font.
Box - The paragraph can be contained in a box.
Align - The paragraph can be aligned.
Color - The text foreground color.
The syntax is :
.PARAGRAPH [attr1 attr1-parameters [attr2 attr2-parameters [..] ]]
The allowed parameters to attributes are :
1. FONT font-number-in-font-palette : The font number in the font palette,
there is a standard font palette for MMViewer, winHelp and RTF targets that
include the following fonts :
0 : Times Roman (roman Tms Rmn)
1 : Symbol (decor Symbol)
2 : Helvetica (swiss Helv)
3 : LinePrinter (modern LinePrinter)
4 : Terminal (roman Terminal)
5 : Times New Roman (roman Times New Roman)
6 : Arial (swiss Arial)
7 : CG Times (WN) (roman CG Times (WN))
8 : Courier (modern Courier)
9 : Modern (modern Modern)
10 : Script (script Script)
11 : Univers (WN) (swiss Univers (WN))
12 : Wingdings (nil Wingdings)
13 : MS Sans Serif (swiss MS Sans Serif)
2. BOLD ON|OFF - Set bold mode to on/off.
3. ITALIC ON|OFF - Set italic mode to on/off.
4. UNDERLINE ON|OFF - Set underline mode on/off.
5. SIZE font-size - Set the size of the font.
6. BOX NONE|NORMAL|THICK|SHADOW|DOUBLE - Print paragraph in a box which has one
of the described borders : NONE is no border at all.
7. ALIGN LEFT|RIGHT|CENTER|JUSTIFY - Print the text in the paragraph aligned
to one of the sides, the center or justified in the paragraph.
8. COLOR color-number-in-color-palette - The numbers are the same numbers used
for DOS native systems and described in the help definition format section
above, regarding the .LINKCOLOR, .TEXTCOLOR and .LINKHIGH statements.
Example :
.PAR BOX SHADOW FONT 13 BOLD ON
... some text here ..
.ENDPAR
Will display the paragraph in a shadow bordered box, using font 13 in the
palette (MS Sans Serif assuming that the original palette is used) with bold
characters.
*******************************************************************************
* Exception Handling *
*******************************************************************************
helpC provides mechanism to handle link exceptions. An exception is a link
to an identifier that is not defined as a Topic or PopUp. In order to help
you find these errors helpC contains the cross reference report that can
be produced using the /R+ switch. You can browse the HELPC.LST file generated
by helpC if a cross reference report is generated, and search for the string
ERROR that describes undefined links.
helpC provides additional exception handling facilities. When an error is found
during compile helpC can perform on of the following actions :
0: No Check - Default - helpC does not do anything. The link is passed as is
to the target. The target help engine/compiler will handle the
exception as it is implemented.
1: Trap - helpC will replace the link key with the key ERROR. It is the
responsibility of the help database author to provide such a
Topic/PopUp.
2: Strip - helpC will pass the text of the link to the target with no link
support. The text will appear as normal text.
3: Delete - Both the text and the link will be deleted and will not appear
in the target.
9: Abort - helpC will abort, with an error message, indicating the line the
link is defined. This mode is recommended when you are debugging
your help database.
You can set the error level using the following techniques :
- Use the /EL=x switch on the helpC command line.
- Use the .ERRORLEVEL x .HDF statement.
Important Points :
1. When ERRORLEVEL = 0 (default) no topic database is created during pass 1,
if you set .ERRORLEVEL somewhere in your source, after some Topics/PopUps
have been defined, these topics will not be in the symbol table created by
helpC and will be considered an exception !
2. You can use the /FC+ switch to "Force Collection" of Topics data, even when
the ERRORLEVEL is 0.
*******************************************************************************
* Graphics *
*******************************************************************************
Native Graphic support is provided by graphic "links", and graphic object
definitions.
In order to incorporate graphics into your database, use the .GRAPHIC
command to define a graphic object. This command associates a graphic file
with a unique identifier.
Whenever you want to use the graphic image in one of your topics, you have to
define a link with the following syntax :
~Link Text in non-graphic targets~graphic-identifier~
If the target of the compiler has no helpC native graphic support, the
"Link Text in non-graphic targets" sentence will be used, if the target
is supported, the graphic-identifier will be displayed.
In this version of HLPDK native graphics support is provided for winHelp,
Microsoft Multimedia Viewer (MMViewer) and OS/2 IPF Bitmaps.
Notice that the graphic-identifier must be unique, and must not be identical
to a topic/PopUp/sound name. Please refer to the Links section for
link recognition sequence information.
Link Modifiers are attributes that are defined after the link name, separated
with the ";" character.
The following modifiers are defined for Graphic support :
Left : Align the graphic object to the left of the window.
Right : Align the graphic object to the right of the window.
Center : Align the graphic object to the center of the window.
Please refer to one of the standard documentation examples that are supplied
with the HLPDK package, for demos of graphic use.
*******************************************************************************
* Sound *
*******************************************************************************
Sound support is provided by sound "links", and sound object definition.
In order to incorporate sound into your database, use the .SOUND command
to define a sound object. This command associates a sound file (WAV in windows)
with a unique identifier.
Whenever you want to use the sound object in one of your topics, you have to
define a link with the following syntax :
~Text To Be Clicked On~sound-identifier~
Currently, Sound support is available only in the MMViewer and winHelp targets.
The name of the sound object in this version should be a WAV file, that
is in the \WINDOWS directory. The WINDOWS MMSYSTEM multi-media support looks
for the sound file in this directory!.
*******************************************************************************
* Application Launch *
*******************************************************************************
Applications can be launched from the help database using application launch
links, and application definitions.
An application has to be defined using the .APPLICATION statement that uses the
following syntax :
.APPLICATION application-id 'application-activation-code'
Where application-id is the identifier to the application that will be used
in application launch links, and the application-activation-code is the
[optional] path to the application and the application executable. If
parameters should be specified, the application-activation-code should be
surrounded by quotes, with a space separating the path to the application from
the parameters.
When you want to include an application launch in the topic text, the
application-id should be used as the key of a link.
e.g. ~Press Here To Run XXX.EXE~application-id~
*******************************************************************************
* Complex Projects *
*******************************************************************************
helpC supports multiple file target databases, with the use of the following
HDF statements : .EXTLINK, and .EXPORT .
When a link that exists in an external database is needed, the .EXTLINK
statement is used to define the properties and attributes of that link.
The most important property - is the database name, that defines which
database should be called. Other attributes include the title, keywords,
numeric references and groups this external topic should be associated with.
If we have a "simple" complex project, with only 2 databases, and links
between them, we might not find it difficult to define the "public" links
of database 1 in database 2, and vice versa, but - if the project involves
more databases, we might find it hard to create these public references to
all external database, in each database. We can, however, define .EXTLINK
statements of the public links of each database, in a separate file, and
use the .INCLUDE statement to include them, in the other statements.
helpC can be used, with the /PP+ switch, to create these "reference" export
files, with the name of database.EXP when we use the following command :
HELPC /PP+ database-name
If we want a .EXTLINK statement to be created for a topic, we have to
add the .EXPORT attribute to the topic definition. An alternative is to use
the /EA+ switch of the helpC compiler, that exports all topics in the database,
in a PreProcess target compile (/PP+).
The .EXTLINK statement has the following syntax :
.EXTLINK database 'topic-identifier'
[.TITLE topic-title]
[.REFERENCE topic-numeric-reference]
[.KEYWORDS keyword [keyword ..] ]
[.GROUPS group [group ..] ]
.END-EXTLINK
Where database is the name of the external database that the link is in,
topic-identifier is the id of the link in the external database, title,
keywords and groups have the same meaning as in the .TOPIC definition, and
the topic-numeric-reference is a numeric reference associated with the
topic, in the external database, if this is needed.
*******************************************************************************
* Extending HDF *
*******************************************************************************
The HDF syntax can be extended by creating "User Defined Link Templates",
with these templates special links can be created, that can be used to support
additional link types.
In order to create a user link template, use the following statement :
.USERLINK userlink-id template
Where userlink-id is the name of the template, and template defines the way
the link will be translated.
The template can include the following substitution characters :
%% - Replace with a %
%t - Replace with the text of the link
%k - Replace with the key of the link
%1, %2, .. %5 - Replace with parameter #x
%o - Replace with target (output) database name.
%c - Replace with context-id (topic name) of current topic.
%g1, %g2, .. - Replace with the graphic object whose id is in parameter x.
%s1, %s2, .. - Replace with the sound object whose id is in parameter x.
%a1, %a2, .. - Replace with the application object, whose id is in parm x.
%e1, %e2, .. - Replace with the embedded object, whose name is in parm x.
Notice, that only the file name and extention are returned,
while in the %gx, %sx and %ax, the entire path is returned.
User links can be used in the topic text with the following syntax :
.. some text ~link-text~userlink-id(param1 param2 ..)~ .. more text
Use this command to extend the HDF syntax. You can even create special
libraries to support video/animation etc.. from the help databases, with these
extensions.
e.g. - To create a link to a topic, with a graphic bitmap, we could define
the following User Link : (Example for winHelp/MMViewer)
.userlink graphicJump '{\uldb \{bmc %g1\} %t}{\v %2}'
And assuming we defined a graphic object as
.graphic mypicture ronp.bmp
We could create a graphic links such as :
Click ~Ron Loewy~graphicJump(mypicture ronTopic)~ to know about the author.
In the target RTF this will be translated to :
Click {\uldb \{bmc ronp.bmp\} Ron Loewy}{\v ronTopic} to know about the author.
*******************************************************************************
* Native Databases Structure *
*******************************************************************************
Each help database is built of 5 components :
1. Help Data File - this file contains the raw text data.
2. Topic Index - a database table that contains the topic names, and
the references to the topics in the Data File.
3. Links Index - a database table that contains the list of links
defined for each topic, and positional data.
4. Keywords Index - a database table that contains the list of keywords,
and the topics that have these keywords.
5. Set Data File - a database configuration file that contains the
names of the 3 components defined above, and some
additional information.
Version 1.x is the bare-bones version that includes only the basic
operations needed from a hyper-text database, this version is implemented
using the Paradox Engine V3.0 to manage the Topic and Link index tables.
Version 2.x has a new field in the topic table - the title field, help
databases that were compiled with V1.x will not be executed by version
2.x, they will have to be re-compiled!.
Version 3.x fields have different length - the databases have to be
re-compiled.
Version 5.0+ has a new entry in the help set file, database have to be
re-compiled, or the value 128 should be added in the last line of the help
set file, and the version number should be changed to 5.0.
Version 6.0+ has added the keyword support - a new database table is added,
and a new set format is defined. Help databases will have to be re-compiled
for Native targets.
In Version 7.0 the title field has been expanded once more - to 70
characters. Help databases will have to be re-compiled.
In Version 8.0 the TTYPE field was added to the Topics database. Old databases
will have to be re-compiled.
The format of the help database is released to the public domain, if
you implement a database viewer on this database structure, I would be
happy to receive a copy ...
*******************************************************************************
* Topic Index Format *
*******************************************************************************
The topic index table format is as follows :
TOPIC - 40 characters string key - this is the topic "name".
FILENAME - 38 characters string field - includes the name of the
help raw data file. (Notice - V1.0 ignores the value of this
field, it is here for future expansion).
START - longint (long) field that contains the offset from the data file
start, to the start of the topics text data, in bytes.
LEN - longint (long) field that contains the length (in bytes) of the
text data of the topic.
TITLE - 70 characters string key - the title of the topic.
TTYPE - 1 character - topic type. Currently supported types are :
'T' = Topic.
'P' = PopUp.
*******************************************************************************
* Links Index Format *
*******************************************************************************
The links index table format is as follows :
TOPIC - 40 characters string key - the name of the topic that
has the link.
SEQ - integer (int) key - contains the sequential number of
the link in the topic. (This way you can assign the links
order in the topic).
LINK - 40 characters string key - the name of the link topic to
display if the link is chosen.
LINE - integer (int) field - the line (from the start of the topic)
this link is displayed on.
COL - integer (int) field - the column this link is displayed on.
TXT - 70 characters string field - the text to display on the line.
*******************************************************************************
* Keywords Index Table *
*******************************************************************************
The keywords index table format is as follows :
KEYWORD - 40 characters string key - the keyword.
TOPIC - 40 characters string key - the topic name that this keyword is
assigned to.
Notice: The database will include a row for each keyword, that has the
TOPIC field blank. This is used to display the first list of keywords,
that if chosen, will display the 2nd list of topics that have the chosen
keyword in their .KEYWORDS definition.
*******************************************************************************
* Set File Format *
*******************************************************************************
The set file is a text file that contains one entry in each line, using
the following format :
help-database-engine
version-of-generating-compiler
topic-index-table name
links-index-table name
keyword-index-table-name
help-raw-data-file name
number-of-topics
length-of-file
link-normal-color
link-high-color
text-normal-color
The help-database-engine values available today are DEF=Paradox and
MEM=memory Tables.
*******************************************************************************
* Implementation *
*******************************************************************************
Notice: The Paradox tables (Topic, Links) include one additional field
(wtGeneration) for future expansion purpose only.
*******************************************************************************
* Distribution *
*******************************************************************************
To distribute a database of your creation, compile the help definition
file, and include the HELPENG.EXE file with the .DB, .PX files, and the
.HDT file created by the compiler.
If you use the Native Mem Format, compile using the /MT+ switch, and
distribute HE.EXE with the .SET, .HDT and .HDX files created.
If you generated the Windows (/W30, /W31) help file, you can compile the
.HPJ and .RTF generated file, and distribute the resulting .HLP .
If you generate QH, THELP, PopHelp or TVHC use these packages compilers to
compile you sources into native binary codes. (helpMake, HL, makeHelp and TVHC)
To Generate Help databases for DESQview/X, use the MDVXHELP compiler
that can be found on the Internet in the file DVXHLP10.ZIP.
Distribute the .INF files that IPFC creates from the .IPF sources generated,
if you compile to OS/2.
For examples on these compiler's command lines please refer to the quick
start section of HLPDK.DOC, or to your compiler's documentation.