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WELCOME TO Help Edit V1.5 FOR WINDOWS ------------------------------------- This README file contains important, last minute information about Help Edit V1.5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1. What is Help Edit 2. How to Get Help 3. Installation 4. Important Notes 5. Files on the Disk(s) 6. Why Register? 7. History 1. What is Help Edit --------------------- Help Edit is a Windows Text Editor that you can use to produce Windows Help files. Help Edit accepts simple ASCII files, allows you to create Windows Help Topics, and finally produce an RTF (Rich Text Format) file for input to the Microsoft Help Compiler. You can create Hypertext links, pop up definitions, browse sequences, and include Bitmaps in your help file. Help Edit supports the inclusion of various Fonts and Colours. Help Edit manages all aspects of automatically generating jump labels, and it even creates the HPJ project file required by the Help Compiler. Once you have created your RTF files, Help Edit can call the Help compiler from within itself, to produce an HLP help file. Finally Help Edit can test the new Help file for you. The Help file for Help Edit was written using itself, and so was the Tutorial. All the Help material for a Demo help file is included so that you may study it. In the registered version all the material for Helpedit Help and the Tutorial Help are included. 2. HOW TO GET HELP ------------------- If you have any problems, please read this file, and if you still have a question and need assistance, help is available from the following source: Write to me at the following address: James Herron 29 Duncryne Place, Bishopbriggs Glasgow G64 2DP Scotland UK. Alternatively call me on 041 762 0967 between 6pm and 9pm Mon - Fri, or any time at Weekends (within reason!). Answering machine available. If you have a modem you can leave me a message on the ShareWare Support BBS in the UK on (0442) 891109 (3 lines). This BBS has a link to the Runway BBS in the US on 215-623-6203. If you are on Compuserve you can Email me at herron@comms.eee.strathclyde.ac.uk This is on the JANET network but can be accessed via internet and Compuserve. 3. INSTALLATION ---------------- There are two options for installation: 1. Hard Disk - This option allows you to copy all the files without worrying about disk space. It allows faster program operation and is recommended if you have a hard disk. 2. Single Floppy - It is perfectly feasible to run Help Edit from a single floppy drive. In this case it is recommended that only the essential files that you need are copied onto this disk. You should read the rest of this README file to get further information about this release before you do the installation. To perform the installation insert the floppy in drive A or B and run INSTALL from Windows. This completes installation, you should now put your original disk(s) in a save place. Start Windows and either run Help Edit from the Program Manager by opening the File menu and selecting Run, or better still if you installed a new group for Help Edit during install select it's icon for the application. Please refer to the section in the online help on how to set up HC.BAT to run with your version of the Help Compiler. If you have the spell checker DLL Spelmate, either install it in the same directory as Help Edit, or in a directory on your Path. Help Edit will look for Spelmate on start up, and if it is found it will be available. Note that Spelmate is a separate product, and it is not essential in order to run Help Edit. The current version of spelmate is V1.1, and is available on all good BBS's and Compuserve as SPMATE11.zip. 4. IMPORTANT NOTES ------------------- o The Executable, Help and a few Document files in this package are compressed. If you don't use the installation program or you need to copy one of the original files onto your hard disk, use the UNPACK.EXE file located on the distribution disk. This is a Windows application. o As mentioned in the installation section,if you are running from a single drive then you should only copy the essential files required to run Help Edit. This means leaving off any *.doc files, and once you have run the examples you could remove them also. o At the time of writing the MicroSoft Help Compiler is available for download from Compuserve, and as a free download from the MicroSoft download service. It has been placed in the Public Domain. o To make help files for the widest range of users, the help complier for Windows 3.0 should be used as it is compatible with Windows 3.1. The 3.1 complier will not work under Windows 3.0. Therefore a v3.0 help compiler is included. The Batch file HC.BAT calls this compiler, HC30.exe and also redirects output messages to a file Helpedit.err. o If you have a Windows 3.1 Help compiler you can set the Windows 3.1 checkbox when making a help file. You may have to edit HC.BAT to tell it the name of your help compiler. HC.BAT has been set up to work with the Help compilers HC30.EXE and HC31.EXE as supplied by Borland compilers. o IMPORTANT refer to the online Help information about HC.BAT. 5. FILES ON THE DISK(S).(Registered Version) --------------------------------------------- Note: File names that end in a $ indicate a compressed file. Disk 1 INSTALL EXE - Windows Install Program INSTALL INF - Windows Install Script file UNPACK EXE - Unpack Utility. README DOC - This file HELPEDIT EX$ - Registered version of Help Edit program for Windows without unregistered copy notices. HELPEDIT HL$ - Help File for and written by Help Edit. TUTORIAL HL$ - Help File for Tutorial written by Help Edit. DEMO * - All the files needed to make the Demo HC BAT - Batch file to call help compiler HC PIF - Windows Pif File for Help Compiler Disk 2 HC30 EX$ - Microsoft Help Compiler for Windows 3.0 HC31 EX$ - Microsoft Help Compiler for Windows 3.1 HC31 ER$ - Error messages for HC31.EXE. TUTORIAL * - All the files needed to make the Tutorial HELPEDIT * - All the files needed to make the Helpedit Help. *.BMP - Sample Bitmaps *.DOC - Sample Help Document files *.HLP - Sample Help Files *.HPJ - Sample Help compiler Project files *.PRJ - Sample Help Edit Project files *.SHG - Sample Segmented Bitmap *.TXT - Sample Help Text Files. Professional Version. --------------------- If you order the professional version which includes the Spell checker Spelmate DLL then you will have the additional files Spelmate.dl$ and either MainUK.di$ or MainUS.di$ depending on whether you requested the British or American version. The above listing is for 5.25 (360K) disks only. If you request 5.25 (1.2M) or 3.5 (720K) you will only get one disk containing all the files. NOTE: The Microsoft Help Compiler is copyright by Microsoft but has been placed in the Public Domain. It is supplied for completeness, but no charge is made or implied for it's use. The registration fee is only for Help Edit. 6. Why Register? ---------------- Registering brings with it a number of advantages. First of all the Unregistered Copy notice will no longer appear. Second, The Unregistered Message will not be place in the Contents Page of your Help file, nor in the About box of the Help System. Third you will have technical support should you have any problems. And Finally, your support will encourage me to continue to improve Help Edit. And Finally, as a registered user you will be entitled to FREE updates for 6 months or TWO updates (which ever comes first), and to favourable price reductions on future versions after that period. So make sure you complete the registration form (INVOICE.DOC) as completely as possible. 7. History ---------- Note: all dates are in UK format dd/mm/yy. 18/2/93 V1.0 Initial release of Help Edit. ............................................................................ 25/2/93 V1.1 Print Set-up and Print items added to File Menu. Make Help item replaces Make HPJ,RTF and HLP menu option. Help Edit now reads project file list and compiles only those RTF files that are new or have been updated. HPJ file now contains the information to make a context sensitive help system. ............................................................................ 8/3/93 V1.2 Bug fix in editing of browse sequences. Bug fix when trying to cancel Make Help Fonts and Colour capability added. ............................................................................ 16/4/93 V1.3 Bug Fix so that Topics without keywords do not cause missing Footnote errors. Bug Fix. If no edit text loaded and attempt to print, got run time error. Print option disabled unless text in editor. Bug Fix. If no printer selected in the Windows control panel and attempts made to print, nothing happens, not even a warning. Help Edit now issues a message that there is no current printer. Bug Fix. Could add files to a new project, and if quit, project not updated. Help Edit now warns that project has changed and should be saved. Bug Fix. If changed a file and attempt to exit get save file - Yes, No, Cancel. Cancel did not work. Bug Fix. When making a Help file, if the Topic to be used as the Index or Contents page happened to be the one already in the combobox, and the user did not activate the combobox, then the Topic was never selected, and a run time error occurs. This has been corrected. Bug Fix. If selected more that 255 characters when changing fonts, the extra text was lost. Corrected. New Features - Modifications. ----------------------------- Help Edit routes all Warning and Error messages from the Microsoft Help compiler into a file called HelpEdit.err. It checks this file after compilation and if any errors it invokes an editor of your choice to view the messages. The default editor is NotePad, but you can use any other Editor e.g. WinEdit, by selecting Choose Editor from the Options menu. The Edit menu accelerator keys have been changed to CUA standard. New Accelerator keys have been added to the most commom used functions such as make Topic and make Jump. The right mouse button is used in making Topics and Jumps to speed things up for experienced users. The common dialog box for files is now used. A number of menu options have been disabled if the editor does not contain text or have text selected. These include Save, Save As, Print, Cut, Copy, find, and replace. Paste only works if the clipboard has valid text. A Windows Pif file has been added so that the Help compiler can run in a Window or as an icon. The default is icon. A new HC.BAT file has been created. IMPORTANT Refer to the online help about HC.BAT. --------- Help Edit can call the Windows 3.0 help compiler or 3.1. While the help compiler is running, Help Edit is disabled and becomes an icon. This is to stop you altering files that the help compiler is using. All messages moved to string tables. If you change the editor text, then attempt to make a Help file without saving the changes, Help Edit will ask if you want to save first. As Helpedit uses the text on disk and not the editor, you should let helpedit save the text if you want your changes to be part of the new make. The Help Edit help file has been updated. The Tutorial has been completely re-written. ............................................................................ 26/5/93 V1.4 ------------ 1). Help Edit can now make use of the Spelmate DLL. This is a DLL that adds spell checking capabilities to any of your Windows applications. Both American and British versions are available. In order to keep file sizes down for users of BBS's the spelmate DLL is not included in the version placed on BBS's, but can be obtained as a separate file splmateX.zip where X is the current version number. At this time you should look for splmate1.zip. If you obtain Help Edit from a Software Library, Spelmate may be included. Spelmate is a separate Shareware program in it's own right and requires registration if you wish to use it. If you order the professional version of Help Edit, then Spelmate is included at a discount price, and you can use it in other programs of your own. 2). The Options menu has been changed and now contains the items Select Editor Check Spelling Windows 3.1 Select Editor is the same as for Verison 1.3. Check Spelling invokes the Spelmate Dll if it is present, AND if you have some text in the Edit window. Windows 3.1 is used to replace the checkbox that you had to set every time you wanted to make a Windows 3.1 Help file from the make Help dialog box. If you select this menu option a tick mark is inserted, and your selection is saved in the .INI file so you need only set it once. Help Edit needs to know this information as it affects new features that are only applicable if you are using Windows 3.1. 3). The insert menu can now insert a program. This is only available if you are using Windows 3.1 as it is a macro. Select text as you would to create a jump link, but instead select insert program. You can then enter a program name and command line parameters, and when the user clicks on this word or phrase, the program will run. Note it is your responsibility to ensure that the program exists, and that Windows will be able to find it. 4). The insert Bitmap has been updated. Help Edit now allows the insertion of .BMP, .SHG and .WMF files. In addition you can make these bitmaps active Hotspots to jump links, Definitions or even run programs. At the present time you can only preview .BMP files. .SHG files contain their own jump links and program references. You must create these using your own Hotspot Editor. If you use Borland compilers this is called SHED.EXE. You should create your topics and definitions as normal. Then after making a Help file look at the [MAP] section of the .HPJ file to get a list of the context strings assigned to your topics. Use these strings as the context strings in your Hotspot Editor. Create the .SHG file, then go back and add it at the appropriate place in the help file. 5). The online help and Tutorial have been updated to reflect these changes. ............................................................................ 01/7/93 V1.5 ------------ Bug Fix. When Help Edit cannot find a Topic or Definition it did not give the option to abort the compilation. It went ahead anyway and you were forced to wait for an inevitable error. User now offered the chance to abort. Bug Fix. If entered text without having opened or created a Project, and then try to exit without saving, get a stream access error because there is no Project name to save. User can now save at any time, with or without a Project open, and exit. If there is no Project open, user is warned, and given the chance to open or create a project, and the file name added before exit. If user does not open a project, the text file is still safely saved, and the system will exit without an error. The user can always add the text file to a Project at a later date. Note the file can only contain text, no Topic, Definitions or Bitmaps can be included unless a Project exists. Bug Fix. (More like a work around an MS problem). The MS Help Compiler will accept a fully qualified input .HPJ file name and path, but insists on placing the Help file it generates in the current directory, what ever it may be. Help Edit expects the Help file to be in the Project directory when asked to test it. If the user should change the current directory just before making the help file, it ends up there. Help Edit now explicitly sets the current directory to that of the Project, immediately before it calls the Help Compiler. New Features - Modifications. ----------------------------- 1) The most obvious new feature is the addition of a Toolbar which mimics a number of commonly used menu items with toolbar buttons. 2) The next obvious change is in the improved Status bar. It has a better 3D look and now gives additional information. As well as showing the current line and column position, it now displays the word 'Modified' when the text has changed. If you use the mouse or cursor keys to highlight menu items, a short description of what each menu does appears in the status bar. The state of the CAPS, NUM and SCROLL lock keys are also displayed. 3) The Editor now comes up in Word Wrap mode. You can toggle the word wrap on and off from the Edit menu. Word wrapping was originally used in V1.0 but was dropped as the so called soft line breaks ended up in the Help file and it looked awful. Help Edit now temporarily turns word wrap off during a save if word wrap is enabled. Note that when word wrapping is on the editor needs more room to hold all the additional soft line break characters. If you load a file which is around 30K with word wrap off, you may not be able to turn Word Wrap on. Help Edit will warn you that it has insuffient memory to perform the operation, and you text will be unchanged. 4) The default Windows is now assummed to be Version 3.1 and the menu item under the Options menu is checked unless reset by the user, or you have an existing .INI file with your settings. 5) During spell checking by the Spelmate DLL the cursor is turned to an Hour Glass as you may have long delays between words, (unless you are a poor speller). Remember that spell checking will be on-going until it tells you it has finished, or you explicitly cancel it. 6) Help Edit now has an interface to another support program called Index-It. Index-It is a general indexing program which is used to scan text files to identify words that could be used as Keywords or Index words. Such word lists are used when compiling the Index lists in books or journals, and when creating a Hypertext system, such as a Windows Help File. Index-It will generate a word list consisting of simple ASCII text arranged one word to a line, so that it can be used by a number of systems, such as a DeskTop Publishing Package, to create an Index. The file has the extension *.Idx. When you load a Project file into Help Edit it looks to see if an Index file exists with the same name as the Project, but with the extension .Idx. If found it is loaded. 7) When creating or Editing Topics a number of new controls are present in the Topic dialog box. These will only be active if an Index file was loaded. The Keywords List box contains the index list, and words may be selected from this list and used as keywords. See the on-line help for details. The Help Edit help file has been updated. The Tutorial has been re-written. Supporting Programs. -------------------- SPELMATE. ......... The spell checker DLL Spelmate is now at version 1.1. It now has sample programs in C and Visual Basic as well as Pascal. Spelmate is included in the professional version of Help Edit. The Shareware file is now SPMATE11.ZIP. Index-It. ......... Index-It Version 1.0 can be used to create keyword lists that can be used by Help Edit, as well as other programs, eg. DTP. The Shareware file is INDXIT11.ZIP.