Microsoft Word template for creating a Windows WinHelp file

HELPFILE.DOT is a Word document template that provides some starting text for creating the .RTF file used by the Windows Help Compiler to create a Windows 3.1 style help file (*.HLP). It has a macro that partially automates the creation of the footnotes that are required.

The difficult part of creating the footnotes is jumping back and forth between the main document and the footnote pane. The macro prompts you for the information to put in the footnotes, then inserts the footnote markers and creates the footnotes, doing all the pane-jumping for you.

When you're finished creating the document, be sure to save it as .RTF, not .DOC.

The zip file contains both the Word 6.0 and Word 2003 versions. The one you plan to use should be renamed to HELPFILE.DOT.

I used the Word 6.0 version often, but the Word 2003 conversion is mostly untested except that many people have downloaded it and I haven't received any bug reports. 

Click here to download helpfiledot.zip (26 KB).

Text contents of the HELPFILE template (the instructions for use)

This page contains commonly used sections for your .HPJ file.

Revise this page as needed, and copy it as ASCII TEXT into your PROJECT.HPJ file.
Then delete it from here (your .RTF file).
; This is the file start.
; Precede comments with a semi-colon, like this.

[OPTIONS]
CONTENTS=HID_CONTENTS
TITLE=Program Name Help

[CONFIG]
BrowseButtons()

[FILES]
project.rtf

Reference information while creating your Help file:

This section should also be deleted before compiling your Help project:

For help, see c:\bc4\bin\cwh.hlp. (That file is distributed with Borland C++ 4.0.)

Toolbar: The WinHelp Development Tools toolbar has a button with the CreateHelpTopicFootnotes macro assigned to it.

To create footnotes, position cursor at the left margin of the topic heading line, then run the macro CreateHelpTopicFootnotes. It will prompt you for the text to use in the footnotes.

Footnotes:

MACRO: CreateHelpTopicFootnotes will create footnotes for you.
    # Context string (identifies topic) (HID_xxxx is good (for HelpID)
    $ Title (appears as title in Search) (Make it the same as the topic title, its first line.)
    K Keywords and phrases (appears in Search)(separate with semicolons)
    + Browse sequence (just use 0 to browse topics in the order they appear in this file)

How to format Jumps and Popups:

A Jump HID_AJUMP
A Popup HID_APOPUP

The formats (but not necessarily the text) must be immediately adjacent to each other. If there is a space in the text, make sure one of the formats is applied to the space.

Do not use smart quotes or smart apostrophes (AutoCorrect option) in the file. The compiler strips them out.

Format (as Jumps and Popups) only the exact text that needs formatting. The compiler does not recognize hidden paragraph marks, so don't include paragraph marks in the text selected for formatting.

Putting columnized text into a table prevents wrapping. See MSWord 6.0 Help Tips on Indenting Paragraphs. Here is an alternative:

In WinHelp files, you sometimes need the equivalent of a table whose columns individually wrap. However, tables don't wrap. Instead, set a tab stop where the second column should begin (click on the Ruler), and also set a hanging indent to that point (drag the tab setter at the bottom left of the Ruler -- without dragging its upper partner -- to match the tab stop. In the help file, when you shrink the window horizontally, the second column will wrap without going all the way back to the left margin. See Keys.rtf (a Borland 4.0 example file, path unknown) and my WLife2D.RTF for examples.

When done, Save this file as an .RTF file for use by the Help Compiler.

^{# $ K +} Contents

This section should contain topic titles with their jump identifiers, formatted as HotSpots.

OverviewHID_OVERVIEW

^{# $ K +} Overview

Introduction, description of what the program does, etc.

Topic

^Put cursor at left side of the Topic line above before running the CreateHelpTopicFootnotes macro.
This will be the topic text.
Copy and customize this section for each topic in your Help system.
Remember to fill in the footnotes with CreateHelpTopicFootnotes().