Launch CHM files and topics

[NewsArchive]

Having spoken to Friedrich he does not think this can be done. So here is a
challenge ...

Launching a CHM file after installation is easy. But can anyone get it to go
to a specific topic?

As Friedrich says and after testing ShellExecute does not support something
like myhelpfile.chm#topicname

I really want to incorporate a QuickStartGuide into my main help file rather
than distributing as a separate chm file as I do now.

TIA

John Fligg

[NewsArchive]

> Having spoken to Friedrich he does not think this can be done. So here is a
> challenge ...
>
> Launching a CHM file after installation is easy. But can anyone get it to go
> to a specific topic?
>
> As Friedrich says and after testing ShellExecute does not support something
> like myhelpfile.chm#topicname
>
> I really want to incorporate a QuickStartGuide into my main help file rather
> than distributing as a separate chm file as I do now.

You just gotta be creative John<g>

See attached screen shot.


Note that it is HH.exe that is being executed, that the section of the help
file is specifically formatted inside a double quote string AND that we are
telling SB to open a web page - not use ShellExecute.

It works here and opens the help directly to the section specified.


:-)

Charles




--
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[NewsArchive]

Charles - I swear that is what I tried. I just used # instead of ::

Take care

John

[NewsArchive]

> Charles - I swear that is what I tried. I just used # instead of ::

A regular HTML anchor ( # ) won't work that way so you have to use the ( ::
) syntax.

IIRC it was Carl Barnes that tipped me off to that one.

:-)

Charles


--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles Edmonds
www.clarionproseries.com - "Get ProPath, make your Clarion programs ready
for Windows 7 and Vista!"
www.ezchangelog.com - "Free ChangeLog software to manage your projects!"
www.setupcast.com - "A revolutionary new publishing system for software
developers - enhanced for SetupBuilder users!"
www.pagesnip.com - "Print and Save the Web, just the way you want it!"
www.clarionproseries.com - "Serious tools for Clarion Developers"
www.ezround.com - "Round Corner HTML tables with matching Banners, Buttons
and Forms!"
www.lansrad.com - "Intelligent Solutions for Universal Problems"
www.fotokiss.com - "World's Best Auction Photo Editor"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[NewsArchive]

I've used a separate "getting started" help file that is linked as a topic
in the main file.

Make's things simpler.

paul macfarlane

[NewsArchive]

Charles it all worked yesterday on my development machine but when I install
to a new machine the QSG does not launch. I have checked for capitalization
etc. just in case. Also the machine I am testing on is XP.

I am just wondering if that link to hh.exe needs to be prefixed with
c:\windows. Launching manually all is fine so a bit weird.

TIA

John

[NewsArchive]

> Charles it all worked yesterday on my development machine but when I install
> to a new machine the QSG does not launch. I have checked for capitalization
> etc. just in case. Also the machine I am testing on is XP.
>
> I am just wondering if that link to hh.exe needs to be prefixed with
> c:\windows. Launching manually all is fine so a bit weird.

That should not make a difference AFAIK John since the Windows folder
should definitely be in the System Path.

I never put it in my own installs that use it.

How did you describe the location of your file to load?

Did you use the install path variable (my screen shot was hard coded, but
that was from a quickie test installer).

Charles


--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles Edmonds
www.clarionproseries.com - "Get ProPath, make your Clarion programs ready
for Windows 7 and Vista!"
www.ezchangelog.com - "Free ChangeLog software to manage your projects!"
www.setupcast.com - "A revolutionary new publishing system for software
developers - enhanced for SetupBuilder users!"
www.pagesnip.com - "Print and Save the Web, just the way you want it!"
www.clarionproseries.com - "Serious tools for Clarion Developers"
www.ezround.com - "Round Corner HTML tables with matching Banners, Buttons
and Forms!"
www.lansrad.com - "Intelligent Solutions for Universal Problems"
www.fotokiss.com - "World's Best Auction Photo Editor"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[NewsArchive]

Hi John,

> Charles it all worked yesterday on my development machine but when I install
> to a new machine the QSG does not launch. I have checked for capitalization
> etc. just in case. Also the machine I am testing on is XP.

What happens if you double click on the chm file in Explorer on that
machine? Does that bring it up?

Best regards,

--
Arnór Baldvinsson - Icetips Alta LLC
Port Angeles, Washington
www.icetips.com - www.buildautomator.com - www.altawebworks.com

Icetips product subscriptions at http://www.icetips.com/subscribe.php

[NewsArchive]

> What happens if you double click on the chm file in Explorer on that
> machine? Does that bring it up?

Hi Arnor,

I had an E-mail from John today saying that he could not access the
newsgroups for some reason.

He said that he found the problem.

Apparently to be able to launch the subtopic like that the filename
(excluding extension) can not be more than 8 characters.

If I was guessing I'd say that it is some holdover inside the HH.EXE from
the DOS days.

Anyway renaming the CHM filename so that it only had 8 characters resolved
the issue with the method I'd supplied.

:-)

Charles


--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles Edmonds
www.clarionproseries.com - "Get ProPath, make your Clarion programs ready
for Windows 7 and Vista!"
www.ezchangelog.com - "Free ChangeLog software to manage your projects!"
www.setupcast.com - "A revolutionary new publishing system for software
developers - enhanced for SetupBuilder users!"
www.pagesnip.com - "Print and Save the Web, just the way you want it!"
www.clarionproseries.com - "Serious tools for Clarion Developers"
www.ezround.com - "Round Corner HTML tables with matching Banners, Buttons
and Forms!"
www.lansrad.com - "Intelligent Solutions for Universal Problems"
www.fotokiss.com - "World's Best Auction Photo Editor"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[NewsArchive]

That's what I used to do Paul but was trying to get everything into one file
for distribution.

Thanks

John