Overview

In Chapter 14 we used the WinHelp 4.0 compiler, HCW.exe, that comes with Visual Studio, but you may prefer to work with HTML Help files, which have the file suffix chm. These Compiled HTML (chm) and Compiled HTML Index (chi) files are the standard help system for the Windows 2000 and Windows 98 and ME operating systems.

The Microsoft HTML Help 1.3 authoring system is based on Microsoft's WinHelp 4.0; users of WinHelp and Help Workshop will be familiar with many of the features of HTML Help and HTML Help Workshop. As with WinHelp, HTML Help uses a project file to combine topic, contents, index, image, and other source files into a single compiled Help file. The HTML Help Workshop is an authoring tool that makes it easy for viewing and editing files and provides an HTML Help for compressing HTML, graphic, and other files into a relatively small compiled Help (.chm) file. These compiled Help files can then be distributed with a software application. There is also an online HTML Help Authoring Guide, which provides guidance with the creation of a help system.

The Microsoft HTML Help Workshop can be freely downloaded from http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?URL=/library/tools/html-help/chm/hh1start.htm.

B. 1: Converting existing Help projects

The New Project Wizard of HTML Help Workshop can be used to convert existing WinHelp projects into HTML Help projects. HTML Help Workshop will convert only complete WinHelp projects. Assuming that all the files referenced by the existing Help (.hpj) file are in the locations specified, the Wizard...