>P.S. hlp files no longer work with Vista at all according to Wikipedia. > They require chm help files (which I hate).
I am running Vista Business on one of my workstations. What I found is that HLP files for 16 bit programs ARE supported out of the box by Vista. HLP files for 32 bit programs are not supported out of the box. The lack of support is only due to the fact that the help file viewer (winhlp32.exe) is not provided in the installation. There is a program with that name that is installed, but it is not a help file viewer; it is just a program that opens up and tells you the HLP files are no longer supported in Vista. You can download a free install from Microsoft that provides 32 bit HLP file support. Here is the name of the file: Windows6.0-KB917607-x86.msu I have done this, and all my 32 bit programs now view help files just fine. The problem, of course, is that if you are distributing software, those who install it will not have the 32 bit help view installed. What we have decided to do is use standards based help in our software. We have done this in more than one way, but they all involve assigning the Application.OnHelp event so that we can control what is launched when the help button (F1) is pressed in any given context. The most common way we do help now is with HTML files. This is very convenient for both us and the users, since the help files in HTML can easily be customized to meet their specific application of our software. For example, many of our users incorporate their policies and procedures into the help files. In addition, we can open the help online on our web server in the event that the HTML file is not installed locally. If anyone is interested in the specifics about how to use the HelpContext numbers in conjunction with HTML files in a way that approximates the old Windows Help File scheme, we can get into the details. Another way we have done this is to use ShellExecute to launch the help file. This allows us or the user to use any file type with a registered extension as their help file. Some of our users like Microsoft Word and use DOC files as their help files. We primarily use this approach when there is only one help file for the entire app. Glenn Lawler www.incodesystems.com -----Original Message----- From: Gordon Cooper [SMTP:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 11:56 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [delphi-en] Delphi Help Dave wrote : P.S. hlp files no longer work with Vista at all according to Wikipedia. They require chm help files (which I hate). I hate 'em too. I'm still maintaining a couple of databases written in Win95 and used by a large hobby group. They upgraded to Vista without much problem and the compiled .hlp file works OK. But when I try to run the HCW help system, Vista complains bitterly that it's not a Win32 file and refuses to help. If things get desperate I'll try see if it will run on Linux with the Wine interface. Cheersm Gordon.
