Questions tagged [winhelp]

WinHelp is a help file format (.hlp) created by Microsoft.

WinHelp (.hlp) was the successor of QuickHelp and was used in Windows 3.0 up to Windows 95 and NT.

The file format itself is based on RTF. WinHelp files generally consist of texts, pictures and macros in VBA language. The navigation in WinHelp 1.0 was only by means of hyperlinks, and a search dialog with index and full-text search (search) tab is possible. There is no table of contents - the "contents" button in the toolbar simply resulted in the main navigation topic in the help.

With the introduction of Windows Vista, support for WinHelp was abandoned, later as an additional update again optionally implemented for compatibility reasons. Windows 7 support is missing by default also.

24 questions
39
votes
10 answers

Windows Help files - what are the options?

Back in the old days, Help was not trivial but possible: generate some funky .rtf file with special tags, run it through a compiler, and you got a WinHelp file (.hlp) that actually works really well. Then, Microsoft decided that WinHelp was not hip…
Michael Stum
  • 177,530
  • 117
  • 400
  • 535
22
votes
6 answers

The future direction of Help File formats

It would appear that CHM help files are no longer the help file format of choice. WinHelp - obsolete HtmlHelp (CHM) - not supported on Vista by default - does not work well on a network share Help 2 (HXS) - I understand this is used in VS2005+…
Helios
  • 421
  • 1
  • 7
  • 12
21
votes
4 answers

How to convert HLP files into CHM files

I need some help, I have some .hlp files and I want to convert it to .chm files, as .hlp files don't run on Windows 10. How can I do that?
6
votes
2 answers

How can I use a hlp file for context sensitive help in my application?

I have a .hlp file that goes with the application. Because the functionality has not changed since I last wrote the app the hlp (written in 2003) is still valid. However when I compile the app in Delphi XE7 I cannot get the application to recognose…
Johan
  • 74,508
  • 24
  • 191
  • 319
5
votes
1 answer

How to Integrate Component Help Files into the Delphi system?

How do you integrate component help files into the Delphi 2006 help system so that the help is avaliable when pressing F1. The help files are in hlp and chm format.
Bill Miller
  • 199
  • 4
5
votes
1 answer

Windows Help Files

Back in the old days, Help was not trivial but possible: generate some funky .rtf file with special tags, run it through a compiler, and you got a WinHelp file (.hlp) that actually works really well. Then, Microsoft decided that WinHelp was not hip…
4
votes
2 answers

How to tell VB6 where to find winhlp32.exe

I maintain a large VB6 application I would like to be able to install on Windows 10. It has a large Help file in WinHelp format. I would like to distribute winhlp32.exe (and winhlp32.exe.mui) with the application rather than replace the…
3
votes
2 answers

Overwrite the default F1 Windows Help behavior

I have a simple MFC application, where I want to customize the Help Button functions provided by the application. When clicking on F1 or Help button, it opens up a Windows help support page by default. How can I disable this default behavior and…
Urvashi Gupta
  • 444
  • 4
  • 13
2
votes
2 answers

Convert rtf files to chm files ? Convert hlp files to chm files?

We were shipping .hlp files to customers when development was in VC++. The process to create it was as follows: 1. Create rtf file 2. Create new project in WinHelp and then compile to get .hlp file. Now development has moved to .net and also I found…
2
votes
2 answers

Is there a library / api for reading the contents of a .hlp help file?

I have a help file for my program and was asked to add a description of the menus in a toolbar as the user browses them. So I thought I could just use the beginning of the menu's description of the help but just cant find how to access the contents…
boccato
2
votes
4 answers

How can I open a help file (chm or so) from my GUI developed in VC++ 2008?

I'm trying to add some help to my GUI developed in VC++ 2008. I want to compile a chm file, or a hlp file that can be accessed from my menu. Anyone can give me any idea about how to do this? Thanks a lot
deb
  • 425
  • 1
  • 9
  • 24
1
vote
2 answers

Winhelp in Visual Studio 2010

I have a Visual Studio 2010 project which generates Winhelp files in release mode. I would like to deactivate it but I have not found a way... I have try to delete the corresponding *.hpj file, so the creation of the generated file does not occur…
Cedekasme
  • 2,027
  • 1
  • 16
  • 16
1
vote
3 answers

Detecting if WinHelp is Installed on Vista or newer Windows

Is there a reliable way to detect whether or not WinHelp is installed on Windows Vista or newer versions of Windows? If possible, I'd like a solution that's not specific to any particular version of Windows. I've posted this question to other…
Rob Holstein
1
vote
1 answer

Windowshelp to htmlhelp

I tried converting a big winhelp project to htmlhelp project using htmlhelp workshop tool. It got converted, but images and table of contents are not working.please help
Lavanya
  • 37
  • 1
  • 7
1
vote
1 answer

Debug an embedded missing help topic from an exe

As far as my understanding goes, when a program accesses a .hlp file, Window's help program handles the request. What I have is an older exe that wants to jump to a specific topic in a .hlp file via a menu option. Of course Windows Help spits out…
Rajada
  • 37
  • 1
  • 8
1
2