Make .hpj file.

[Charlix]

I am using MS WORD to make an .hpj file to use in compiling a help file for my VB6 program. I save the file as a plain text file with an .hpj extension. But my compiler doesn't recognize this as an hpj file.

What am I doing wrong?

CharliX

 

[vb5prgrmr]

If I remember correctly you need to save your file as an RTF file and then use the help project wizard to convert that rtf file into your help files. Check out the help for help file with the program.

Good Luck

 

[Charlix]

Thanks for the advice, but the instructions call for saving the TOPIC files as RTF but the HELP PROJECT FILE is to be saved as unformatted text (ASCII) with an extension of .HPJ.

Charli

 

[vb5prgrmr]

You need to use the help file maker to make your HPJ file.

Good Luck

 

[Charlix]

Thanks for the help so far but I'm sorry to be so dense. I don't know what the "help file maker' is. It what I need. I tried using the HC.exe and HC31.exe supplied with Visual Basic 3 without success.

Thanks.

CharliX

 

[vb5prgrmr]

For the new HTML help goto this page and you can download it from there.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...tmlhelp/html/hwMicrosoftHTMLHelpDownloads.asp

and for old style help files this is the closest I could come to finding anything relavent.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...html/_core_help.3a_.the_help_project_file.asp

Although I would suggest that you try your question in the vb 3 & 4 forum.

Good Luck

 

[VBslammer]

.Hlp files are special compiled files made by the 'Microsoft Help Workshop' program that came with VB or Visual Studio. My current version is HCW.exe which is version 4.03 of the Help Workshop - and it works very well.

All you have to do is format your rtf file with the necessary tags (Footnotes / KLinks / ALinks, etc) , and the Workshop will compile it into a valid help file. You can also create a contents file from within the editor so your help file will have its own 'Contents' dialog.

I found an out of print book at

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

that provides all the steps and tips needed to create a decent help system:

Microsoft Windows 95 Help Authoring Kit
by Microsoft Press
ISBN: 1-55615-892-0

It comes with a CD containing the Help Workshop and some sample files, and originally listed for 49.95 - I forget what I paid but it was probably around 25-30 bucks.

Good Luck,


VBSlammer

Unemployed in Houston, Texas

 

[Charlix]

HCW.exe didn't ship with my Visual Basic 6.0 Professional Edition or my Visual Stdio 6.0. As soon as I get a copy of HCW.exe I'll try it.

Thanks for the help.

charliX

 

[vb5prgrmr]

Yes it did, you have to look on disk 3??? (enterprise edition) but yes it was shipped with pro. Do a search for it on your disks, you should find it.

Good Luck

 

[Charlix]

Thanks again for all your help. I certainly aided me in locating the root cause of my problem with running HC31.exe. It seems that my word processor (MSWord 2000) is saving my .rtf Topic files in a format that HC31 doesn?t recognize. Some Topic files I made years ago work well and are about 4K in size. However, if I make any changes and save them or make a new Topic file they don?t work and are about 8k in size. As soon as I clear up that issue, I believe the problem will be corrected.
Thanks again
Charlix