Using CHM with delphi 2005 - how to do it with an XML index file

[maniac9999]

A programming team at my company maintains an app with Delphi 2005, which calls a context sensitive WinHelp (.HLP) file (with map ids), and the .hlp file is indexed to the app using an .XML file. Now, to make the Delphi 2005-maintained app compatible with Vista, we need to make it work with a .CHM help file (and the XML file too). The team changed all of the calls in the Delphi app from "WinHelpViewer" to "HTMLHelpViewer" as was recommended by several sites, but now they can't get the app to target the correct help topic.

I asked if the XML needed to be part of the solution and they said yes, since the alternative would require recoding every screen in the app. I haven't seen anything anywhere on the web providing suggestions or directions on how to make this work. I have seen several places that show some of the (massive) amount of code that would need to added to Delphi to make it work without the .xml file.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[roo0047]

The problem may be in the convert process from WinHelp to HtmlHelp. I did one a few years ago. WinHelp uses HCW.EXE and HtmlHelp uses HH.EXE but the index numbers were all different and it created an ugly mess when I used it to convert. I never did finish it. Compare the intermediate files from both and have a look. If I remember correctly, I think it will help if you can find the original RTF source used to build the old WinHelp.

Roo
Delphi Rules!

 

[sggaunt]

I used to write my help files the hard way, but I now use Help&Manual. My copy was on a magazine cover CD!
And there are several commercial only help authoring application around.

There are many differences between the two formats WinHelp and HTML Help, so much so that unless you can auto convert (Help&Manual will have a good go at this) It might be better to start from scratch, and use an authoring program.


Steve [The sane]: Delphi a feersum engin indeed.

 

[maniac9999]

Roo and Steve,

Thanks for the info. Right now we're using RoboHelp. We would've gone with Help&Manual years ago, but it didn't seem to support JavaHelp 2.0 at the time and we needed to (still do) support WinHelp, JavaHelp, and WebHelp. As Roo suggested, I'm going back to the original source RTF to create two new projects - one with Word source, the other with HTML (converted from RTF). Hopefully one of them works. I'm double and triple checking the map ids to make sure that's not the issue again. I see that RoboHelp actually includes an old compiler (hhupd.exe) in their program. Don't know if that might be part of the problem. Microsoft recommends against hhupd for Windows XP, NT, and 2000, but a newer version of hhc.exe seems hard to find - my version is dated 1998, and it relates to an older authoring tool.

Jim

 

[roo0047]

Let us know how it goes. I may have to do this again one day.

You may want to have a look at cheetah9 in

http://jansfreeware.com/jfprogramming.htm

It's written in delphi and has a delphi import tool. It's mainly for building WinHelp but supports XML and is very handy for managing all those indexes from RTF. He may have something there for html Help as well.

Good luck!

Roo
Delphi Rules!