generating help files and connecting to the controls help context id

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Jesper F - 18 Feb 2005 14:43 GMT

I'm distributing a database and want to include a help file and haven't
tried it before.
How should I go about creating a help file? Should it be a windows help file
or perhaps a folder with html-documents constituting the help? Can you
recommend a program for doing the former?
How do I connect a control's help context id to a place in a help file?
If someone could just point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful.
Thanks.

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Paul Overway - 18 Feb 2005 15:01 GMT

Whatever program you use to create the help file (CHM or HLP files types),
will also create a map of the ContextIDs within the file. You'd need to use
that map to set the Help ContextID in your app for forms and controls (where
appropriate). Access 2000 and greater supports CHM or HLP files...previous
versions of Access support HLP only.

In respect to actually creating the help file, there are a variety of
programs available, i.e. RoboHelp, DocToHelp, etc.. Some are pretty
pricey...some are free, but I think you often get what you pay for. See
http://www.helpmaster.com/hh-authoringtools.htm for a partial list of
authoring tools available.

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Paul Overway
Logico Solutions
http://www.logico-solutions.com

> I'm distributing a database and want to include a help file and haven't
> tried it before.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> If someone could just point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful.
> Thanks.

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Andy - 21 Feb 2005 18:38 GMT

In addition to Paul's suggestion, you may want to consider VBAHA (Visual
Basic Automated Help Author). I have used this program for several years.
Easy to use, understand and get started with.

Andy

> I'm distributing a database and want to include a help file and haven't
> tried it before.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> If someone could just point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful.
> Thanks.

Reply to this Message