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Frequently
Asked Questions |
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|
| Vista
and CHM File Security |
Q:
Why can't I load my WinHelp (.HLP) files in Vista?
Q: I see my CHM file contents but
no help text, just an error!
. |
| Images |
Q:
Why doesn't my text wrap around my image like in MS Word?
Q: How do I create a link from my Image?
Q: How do I embed a Flash file in my Project?
Q: How can I change the opening
Image in my PDF file?
Q:
When editing HotSpots on my image the zoom ignores
the HotSpot size
Q: Can I link to a bookmark from a HotSpot?
Q: Can I insert an AVI Video in my CHM file?
.
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| Documentation |
Q: How can I change the opening
Image in my PDF file?
.
|
| General |
Q:
Compatibility - What Operating Systems does Fast-Help work
with?
Q: My Search Tab does not work.
Q: How can I change a HelpID?
Q: How do I change a Heading to a Topic and vice versa?
Q: Why don't my compiled
Contents appear as I expect?
Q: How do I clear my Table's Borders?
Q: How do I fill a cell's Background Color?
Q: Why does my .CHM file not load?
.
|
| I see my CHM file contents
but no help text, just an error! |
If you see a screen like the following:
Where
the Contents displays OK, but the help text does not,
then you are probably viewing your CHM file over
a network. Microsoft in its wisdom decided that CHM
files were a security risk because you can embed ActiveX's,
external links to exe's etc. So, they released a Windows
Critical Update, KB896358, which effectively means that CHM files can not be viewed on
a network shared folder.
This problem applies to all CHM files on a network. If
you view the CHM file from your local disk, i.e. the
C drive, it will display as expected.
The solution is to add a MaxAllowedZone registry value
and to set it to at least 1, as this permits access to
HTML Help files stored both locally (Local Machine zone)
and remotely (Local intranet zone). Please download this zip file containing a reg file:
http://www.Fast-Help.com/download/misc/ChmFileFix.zip
If you want to apply this fix, open the zip file and double-click
the reg file and the setting will be added to your Registry.
This needs to be done on each workstation that access CHM
files on the server.
Trusted Sites
There
is also another option, if you have access to the "Local
Internet" settings on all workstations. If you open "Internet
Options" in Internet Explorer and select the "Security" tab,
then click on Local Intranet and select "Sites".
Click "Advanced" and add the network path of
your shared drive to the trusted sites list. For example,
the 'H' drive on the server could be "file://Danehill-server".
This will then enable you to view all CHM files on that
drive.
|
| Why can't I load my WinHelp
(.HLP) files in Vista? |
Microsoft
decided to drop support for WinHelp in Vista. WinHelp
was last updated in 1997, so it is ancient in computing
terms, but is still used in many programs and will be missed.
Anyway, nostalgia aside, we have to move on.
Fast-Help will still compile to WinHelp, but you will not
be able to view your HLP files on Vista. You will need
to copy them to XP etc, in order to view them. The recommended alternative to WinHelp is HtmlHelp, i.e.
CHM files. Because Fast-Help is a single-source editor,
you can simply compile to any of the 7 compile formats.
This will also be the same with any new compile formats
that we add, thereby protecting your investment in your
help text.
Turning on WinHelp Options under Vista
Fast-Help
will automatically hide WinHelp options under Vista,
but you can enable them from the "Project Settings" screen
by checking the "Show WinHelp Options under Vista" option.
|
| Q:
Can I insert an AVI Video in my CHM file? |
| Yes. In
the Windows XP there is a little avi video called "clock.avi" which
you could use as an example.
1.
Copy the "clock.avi", or your own avi file,
into the Images folder of your project.
2. Position your cursor in your help text and select "Insert
| HtmlHelp Control | <TAG>".
3. You can now type in raw html, so type in:
<
img dynsrc="clock.avi">
and click OK.
When
you compile, you will see the avi embedded in your
help file. This is contained within your .CHM file
so you
don't need to ship it. If your avi's are very big and
you want to ship them separately then replace the above
html
with:
<embed src="type your full path/clock.avi">
The disadvantage is that you need the full path and you need to ship the avi
files with your .chm file.
|
| Q:
Can I link to a bookmark from a HotSpot? |
| Yes.
Double-click your image to load it into the "Image
Properties" screen. If you already have a HotSpot,
select it, or create a new one by clicking on the square
toolbar icon and drawing one.
On the right, in the "Link To" field, use the
ellipsis button to select the page you want to link to.
Now, as you may already know, the link text that you see
will be the html file name when you compile. If your project
settings are set to use ".html" as the default
extension, then during compile this link will have that
extension added. But you can override that now by typing
in the extension and the bookmark. For example, if you
linked to "FirstPage", and the bookmark on that
page was called "GoToMe", then your link text
would now look like this:
FirstPage.html#GoToMe
When you compile and click on this link it will now go to the page you specified
and the bookmark on that page.
Note: Linking to Bookmarks is only supported by Html,
so if you compile to WinHelp this link will not work.
|
| Q:
Why does my .CHM file not load? |
CHM
files are loaded by the Htmlhelp viewer, which is installed
by Internet Explorer. The hh.exe viewer is installed
in the windows folder and is associated with all .chm
files.
If you do not have this file then re-installing the latest
version of Internet Explorer will fix this.
|
| Q:
Why doesn't my text wrap around my image like in MS Word? |
| If you are compiling a WinHelp project then
there are only three possible image alignments, left, centered
in text and right.
If you are compiling for HtmlHelp then you have more
control. Double-click your image and the "Image Properties" screen
appears. Use the "Alignment" field to select the alignment
you prefer.
You can experiment with the best alignment for your needs,
however the changes will only be shown when you compile.
Fast-Help deliberately sets the visual alignment within
the editor to "centered in text". This is because
the performance overhead of redrawing the screen every
time a character is typed in, to create the correct wrapping,
is too great. So a compromise of performance and visual
aesthetics was made within the editor.
|
| Q:
How do I create a link from my Image? |
Double-click your image in the Fast-Help editor
and it will load into the "Image Properties" screen. On the
HtmlHelp tab, type in your URL in the "URL" field, i.e. "http://www.Fast-Help.com"
and click [OK]. When you next compile and click this image
it will go to the URL you typed in.
|
| Q:
How do I fill a cell's Background Color? |
1. Select the cell, or multiple
cells
2. Select "Table | Table Properties"
3. Click on the "Cells" tab
4. Use the "Fill Color" field to select your cell
Background Color
|
| Q:
How do I clear my Table's Borders? |
1. With your cursor in the
table, select "Table
| Table Properties"
2. Click [Table Borders] and in the screen that appears
click "None"
3. Then click [Cell Borders] and in the screen that appears
click "None" and click [OK]. Your table will
now have no borders.
|
| Q:
Why don't my Contents appear as I expect? |
| HtmlHelp and WinHelp expect certain rules
to be used with Contents. For example, you cannot have a
Topic as the parent of another Topic. Only Headings can have
Topics or Headings below them.
In WinHelp, the last entry in a tree cannot be a Topic,
if there are Headings above it. A silly rule, but one the
MS made originally and we have to live with it.
|
| Q:
How do I embed a Flash file in my Project? |
| This example references a Flash file from
one of our programmers holiday's in Thailand, don't worry
it's not that kind of video!
1. Select "Insert | HtmlHelp Control | <TAG>"
2. Type in:
"<embed
width="320" height="240" src="http://www.auricvisions.com/ThaiCycle/images/Day03/048KidsAndBells.swf">"
and
click [OK].
3. Now compile as a HtmlHelp file and if you are connected
to the Internet you will see the above flash file display
within your CHM file.
If you want to include your flash file within your CHM
file, select "Project | HtmlHelp Compiler Options" and
click on the "Advanced" tab, then the "[Files]" tab.
Type in "Images\YourFlashFile.swf". Then in the <TAG> type
in:-
<embed width="320" height="240" src="Images\YourFlashFile.swf">
This way the swf file is actually inside the CHM file and you only need to
ship your CHM file, not the SWF file. If you leave out the width and height
your video will still display but using the correct values for your video will
speed up the display and prevent it from being shown full screen.
|
| Q:
How do I change a Heading to a Topic and vice versa? |
1. Select the "Properties" tab
of the Topic or Heading
2. On the "General" tab, use the "Page Type" combo
box to select a Heading or a Topic and the changes are
made.
|
| Q:
How can I change a HelpID? |
Click on the "Properties" tab, beneath
the editor then click on the [...] button on the right of
the HelpID field. Please note that each HelpID must be unique
and that changing to a HelpID greater than the Next HelpID
could cause problems. You can see what the Next HelpID will
be from "Project | Project Settings".
|
| Q: My Search Tab does not
work. |
| If your Search tab is completely
empty in your HtmlHelp file it is because Full text search
has not
been fully enabled. Select "Project | HtmlHelp Compiler
Options" and check the box "Full Text Search Information".
It could also be that one of the required dlls is not
registered. Please open an MS-Dos prompt and go to the "c:\Windows\System32" directory
in NT or Win2000 or XP System, your "c:\Windows\System" directory
in Win95/98. Type in:-
regsvr32.exe itcc.dll
You should receive either a confirmation message that it has been registered
successfully or that it is already registered. Then recompile your CHM project,
no need to reload Fast-Help. Do you now get search results when you type
in a word and press Enter?
|
| Q:
Compatibility - What Operating Systems does Fast-Help
work with? |
Fast-Help
was developed under Windows XP Pro and is compatible with
Windows 98, Windows ME, NT4.0, Windows 2000, Windows 2003
and Windows XP Home and Pro.
Compatibility of Produced Files
| .CHM |
Any
32bit Windows operating system from Win95b onwards,
including Vista.
|
| .HLP |
Any
32bit Windows operating system except Windows Vista |
| .htm/.html |
Any
operating system that supports html, such as Windows
and Linux |
| .RTF |
MS
Word compatible |
| .PDF |
Adobe
compatible. Any operating system that supports
PDF files, such as Windows and Linux |
|
| Q:
How can I change the opening Image in my PDF file? |
The
Documentation options are common to PDF files as well.
Select "Project
| Documentation Options",
then click
on the [Front Cover] button and click to the right of
the image and press backspace to remove it. You can add
your own image by clicking on the Insert Image toolbar
icon. The rest of the Documentation options affect your
PDF file and you can change all the options from the "Documentation
Options" screen.
|
| Q:
When editing HotSpots on my image the zoom ignores
the HotSpot size |
This
is a known issue, when zooming in or out the HotSpots will
remain full size.
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