WinHelp

As Microsoft Help the different online help systems are understood to application programs with the operating system Microsoft Windows.

Quick Help

Under the name Quick Help ( English for " Quick Help") the Windows Help was performed to Windows version 2.0.

WinHelp

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WinHelp (. Hlp ) is the successor of Quick Help since 1990 ( Windows 3.0). The file format itself is based on RTF. WinHelp files basically consist of text, images and macros in the VBA language. The navigation in WinHelp 1.0 only via hyperlinks and a search dialog with index and full-text search (Search) on tabs was possible. There is no table of contents - the "Content " button in the toolbar simply led to the main navigation topic in the Help.

With the introduction of Windows Vista support of WinHelp was abandoned, but later introduced as an additional optional update again for compatibility reasons. With Windows 7 support as standard is also lacking.

HTMLHelp

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The CHM file format used by Microsoft HTML Help, the standard help system for the Windows platform since 1997. A CHM file is a collection of HTML documents and other data, such as images and JavaScript that compressed into a single CHM file be. CHM files contain a number of powerful features which are described in the specifications: table of contents, index of key words and full-text search function. It requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or a later version.

The file format is also used for e-books in use.

AP Help

In Windows Vista, among others, also the help platform was again changed to improve the user help in Windows comprehensively and enhance. This assistance platform is referred to as currently Assistance Platform Help (short AP Help ).

Tools

For the generation of the various help file formats appropriate tools - most translation programs, also called compiler - (partly free) provided.

  • Help make - a command line program from Microsoft for creating help files in the Quick Help format
  • Microsoft Help Compiler - Translator for the WinHelp format ( hlp ).
  • Microsoft HTML Help 1.4 SDK - development tools, among others for the compiled HTML Help format (. chm)
  • MS HELP 2.x Info - Developer tools for the Help 2.x format ( hxs. )
  • For the AP Help format is still not publicly available compiler
Technical standard Visual Basic for Applications Manpage Microsoft Developer Network
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