Utente:Menu82/Sandbox

Menu82/Sandbox
Standard	No

Microsoft WinHelp software
Sistema operativo	Windows Vista

Testo ancora da tradurre della pagina della en.wiki Winhelp, copiarla a mano a mano nella corrispondente pagina della wiki italiana (nascosta tramite commenti html)

.hlp	Description
.hpj	project file (plain text?); contains a list of all .rtf files to compile into the .hlp file and some additional information
.cnt	Table of Contents (TOC) file.
.rtf	actual text content in Rich Text Format-format
.bmp .dib .wmf .shg	picture-files in various formats: .bmp or .dib, .wmf .shg
.fts .ftg	Full Text Search; used for searching through the text of help documents
.ann	file with annotations (plain text?)
.bmk	file with bookmarks (plain text?)

File sorgente e compilazione

I file sorgente necessari per compilare un file .hlp file consistono in uno o più documenti con l'estensione .rtf e un file di aiuto del progetto con estensione .hpj, insieme a tutti i file grafici (.bmp, .wmf, or .shg) che sono usato all'interno del file di aiuto. È anche possibile creare un file di indice opzionale con estensione .cnt per l'uso con il file .hlp.

All'interno dei file .rtf files, gli argomenti sono separati da interruzioni di pagina. Ogni argomento ha una serie di note a piè di pagina che contengono informazioni per il compilatore dell'aiuto:

# le note contrassegnate con questo simbolo contengono l'ID dell'argomento (usato per creare del collegamenti a quell'argomento).

$ le note contrassegnate con questo simbolo contengono il nome dell'argomento come appare nell'indice, nell'indice analitico e in altre posizioni.

K le note contrassegnate con questo simbolo contengono parole chiave per l'indice analitico.

A le note contrassegnate con questo simbolo contengono parole chiave del tipo "Vedi anche".

* le note contrassegnate con questo simbolo contengono etichette per la costruzione del file.

+ le note contrassegnate con questo simbolo contengono informazioni sulla sequenza di navigazione.

! le note contrassegnate con questo simbolo contengono macro per le voci degli argomenti.

Solo la nota # è indispensabile,tutte le altre sono facoltative.

Il testo in ogni argomento può contenere una formattazione limitata, contenente testo in grassetto,corsivo e colori,non sono invece ammessi né indici né pedici. I salti fra gli argomenti in uno stesso file di Aiuto, appaiono normalmente come testo con doppia sottolineatura (di base in verde, anche se si può cambiare), seguiti dall'ID di un argomento in testo nascosto. I collegamenti a comparsa appaiono nel documento sorgente come testo con una sola sottolineatura (sempre in verde), seguiti da un ID in testo nascosto (Nel file .hlp, i salti appaiono con un testo verde e una sola sottolineatura mentre i collegamenti a comparsa appaiono con un testo verde con una linea di sottolineatura tratteggiata).

Le immagini possono essere aggiunte tramite codici come {bmc image.bmp}. I formati di immagine supportati includono .bmp, .wmf, e .shg (usato per le immagini di mappa, che possono contenere salti o collegamenti a comparsa, attivabili cliccando su specifiche parti dell'immagine).

After the source files have been created, the help file can be compiled using a WinHelp compiler such as HCW.exe or by using a commercial software program such as RoboHelp or HelpBreeze, most of which (included the two cited here) also use hcw.exe as the backend compiler.

WinHelp appearance and features

Depending on how it has launched and what settings the Help author chose, a WinHelp file opens either to its default topic, its table of contents, or its index.

A topic in a WinHelp file opens in a separate window, in a size and initial position that the Help author may choose. Users can resize or reposition the window. The Help author can control whether the Help file stores the user's settings between sessions, or always opens in the default size and position.

When a topic is open, a title bar at the top of the Help window displays the topic title. Below that is a row of menus (File, Edit, Bookmark, Options, and Help), which control various aspects of the file. A row of buttons usually appears below the menus. The Help author controls which buttons, if any, appear. Typical buttons include Contents, Index, Back, and Print, along with << and >> buttons to browse through the file. Help authors can also create custom buttons to jump to specific topics or perform other actions.

Below the buttons is the main text area of the window. Typically, the text begins with a heading, often bold or in a larger font than the rest of the text. This heading may sometimes be in a non-scrolling region—an area of the window that does not move up or down via the scrollbar at the side of the window. Non-scrolling regions can only be used at the beginning of a topic. The Help author can control size and background color of a non-scrolling region.

Help authors can also control the background color of the main text area, where the actual text of the topic appears. This text can be formatted and arranged in many ways. Within the text, jumps appear as green text with a single underline. Single-clicking on a jump opens a different topic. Some jumps may open secondary Help windows to display information. Popups appear in the text as green text with a dotted underline. Single-clicking on a popup opens a small window with no menus, buttons, or scrollbars, sized to fit the text. Often, popups provide short definitions of key terms or other supplemental information about the main text. The popup automatically disappears the next time the user clicks or presses a key.

Many, though not all Help topics have See Also jumps at the end of the text. Depending on the Help author's preference, this feature may be a simple list of jumps under the heading See Also, or it may be a small button that, when clicked, brings up a dialog box displaying all the relevant topics. Clicking on the name of a topic in that dialog box then clicking Display opens that topic.

Most Help files also contain a table of contents and an index to help users locate information. These appear in a separate, tabbed window. Clicking on the Contents tab opens the table of contents, in which users can click on headings to see the topics. Often, headings are marked with icons that look like small books and the topics have icons that look like pages. Double-clicking on a topic (or clicking on a topic then clicking Display) opens that topic. Clicking on the Index tab opens the index, which has a typing field and an alphabetical keyword list. Typing in the typing field automatically scrolls the list of keywords to the closest match. Double-clicking on a keyword (or clicking on a keyword then clicking Display) displays the topic associated with that keyword (if only one) or brings up a list of all topics associated with it. The index is important in helping users locate information. Sometimes Help files also have a Find tab, which lets the user search for any word used in the text of the file, not just for keywords.

WinHelp also supports a feature known as context-sensitive help. Context-sensitive help is assistance that is appropriate to where the user is in the software application, and what they are trying to do.

A rather security critical feature is that one can also include a DLL file containing custom code and associating it with WinHelp topics. Effectively this makes .HLP files equivalent to executables.

End of support

At the 2006 WritersUA conference, Microsoft announced its intentions to phase out WinHelp as a supported platform. Ted Dworkin (Partner Director of WinHelp Experience) stated, "WinHelp does not meet the code standards established for Vista. These standards include security, reliability, and performance." He went on to say that WinHelp is designed in such a way that, "...we would have to rewrite it from the ground up to meet the Vista code standards. And that approach doesn't make sense given that we have two other Help systems in Vista."

The updated licensing agreement prohibits application developers from packaging the WinHelp libraries with their installers. This means that WinHelp manuals for legacy applications are not readable on a new Windows Vista installation. To read them, the end-user must obtain the 32-bit WinHelp viewer from Microsoft's website and manually install it (which requires WGA validation and an account with administrative rights).

Windows 7 support

Microsoft published Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) for Windows 7 on October 14, 2009, a week before the scheduled October 22 deadline. Microsoft has recently announced that separate downloads for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows 8 will be offered after the RTM versions of these products are available to public.

Windows 8 support

There is a download for the Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) for Windows 8.

Other Documentation File Formats

Although documentation can be maintained entirely in a vendor-specific presentation format such as WinHelp, it is more often the case that documentation must be published in multiple presentation formats at once: Microsoft Compiled HTML Help (CHM), WinHelp, HTML pages, Java Help, PDF, etc. It would be very expensive and error-prone to maintain each format separately.

For this reason, authors often maintain documentation in an industry-standard, vendor-neutral authoring format—such as DocBook or FrameMaker—that can be used to generate several different presentation formats (including WinHelp). Various presentation files thus produced (with WinHelp or other tools) contain consistent content because they were generated from the same source.

See also

• Microsoft Compiled HTML Help (.chm file extension)
• Microsoft Help 2
• Microsoft Help Viewer
• OS/2's INF Help (also known as IPF or Information Presentation Facility)

External links

• Help-Info: Information around Online Help (Microsoft), Examples, etc.
• HelpMaster: Largest selection of WinHelp, HTMLHelp and HTML related files and hints