Delphi: Linking to Helpfiles

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While a "Readme" file can cover important ground, it isn't very long before your applications look pretty amateur without a "proper" helpfile. Happily, connecting them to your Delphi application is easy.

Creating them, while not hard, isn't trivial. There's information on tools and techniques for creating .hlp files here: creation of helpfiles.

Just before explaining how to link your application to its helpfile, let me mention that this tutorial doesn't go into the question of context sensitive help.

Let's say your application is called TRD6.exe, and the helpfile is TRD6.hlp. It is easiest, and makes sense, to put the .hlp file in the same folder (directory) as the .exe.

Within the OnFormCreate handler, for applications named as above, you would put...

     application.helpfile:='TRD6.hlp';

To launch the helpfile becomes a simple matter of executing...

     application.helpcommand(HELP_CONTENTS,0);

You could put that as what happens in the OnClick handler for a menu item called "help", or the OnClick handler for a button labeled "Help"... or you could call it some other way... but that's all the code you need!

I said this tutorial would be short!

First Catch your rabbit... I mean helpfile

While in general, I lean towards using general tools and open source applications... best of all open source general tool applications!!..., for many years I have used HelpScribble to create my .hlp and .chm files. Sometimes you need the right tool for a specific job, and I think creating helpfiles is one of the tasks where buying something is worthwhile.

I have a page discussing helpfile creation, too.)

Click here if you're feeling kind! (Promotes my site via "Top100Borland")

If you visit 1&1's site from here, it helps me. They host my website, and I wouldn't put this link up for them if I wasn't happy with their service. They offer things for the beginner and the corporation.

Ad from page's editor: Yes.. I do enjoy compiling these things for you. I hope they are helpful. However... this doesn't pay my bills!!! Sheepdog Software (tm) is supposed to help do that, so if you found this stuff useful, (and you run a Windows or MS-DOS PC) please visit my freeware and shareware page, download something, and circulate it for me? Links on your page to this page would also be appreciated!

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