Tag Archives: HTML Help
Getting “HTML Help” in your CHM window title?
Josée Lafleur, a Technical Writer and Translator at 20-20 Technologies based in Montreal, Canada emailed me recently with an interesting issue. Josée produces French and English content including tutorials, user guides and help files. Her issue was that the Microsoft HTML Help (CHM) files she creating did not display the correct window title. No matter what she set in RoboHelp’s project settings or window properties, the CHM file always displayed “HTML Help”.
A default Single Source Layout. What’s the point?
If you have only ever created a new project and specified the output format in the process, this is a question you may never have asked. However if you’ve had to change the output layout being produced from your project (e.g. for Microsoft HTML Help to WebHelp) or you output two or more different layouts, you will almost definitely have had to address this. On the face of it, your default single source layout allows you generate your chosen output by clicking a single toolbar icon. This is all very handy if you don’t have the Single Source Layouts pod displayed at the time, but it is so much more than that. It also controls your project windows, the table of contents properties and other project entities.
Take start with a look at your humble window. Isn’t it just a container in which you display your help? Unfortunately it isn’t quite as simple as that. The default single source layout at the time the window was created determines what window characteristics can be changed. The reason for this is that web based output (e.g. WebHelp) uses a browser to display the help contents. With a CHM file you have much more control over the window used to display the help because it is a single compiled locally installed file. As well as this, the window properties available differ. Web or flash based output requires a skin to control much of the look and feel of your output so the window definition needs minimal supervision. For example the skin controls colors, buttons, fonts, etc., whilst the window controls placement, default tab and properties when viewed from a context sensitive help API. With Microsoft HTML Help (.CHM) output it is the window that controls the buttons that are displayed as well as the look of the tri-pane container.
As for your Table of Contents, the default single source layout controls the properties of your books and pages. If Microsoft HTML Help is your default layout you can assign different book and page icons in the Advanced tab via the “Image” field. This is not available with other layouts. Likewise What’s This help can be added to the list of things not available to users with their default single source layout set to anything other than Microsoft HTML Help.
Hopefully now you understand that your default single source layout controls so much more than the default output produced. So if you ever face a situation where you can’t change the properties of your Table of Contents, window or other project entity, check your default single source layout setting. Changing your default is as easy as right clicking on the single source layout (in the Single Source Layout pod in RoboHelp 7 or later) and clicking “Set as Primary Layout”.
Note:
If you are publishing WebHelp Pro or FlashHelp Pro output, the default single source layout also controls the use of the RoboHelp Server pod (available in RoboHelp 8). If the default single source layout is anything other than WebHelp Pro or FlashHelp Pro, the Setup button in this pod will not be available for use.
The HH.DAT file
Users of Microsoft HTML Help as their output type may not know it but there is a windows file lurking under the covers of their operating system that has a lot of control over the CHM’s use. The file, HH.DAT, is a data file used by the HTML Help Viewer used to display each and every CHM file. The file is automatically updated every time a CHM file opened and therefore the HTML Help Viewer is used. If the file does not exist, it is created.
The HH.DAT file is a user specific data file that holds all sorts of information about use of CHM files on a PC. For example:
- Favourites: If a favorite tab is used inside a CHM, the favorite topics added by the user are recorded.
- Last visited tab: When a CHM file is compiled, you can define the default tab displayed when the file is opened. If a user opened one of the other tabs (e.g. the index) and closes the file, the next time the file is opened, it will be opened in the Index tab.
- Window position: If the CHM file window has been moved from its original position, the new location is recorded. That said, if the CHM is opened programmatically (i.e. from an application) the help call can open the CHM at a precise position regardless of what is in the HH.DAT file.
The file also contains details of the user’s search history, the position of the CHM file window as well lots of other stuff. It is located in a directory according to your Windows operating system. For example:
|
Windows OS |
Location |
|
XP |
C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Microsoft\HTML |
|
98 / 95 / Millenium (ME) |
C:\Windows |
|
2000 / NT |
C:\WinNt |
You will be unable to view this file if you are not displaying system files. Additionally, as a user specific file, a copy exists for each user of a PC. Therefore you may find multiple copies of the file on each PC.
Occasionally, the file can cause an access violation occurs when trying to view a CHM file. This signifies a corrupt HH.DAT file. As the file is created if it is not present, the solution is to delete the file. It is also good practice to delete the file when updating the HTML Help viewer (Hhupd.exe). Deleting the file will lose all the user settings (e.g. favorites, last visited tab).
Note: Looking at the file contents requires an application capable of doing so. Helpware’s FAR is a useful utility capable of doing so as also allows you to check CHM file links and API help calls.
