Freeware Snapfiles

Help Writing Output

Shalom Help
MIcrosoft Help Workshop

It is still possible and quite a good idea to create Help files that used to be popular with programs, seen as .HLP files. The alternative since became .CHM HTML based help files. Of course help files do not have to be associated with and about programs.
Shalom Help is a dedicated Help text processor with .RTF and .HTML coding in combination, with effects mainly produced automatically from its menus. Shalom Help shows formatting codes entered as text. Shalom Help certainly needs the compiler and needs to know where the compiling files are stored on the computer.
Shalom Help Maker works like any ordinary editor. It requires text, pictures and page headers.
Features include pop up pages, links to other pages and web sites, execution of programs, automatic updating of links and listing of links amongst features.
Installed Microsoft Help Workshop and locate the files.
After making a short cut of shalomhelp.exe set up the Options - Program Options (F7) - Editor and Files to locate the installed Microsoft Help Workshop.
Now file creation can begin. However, there are two important matters to remember. The first is that the saved file is .SHP and needs a contents .DAT each time. These can overwrite with constant saving of the same project as it builds. However, they are exclusive to each new Help file creation, so to keep essential files needs a new creation folder or housekeeping to remove files. This does not apply to the self contained final and made .HLP file, which should be moved elsewhere. Secondly, contributing images must first be put into that same creation folder otherwise they will produce blanks in the final .HLP file.
With the Help Workshop files located, the making of the Help file is a simple click on File - Make Help File (F9). When done the finished product jumps up.

 

Adrian Worsfold