TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Customization of a WinHelp file by a user From:The Tech Writer <techwrtr -at- CRL -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 12 Dec 1996 12:14:06 -0800
My
On Thu, 12 Dec 1996, Diane Heald wrote:
> I create WinHelp files. My users at several different companies want to be
> able to customize the Winhelp file. What is the best way to do this? The
> annotations don't seem to stay once the help file is recompiled.
> The user wants to be able to call their customized info from the help
> window and the user wants to create the custom stuff themselves. They do
> not have the capability of creating a help file.
How will the user using the product (not the company-user) know when to
access the external information? We are dealing with a similar situation,
where the user wants to modify the help file, but has a help authoring
system (as we require it before they can buy the product). I can give you
advice coming from our situation, but without requiring the user to buy a
help authoring system, you're kinda stuck.
Actually, one option that you might pursue is inserting an execute
program macro on each topic that opens notepad (or Word, or whatever)
when clicked. Then, the user could modify that file (though they wouldn't
be able to rename it).
If you can provide more information, and more specific questions, I may
be able to provide more answers.