X-Envelope-to: WIN3-L@UICVM.BITNET
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.win3-l
Date:         Thu, 1 Oct 1992 02:33:11 EST
From:         Paulo Henrique Cavalcante Lisboa <phcl@DI.UFPE.BR>
Subject:      hypertext summary !!

Hi fellows,

I sent the following question a week ago:

****************************************************************************
>        I would like to know more about available hypertext systems for
> Windows.
>
>        I intend to use a hypertext to build the documentation and
> the on-line help of my programs so it is worth knowing if these systems
> have royalties when they are used in that way.
>
>        I believe there must exist a 'Microsoft Help Builder'  to make
> on-line helps similar to the Microsoft ones but I have never heard about it.
> Am I deaf or just out of date ?
******************************************************************************

and some kind people have sent me very useful answers. Since I promised to
mail a summary of the answers to the list, I selected the most informative
part of all the answers and placed them just below.

         Thank you again to all these people who spent their time answering
         my question.
                       --------------------------------------
                       | Universidade Federal de Pernambuco |
                       | Departamento de Informatica        |
                       | Brazil                             |
                       |-------------------------------------
                       | Paulo H. C. Lisboa        |
                       | internet: phcl@di.ufpe.br |
                       | FAX: 55-81-5250622        |
                       -----------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Windows help system is pretty easy to write for.  You need the
Microsoft help compiler.  I do not think this is sold separately, but
it is bundled with the SDK, C/C++ 7.0, VisualBASIC Pro, and Borland
C++.  You might contact Microsoft directly, or whoever you purchased
your programming tool from.  The easiest way to do this is to use Word
For Windows to enter the text, and the help compiler to create the
help file.  You use underlining, hidden text, and footnotes to create
the hypertext links.

-Vance Gloster
 gloster@inference.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------

 . . . Basically you prepare your source in RTF (Rich Text Format), available
in W4W, with embedded hidden keys for linking,then run it thru the help compiler
   .
If you want context sensitive help you have to include code in your program that

invokes help and passes the right id to it.
   Hope this helps....

 Walter Knopf
 Fermilab (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)
 BITNET:: KNOPF@FNAL.BITNET
 INTERNET:: KNOPF@FNAL.FNAL.GOV
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

. . . Here are the names of three Windows hypertext software packages that I
know of. More will be coming out soon.

       Guide, Version 3.01--OWL International Inc., 2800 156th Ave.,
                 Bellevue, WA 98007  U.S.A.  Phone: (206) 747-3203
       SmarText, Version 2.0--Lotus Development Corp., 5600 Glenridge Dr.,
                 Atlanta, GA 30342  U.S.A.  Phone:(800) 831-9679
       Windows Personal Librarian, Version 2.1--Personal Library Software,
                 15215 Shady Grove Road, Rockville, MD 20850  U.S.A.
                 Phone:(301) 926-1402

            Philip Turner               turner@mail.loc.gov
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

. . . There is a copy of the help-compiler in hc300b.zip in thw winword
directory of cica.

The cica utility txt2rtf does not work! I coulkd not do examples
which come with it.

There is xantippe (also on cica) which can be usewd to make helpfiles. I do
not like it.

With gnuplot the ia also a way to make help files for windows. Gnuplot
supports a system to make different type of files (*.tex *.rtf ...) out of
one master files. The format of the master file is documented. You can use
the masterfile to make an rtf file and run thatbthrough the helpcompiler.
Get wgnuplot.zip from cica and look at the helpfile. It was made that way.
The big advantage: you can make an identical TeX files as a printed
document.

Rainer W. Gerling                      Tel.:  +49 9131 85-8451 (office)
Institut f"ur Theoretische Physik I           +49 9190 703     (home)
Universit"at Erlangen-N"urnberg        FAX:   +49 9131 85-8444
Staudtstr. 7
D-W-8520 Erlangen
Germany                 E-mail: gerling@faupt101.physik.uni-erlangen.de
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

. . . You have probably seen the FAQ help files written by Tom
Haapanen (they are located at Cica). I asked him what kind of tool he
had used to produce them. In his reply he answered that a man called
Roger Hadgraft was producing a Word 4 Windows macro which enabled you
to write in the text and export it in rtf-format. And the only thing you
had to do thereafter was to run it through the Microsoft help compiler.

To me this sounds REALLY nice and easy. As I understood it this macro
was to be released as shareware in the near future (in a week or two).

Frode Mong
Agder Regional College, NORWAY
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