HOW2HELP.TXT  J.R. Ferguson C Library - How to Help

Jan 29,1997


How to use the help feature
===========================

For each module in the C Library there is a matching help file. These files
were created with the program MAKEHELP.EXE, which is derived  from  a  demo
program that comes with the Turbo Professional Pascal library, version 5.0,
by  TurboPower  Software.  The  help  files can be viewed with HLPVIEW.EXE,
which I wrote  from  scratch  using  library  units  from  the  same  Turbo
Professional  library.  As  this  library is copyright protected, I did not
include the sources needed to recompile these programs, but I included  the
executables so you can use them.

To  create  a help file for a C function library module, I wrote HLPTX.PAS,
which extracts the comment descriptions from the header file  and  converts
them  to  the  input  file  format  expected  by MAKEHELP.EXE. To create an
updated help file for a library module, issue the following commands:

  HLPTX    module.H               (this creates file module.HTX)
  MAKEHELP module.HTX             (this creates file module.HLP)
  DEL      module.HTX             (file module.HTX is no longer needed)

You  can  also  use  GENHLP.BAT,  to  issue  all three commands at once, by
issuing the command

  GENHLP module

Use TCFDHLP.BAT to generate all help files with a single command.

You may have to change the directory paths used in these batch files:  read
HOW2INST.TXT for more information on this subject.

HLPVIEW.EXE  can  be  used  in either of two ways, specifying a single help
file, like in

  HLPVIEW CHRLIB.HLP

or specfying a filename pattern for the help files you  want  to  look  at,
like in

  HLPVIEW *.HLP

With  the  first  command,  an overview of all help topics in the specified
help file is displayed.  With  the  second  command,  an  overview  of  all
matching  help  files is displayed, from which you can choose one. Once the
help system displays its screen, use your left mouse button  or  the  arrow
keys  to  select  an item, then press the left mouse button again, or press
the Enter key, to display that item. With the right  mouse  button  or  the
Escape  key  you leave the display panel shown and go up one level or leave
the help system altogether. Help texts that don't fit on  a  single  screen
page  show  a scroll bar which can be activated with the left mouse button.
You may also use the Page Down and Page Up keys to scroll  the  text.  It's
all  very intuitively. Mind however, that the help files are not compatible
with the MS-DOS or the MS-Window's help systems. You  need  HLPVIEW.EXE  to
display them.

Two  batch files and a Windows PIF file are included to easily get you into
the Turbo C Library help system: HLPC.BAT, HLPCX.BAT and HLPC.PIF. HLPC.BAT
can be used from the DOS prompt. HLPCX.BAT is meant to use from the Borland
Turbo C v2.0 Integrated  Development  Environment  (IDE):  choose  'File|OS
shell',  then  issue the command HLPCX. It executes HLPC.BAT and issues the
EXIT command after you leave the help system, to get you back into the IDE.
HLPC.PIF starts HLPC.BAT in a MS-Windows environment. You can add  an  icon
for it in you Borland Pascal group in the Windows Program Manager.

You  may  have  to  change the .BAT and .PIF files to reflect the directory
paths you are  using.  Read  HOW2INST.TXT  for  more  information  on  this
subject.

