RE: Urgent HTML Help

["John Locke" <mail -at- freelock -dot- com>]

Don't know if you've gotten your answer, but here it is: it can't be done.

When you open a CHM, a program called HH.exe actually provides the window,
and then hosts another copy of Internet Explorer to display the page. Since
you're launching another program, Internet Explorer will always ask if you
want to save or run the file.

It is possible to open a page inside a CHM directly in Internet Explorer,
but not the TOC/Index/Search pane. I'm not sure exactly how you would do it
across the web, or from a server. But to do it, you use the HTML Help
protocols, instead of http.

For example, if you want to get at a default.htm page inside a help.chm,
instead of linking using "http://servername/help.chm,"; you would use
"mk:@MSITstore:help.chm::/default.htm" or "ms-its:help.chm::/default.htm."
The mk:@MSITStore: protocol is older, and comes in Windows 98. Windows 2000
uses ms-its:, but both protocols seem to work in most versions of HH. You
follow the protocol with the path to the CHM. Then, two colons and a slash,
and the filename you wish to open. I know the path accepts a file:\ prefix,
and you can map to a drive or a UNC path. I've never tried doing it on a web
server. You can right-click a page in HTML Help, and click Properties, to
see the protocol and path.

Hope that helps...

John Locke
http://www.freelock.com

osama hussein wrote:

>How can I make a link from a normal HTML page to a chm file(HTML help)
>without prompting the browser to ask the user whether to open the file or
>save it to disk.
>
>In other words I need to make a link that directly opens the file when
>clicked from within Internet Explorer 5.0.