Re: Windows 95 Help bug

[Catherine McNair <cmcnair -at- SPICER -dot- COM>]

I was asked to clarify my problem:

>>Our product ships with two Windows 3.1-style Help files: A context-sensitive
>>one that describes the user interface (UI Help), and a stand-alone one that
>>describes our technical API (API Help). The Contents topic of the UI Help
>>has a link to the API Help contents. Under Windows 3.1, when you link to the
>>API Help from the UI Help and select Search, the API Help is searched--which
>>is what we want. Under Windows 95, when you link to the API Help and select
>>Search, the UI Help is searched instead of the API Help.
>>
>>Has anyone else had this problem? And more importantly, has anyone else
>>solved it?
>>
>1. There is a link in the UI Help file that calls the API Help file. What is
>the macro you've written to accomplish this? Is the one file closed when the
>next is opened? Or are they on screen simultaneously? Please furnish macro.
>It will tell me several things, such as whether or not you're calling Search
>to appear automatically.

I didn't need to do anything special. To link different Windows Help files
together, you simply follow the double-underlined hotlink text with hidden
text containing the following:
1. The topic's context link
2. The @ symbol
3. The name of the Help file.
Example: "API Help"API_TOPIC -at- API -dot- HLP (where "API Help" is double underlined
and API_TOPIC -at- API -dot- HLP is in hidden text)

When you click a link to another Help file, the first Help window closes,
and the second Help window opens. The standard Search button is available if
the user wants it. It does not open automatically.

>2. Are you compiling separately for Windows 95 use?

No. Our product is a Windows 3.1 product. The 95 product is due soon. In the
meantime, however, we know that some will run our product under the 95
environment.

>3. Is there a Contents file for use under 95?

No. We obviously have to have Help that works under Windows 3.1. And except
for this one problem, our Win3.1 Help runs fine in the 95 environment.

>Perhaps you could send the update to the whole list. I can't be the only one
>wondering.

Done.
Catherine McNair
<cmcnair -at- spicer -dot- com>
Technical Writer, Spicer Corporation, Kitchener, ON
President, STC Southwestern Ontario

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