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Subject:Re: Map files in ForeHelp ? From:Simon North <north -at- SYNOPSYS -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 27 Jan 1999 15:15:31 +0001
The link between a menu, dialog box, screen and so on inside an
application and a topic in a help file is provided by means of the
context number. In Delphi and various other programming language
tools, the programmer can enter the context number as part of an
object's properties.
When the writer is responsible for choosing the context numbers,
he/she can create a context-map file and give it to the programmer.
The context-map file is a header file that contains #define
statements with the context string and context number of each
topic, target, or alias in the project that has an assigned number.
The programmer can include this file in the application and then
call the Help file using the context string, rather than the context
number.
If the programmer uses the context number in the code, the
context-map file provides a list of the numbers to use. The writer
then makes sure that the correct number is given to each topic.
I've found that it's hard to just let one side do all the work. If the
programmer gets a context map, most of the work can be done
straightaway. It then helps to get a list back from the programmer
and do a best-fit match on all the context numbers to topics (the
writer should know the help better than the programmer and
sometimes the best link isn't the msot obvious).
Hope this helps,
Simon North.
Simon North FISTC north -at- synopsys -dot- com
"I sometimes think that God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability"
Oscar Wilde.
