How to Re-create Basic Help Files Using HELPMAKE.EXE (66771)

SUMMARY

HELPMAKE.EXE is designed to allow you to decode/encode the Help files included with Basic PDS, and to create your own Help files for use with Basic, QuickHelp, and other products that use these files.

This information applies to Microsoft Basic Professional Development System (PDS) versions 7.00 and 7.10 for MS-DOS and MS OS/2.

MORE INFORMATION

To decode a Basic Help file, use the following command:

   HELPMAKE /D <HelpFileName> /O<OutputFile>

You may now modify (customize) the decoded Help file.

To re-encode the Help file after you have edited it, use the following command:

   HELPMAKE /E <SourceFile> /A: /T /W78 /O<HelpFileName>

The options on the above encode line are explained below:

  /E   Encode the file. /E with no value gives the maximum
       compression. /E may optionally be followed by a value
       specifying the amount of compression to use:

           0 - No Compression
           1 - Run-length compression
           2 - Keyword compression
           4 - Extended keyword compression
           8 - Huffman compression

       These values may be added together to combine compression
       types. For example, /E5 will generate Run-length and Extended
       keyword compression.

  /A:  Specifies a colon as the control character. This is the default
       value so it may be omitted.

  /T   Translates dot commands. This is required to re-encode the
       Basic Help files.

  /W78 Specifies the width of the resulting Help file. Basic uses a
       width of 78 characters. The default is 76 so this option must
       be included.

For a more detailed discussion of HELPMAKE, refer to Chapter 11 of "Microsoft Basic 7.0: Programmer's Guide" for versions 7.00 and 7.10.