Getting winhelp to look in the local directory

[Leonard Priestley]

I have created a help file for use with an MS Access form. I can use F1 to
call the various subjects, but would like to have a Help button on the form
that calls the file directly. It works, but I find I have to specify the
complete path, which is not very flexible. I would like winhelp.exe to
search in the local directory first. Is there any switch or other way of
getting it to do this?

Leonard Priestley

[Pete Lees]

Leonard,

Post by Leonard Priestley
I have created a help file for use with an MS Access form. I can use F1 to
call the various subjects, but would like to have a Help button on the form
that calls the file directly. It works, but I find I have to specify the
complete path, which is not very flexible. I would like winhelp.exe to
search in the local directory first. Is there any switch or other way of
getting it to do this?

If you can register the location of the help file as part of the
installation process then this should remove the need to specify the
path to it. The normal place to register the location of a WinHelp
file is as follows:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Help

You may also get some good tips on how to handle this issue from:

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/accshelp.htm

--
Pete (Microsoft Help MVP)

[Leonard Priestley]

Thank you Pete,

In fact, I finally realised that my problem arose because winhelp.exe is in
the Windows directory and naturally needs a complete path statement to get
to the folder my program is in. The solution was to place the help file in
the windows directory so that as far as winhelp is concerned, it is in the
'local' directory and it finds it automatically. However I have taken your
suggestion on board because I think I may still find it very useful.

Leonard

Post by Pete Lees
Leonard,

Post by Leonard Priestley
I have created a help file for use with an MS Access form. I can use F1 to
call the various subjects, but would like to have a Help button on the form
that calls the file directly. It works, but I find I have to specify the
complete path, which is not very flexible. I would like winhelp.exe to
search in the local directory first. Is there any switch or other way of
getting it to do this?

If you can register the location of the help file as part of the
installation process then this should remove the need to specify the
path to it. The normal place to register the location of a WinHelp
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Help
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/accshelp.htm
--
Pete (Microsoft Help MVP)

[Paul Arnote]

Leonard:

If you are launching your WinHelp file from an EXE file, you can use the
format "./filename.ext" (exactly as shown, without the quotes!), and it will
force WinHelp to look in the folder the HLP file is stored in.

Paul Arnote
Winhelp World (http://www.winhelp-world.com)
(Email address at web site)

Post by Leonard Priestley
I have created a help file for use with an MS Access form. I can use F1 to
call the various subjects, but would like to have a Help button on the form
that calls the file directly. It works, but I find I have to specify the
complete path, which is not very flexible. I would like winhelp.exe to
search in the local directory first. Is there any switch or other way of
getting it to do this?
Leonard Priestley