The Developer's Guide to WinHelp.Exe: Harnessing the Windows Help Engine (Coriolis Group book) [Paperback]

Jim Mischel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1994 | ISBN-10: 0471303267 | ISBN-13: 978-0471303268 | Edition: 1

Contains essential information needed to design effective, smooth-running help facilities including context sensitive help screens that respond to a particular situation when users ask for help. Well-designed and executed help utilities give users access to hypertext enabling them to move more quickly from one topic to another related topic by merely clicking on a word. Suggests ways in which help screens can be made user-customized, responsive and fast.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Contains essential information needed to design effective, smooth-running help facilities including context sensitive help screens that respond to a particular situation when users ask for help. Well-designed and executed help utilities give users access to hypertext enabling them to move more quickly from one topic to another related topic by merely clicking on a word. Suggests ways in which help screens can be made user-customized, responsive and fast.

Product Details

• Paperback: 383 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471303267
• ISBN-13: 978-0471303268
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,610,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book for Win 3.1 WinHelp Compiler, December 10, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Developer's Guide to WinHelp.Exe: Harnessing the Windows Help Engine (Coriolis Group book) (Paperback)

I originally found this book by happenstance at my library and was thankful they had a copy of it. Jeff Duntemann's forward is what convinced me this book was worth while studying. I would classsify this book as a "soup to nuts" book on the Win 3.1 WinHelp.exe compiler and how developers can create Help files using various compiler languages. I think it should have had the title "Everything you ever wanted to know about building Win 3.1 Help files for your apps but were afraid to ask". I found the explanations clear, easy to understand and very detailed. One of the most important parts of this book is the detailed explantion of how to call the MS Win Help files from within the apps that developers create in various compiler languages like Borland's Turbo Pascal and Borland's C++. The one single draw back from my perspective is that this book was published before Win 95;hence it does not cover the new Win95/NT Help compiler,which I think is called HCP, and can be found in the Help directory of Win95. (If you look at Delphi's NetManange Internet components Help Files and compare them to Delphi's normal win95 Help files you will see the difference between NetManage's Win 3.1 Help files and Delphi's Win95 Help files. They are quite different.) Still Michel's book will help a developer to understand the details of the Win95/NT new help compiler and it's detailed complexities. I use Delphi 2, Developer Edition. I needed to create a Win 95.NT Help file for my database apps. Mishel's book plus another book (below) helped me to find my way in creating Win95 Help files. The other book is: "Delphi Developer's Guide", Xavier Pacheco & Steve Teixeira, Borland Press/SAMS, 1995, ISBN0-672-30704-9 This book is a Delphi 1 book. Still it had a simple example in it's last chapter on how to connect Win95 Help files to my Delphi apps. Obviously, Mishel's book doesn't have any of the required Help compiler apps 'link' details for newer compiler languages that came out after it was published - like Delphi or Win 95/NT. Mores the pity. I have, to date, found no other book, or other sources which covers the creation of MS Help files that developers and technical writers require to fully complete their apps before public release. IMhO any apps that doesn't use a sophisticated Win Help file is doomed to failure in the Win market today. I would like to see Mishel write a update for this book for Win95/NT for the newer compilers like Delphi.. Michel's current book is definitely a **must have** book for any developers technical library! Mishel is now one of my favorite computer authors, along with my other favorite author Jeff Duntemann.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars masm6.11 user guide, March 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Developer's Guide to WinHelp.Exe: Harnessing the Windows Help Engine (Coriolis Group book) (Paperback)

sorry. i don't know the accury book name. i think ,if you have the book about masm6.11 compiler,please email it to me. thanks alot for you help.