Copyright: Copyright Harbinder Singh Ghag 1994
Citation: Copyright Harbinder Singh Ghag 1994


Contents
 helpMATIC HELP: Contents Page

About       Disclaimer       License Agreement       Registration Info

Shareware Version

Setup

Overview

Help files

Tutorial

The menu bar

Toolbar

helpMATIC Commands

Using helpMATIC to create your help file

Debugging your help file

Whats new in Version 2

Help files produced with the shareware version of helpMATIC have the following message added at the end of each topic:

This help file was produced using the shareware version of helpMATIC V2.0


Overview
helpMATIC HELP: Overview

What is helpMATIC ?

helpMATIC is a WINDOWS based program that is used to create Windows Help files. It does this by converting text typed in by the user into Rich Text Format (RTF). The RTF text is then compiled using the Microsoft Help Compiler, which produces the help file.

How do you create a help file ?

Help files are created by first creating a project file, then creating the topics and definitions needed in the help file. Speacial commands are inserted into your text that tell helpMATIC how to format the text when it is compiled. These commands are only visable when you are creating your help file in helpMATIC. For example, when you select Reset from the Insert Menu or the Toolbar the command [{Reset}] is inserted into the current topic or definition. When this particular topic or definition is compiled, helpMATIC will recognize this command and carry out the command at that point. Altering these commands in any way will result in one or more errors when the help file is compiled.


The menu bar
helpMATIC HELP: The menu bar

File menu

Edit menu

Insert menu

Options menu

Debug menu

Help menu

Note: pressing the right mouse button over the helpMATIC editing area will bring up the insert menu automatically.


File Menu
helpMATIC HELP: File Menu

New Project

Create a new help project.

Open Project

Open an existing project

Save Project

Save the current project under it's original name.

Save As Project

Save the current project under a different name.

Open Text

Insert the contents of the text file at the current location of the insertion point in the current topic or definition. Please note that only a maximum of 30,000 characters are allowed in any topic or definition, text files exceeding this value will not be loaded.

Save Text

Save the text in the current topic or definition as text to a file.

Make Help File

Create a help file. The filename of the help file will be the same as the project file name but with the extension changed to .HLP.

View Help File

View the help file.

Exit

Quit from helpMATIC.


Edit Menu
helpMATIC HELP: Edit Menu

Undo

Undo reverses the last editing action.

Cut

Deletes the selected text from the current topic or definition and places it onto the Clipboard, replacing the previous Clipboard contents.

Copy

Copies  the selected text from the current topic or definition and places it onto the Clipboard, leaving the text in the current topic or definition intact and replacing the previous Clipboard contents.

Paste

Copies the information on the Clipboard into the current topic or definition at the current cursor position.

Find

Find occurances in text.

Find Next

Find next occurance in text.

Display Font

Change the font that is used to display the text in the helpMATIC editor window.

Change Details

Change the details of the current topic or defination.

Make New

Make a new topic or definition.

Delete top or def

Delete a topic or definition


Insert Menu
helpMATIC HELP: Insert Menu

This menu can also be displayed by pressing the right mouse button over the helpMATIC editing area.

BMP Picture

Insert a bitmap picture into the current topic..

Link

Insert a link to a topic or definition.

Start no scroll region

Insert the start of a no scroll region.

Margin Indent

Insert a margin indent.

First Line Indent Start

Insert a first line indent.

Border, Box

Draw a  box around the paragraph

Border, Top

Insert a horizontal line at the begining of the paragraph.

Border, Bottom

Insert a horizontal line at the end of the paragraph.

Border, Left

Insert a vertical line at the left side of the paragraph.

Border, Right

Insert a vertical line at the right side of the paragraph.

Line Break

Inserts a new line without ending the paragraph. If you insert a line by pressing Enter, helpMATIC starts a new paragrph from that point.

Reset

Insert a Reset command.

Bullet

Insert a Bullet.

Time/Date

Insert the current date and time.


Registration
helpMATIC HELP: Registration Info

To Register send :

• your name

• your address

• cheque or postal order for £20 payable to Harbinder Singh Ghag

• The version number of helpMATIC you are currently using

to the following address :-

Harbinder Singh Ghag

5 Langsett Road

The Willows

Off Springfield Road

Wolverhampton

West Midlands

WV10 OTE

England

UK

All programs will be sent through the post on a 3 1/2 inch disk.


Options Menu
helpMATIC HELP: Options Menu

Project

Change the project options.

Indents

Change the current Indent, Tab and Bullet settings.

Autohead

Setup autohead.


Toolbars
helpMATIC HELP: Toolbars

The toolbar is displyed at the top of the window, it provides an easy way of selecting command.

Bar 1, From left to right.

Open project

Save project

Make help file

View help file

Cut

Copy

Paste

Make a new topic or definition

Insert picture

Insert link

Reset

Left alignment

Centre alignment

Right alignment

Bar 2, From left to right.

Colour selection

Font selection

Bold text

Italic text

Default font

Note: the Toolbar will only appear after a project has been loaded or created, and at least one topic or definition is present in the project. A status bar at the bottom of the screen displays :
• What is currently selected, a Topic or Definition
• Time
• Num lock status
• Caps lock status


Help files
helpMATIC HELP: Help Files

Topics

The main part of a help file is the Topic. This is similar to a page of a book, but unlike a book it can hold as much information as you require. The topic can consist of graphics, different styles of font, and multiple colours.

Pop-Up Windows (Definitions)

Some topics contain Pop-Up window hot spots where the user can click on, to display small window containing text. Normally these hot spots are underlined words.

Click on me


Creating a help file
helpMATIC HELP: Creating your help file

Making a new topic

Making a new definition

:Changing the font

Using colour

Adding graphics

Inserting links

Picture links

Creating a non-scrolling region

Using alignment

Using paragraph indentation

Moving between different topics and defintions

Setting the project options

Setting tab stops and indentation

Using Autohead


About this help file
helpMATIC HELP:About this help file

helpMATIC V2.0

Copyright © Harbinder Singh Ghag

January 1995

This help file was produced entirely using helpMATIC and the Microsoft help compiler.

helpMATIC was programmed using Microsoft Visual Basic Version 3.


Debug Menu
helpMATIC HELP: Debug Menu

View Errors

Display the debug  window.

View all

Display details of all topics and definitions in the project.

Current info

Show info about the current topic or definition.

Project info

Show info about the project.


Making a new topic
helpMATIC HELP: Making a new topic

Making a new topic

1. Select Make New from the Edit menu or click on the icon in the tool bar.

2. The following dialog box will appear :

3. Enter the Name of your new topic.

4. Enter the Keyword of the new topic.

5. If your help file supports Browse sequences enter the browse sequence ID.

6. If your help file supports context sensitivity enter the context number.

Name

Windows help uses the topic Name to identify the topic in the History and Search dialog  boxes. When the search disalog is envoked the Topic name is displayed in the bottom list box when the user clicks on a item in the top list box.

Keyword

The topic Keyword is used to enable users to find and view topics by searching for them using the Windows help search system. When the search is envoked the topic keyword is displayed in the top list box. Using this dialog box, a user can select a keyword and view the help topics associated with it. It is possible to have more than one keyword associated to a particular topic. When assigning multiple Keywords to a topic split them up using a semi-colon ';'. For example, say if a topic had a name 'Animals',  typing the following as a Keyword for a topic will assign the keywords 'Cats', 'Dogs', 'Horses' to the topic.

Cats;Dogs;Horses

So now when Windows Help Search is envoked clicking on either of the keyowrds 'Cats', 'Dogs' or 'Horses' will bring up the topic Animals.

Browse sequences

With the Browse Forward (>>) and Browse Back (<<) buttons on the toolbar in WinHelp, a user can move through topics in a linear fashion, as in reading a book. The order the user follows is called a browse sequence. Browse sequence IDs determine the order of the browse sequence, ie which topic comes first, second, third and so on. Browse sequence IDs have two parts, group and order, both are sorted by there ASCII values. The following is an example of the browse sequences for the helpMATIC Menu.

File Menu - menus:005

New Project - file_menu:005

Open Project - file_menu:010

Save Project - file_menu:015

.

.

.

.

Edit Menu - menus:010

Cut - edit_menu:005

Copy - edit_menu:010

Paste - edit_menu:015

.

.

.

.

Insert Menu - menus:015

.

.

.

.

Each line consists of a group name followed by a colon and an order number. The order number values do not need to be in increment of 5, but this makes it easier to add new topics later. Also it is good practise to use all uppercase or all lowercase letters, beacuse as Browse sequence IDs are sorted using ASCII values ID's that use uppercase characters allways come before the ones that use lowercase. And for the same reason use order codes that are 3 digits long, for example :-

005

105

575

Note if you intend the use browse sequences in your help file, make sure the Browse Buttons option is turned in the project options.

Context-Sensitve Help

You will only need this option if you are producing your help file for use with an windows application. Context-sensitive Help is a WinHelp feature that allows the users to directly access Help for a particular topic by pressing F1 intead of searching for the topic. When written in conjuction with programming a application, context sensitive help alows the user to press the F1 key for help on the item that currently has he focus. For more details see the users instructions that came with the programming language that you are using.


Changing the text font
helpMATIC HELP: Changing the text font

The windows help system can display text in any font or font size available on the users computer. When the help file is viewed WinHelp tries to display the text in the fonts specified in the help file. If the specified fonts are not available on the users computer, WinHelp uses the closest matching font instead. For this reason it is best to use the fonts that come with Windows 3.1 :

Bitmap Fonts

Courier (10, 12, 15 points)

MS Sans Serif (8, 10, 12, 14, 18, 24 points)

MS Serif (8, 10, 12, 14, 18, 24 points)

Symbol (8, 10, 12, 14, 18, 24 points)

TrueType Fonts

Arial (normal, bold, italic and bold-italic)

Courier New (normal, bold, italic and bold-italic)

Times New Roman (normal, bold, italic and bold-italic)

Symbol

Vector Fonts

Modern

Roman

Script

Changing the font

To change text font

1	Select the text you want to change or position the insertion point where you want to begin typing characters with the new font.

2	Choose the font from the toolbar font list box.

3.	helpMATIC will display a dialog box, from where you will be able the select the font size.


Making a new definition
helpMATIC HELP: Making a new definition

Making a new defintion

1. Select Make New from the Edit menu or click on the icon in the tool bar.

2. The following dialog box will appear :

3. Click on the Make New Definition Option.

4. Enter the Name of your new definition.

5. Click on OK.

Name

Definition names are not used by the help compiler, they are just used by helpMATIC to identify one definition from another.


Changing the text colour
helpMATIC HELP: Changing the text colour

Changing the colour

To change text colour

1	Select the text you want to change or position the insertion point where you want to begin typing characters with the new colour.

2	Choose the colour from the toolbar colour list box.


Creating a non-scrolling region
helpMATIC HELP: Non Scrolling region

By deafult all text and graphics scroll up and down when there is more text or graphics that can fit on the screen at any one time. A non scrolling region can be created at the top of a topic that contains text, graphics or links, which does not scroll with the screen when the screen is scrolled up or down. Nonscrolling regions are usefull when creating titles or infomation that you want displayed at the top of the screen.

Creating a nonscrolling region

To creating a nonscrolling region

1.	Place the insertion point at the top of the topic.

2	Select  Non scrolling region from the Insert menu or from the toolbar.


Inserting links
helpMATIC HELP: Inserting links

By creating links to topics or definition, you allow the user to view other topics by clicking on the hot spots that you create.

Creating a link

To creating a link to another topic or definition.

1.	Select the text that you want to be the hot spot.

2.	Select Link from the insert menu or from the toolbar. The following dialog box will appear :

3.	Click on the Definition option button if you want to create a link to a definition, or the Topic option button if you want to create a link to a topic.

4.	Select the Topic or Definition you want to create a link to, by clicking on the down arrow button on the relavent drop down list.

5.	Click on OK to create the link or CANCEL to exit without creating the link.


Using text alignment
helpMATIC HELP: Using text alignment

Topic text can be aligned in three different ways when it is displayed by Windows Help :

1.	Left aligned

2.	Centred text

3.	Right aligned

Aligning text

To align text.

1.	Place the insertion point at where you want the alignment to begin from.

2.	From the toolbar select the Left, Centre, or Right alignment button.

The alignment can be reset back to the default (left alignment) by either inserting a Reset command or selecting left alignment from the toolbar.


Paragraph Indentation
helpMATIC HELP: Using Paragraph Indentation

helpMATIC can indent paragraphs in two different ways :

1.	First line indent, where each line of a new paragraph is automatically indented.

2	Margin indent, where you can manualy indent a line.

Using indentation

To use Margin Indent :

1.	Place the insertion point where you want the indentation to take effect from.

2.	Select Margin Indent from the Insert menu or from the toolbar.

To use First Line Indent :

1.	Place the insertion point where you want the indentation to take effect from.

2.	Select First Line Indent from the Insert menu or from the toolbar.

The indentation will take effect until the next Reset command is encountered.


Adding a graphic
helpMATIC HELP: Adding a graphic file

You can add bitmaps to your help file by using the BMP Picture command from the Insert Menu or the toolbar. Only 16-colour and monochrome bitmaps may be used. Windows Help does not support 256-colour bitmaps.

You can insert a bitmap into a paragraph as if it were a character by using the Align as text option. This aligns the bottom of the bitmap with the base line of the

current line of text and places the left edge of the bitmap at the next character position.

Since the bitmap is treated as text, any paragraph properties assigned to the paragraph also apply to the bitmap. Windows Help places text following the bitmap on

the same base line at the next available character position.

You can also place a bitmap at the left or right margin of the Help window and have subsequent text wrap around the bitmap by using the Align Left orAlign Right options.

Inserting a graphic

To insert a graphic into the current topic.

1.	Place the insertion point where you want the graphic to be placed.

2.	Select  BMP Picture command from the Insert Menu or the toolbar. The following dialog box will appear :

On the right, all the graphic files already in the project are listed. These can be view by clicking on their names. If the file you want is not list select Add File to add a graphic file to the list. Files can be removed from the list by clicking on remove after slecting the file you wish to remove.

3.	Click on the filename of the graphic file you wish to insert.

4.	Select the Picture orientation.

5.	Select OK to insert the graphic, or CANCEL to exit.


Command reference
helpMATIC HELP: Commands

helpMATIC Command Reference

This is a full list of the Commands available in helpMATIC V2.0.

Information about the Commands are displayed in the following format.

Syntax	Describes the syntax and parameters required by each command.

Notes	Information about uses and restrictions for the Command.

Default Font

BoldON

BoldOFF

ItalicON

ItalicOFF

Font

Colour

Picture

Link

No Scroll Start

AlCentre

AlRight

AlLeft

Indent

First Line Indent Start

Reset

Bullet

Special characters

Line Break

Box

Border Top

Border Bottom

Border Left

Border Right

Note: Each command starts with [{ and ends with }].


Default Font command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Default font

Sets the font to the default font and font point size to 12.

Syntax

[{Default Font}]

Notes

The default font can be set from the Project Options dialog box.


No Scroll Start command
helpMATIC HELP: Command No Scroll Start

Begins a no scroll region.

Syntax

[{No Scroll Start}]

Notes

This command must be the first thing in the topic, otherwise an error will result when the file is compiled. An No Scroll Region must be ended by an Reset command.


Reset command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Reset

Reset the current paragraph attributes.

Syntax

[{Reset}]

Notes

When helpMATIC encounters an Reset command it sets the paragraph settings to the following default values :

Setting	Value

Alignment	Left-aligned

First-line indent	0

Left indent	0

Right indent	0

Tab stop	0

The Reset command also ends a no scroll region, and any borders.

A new line is automatically inserted before the Reset command.


BoldON command
helpMATIC HELP: Command BoldON

Turns on bold text.

Syntax

[{BoldON}]


BoldOFF command
helpMATIC HELP: Command BoldOFF

Turns Bold text off.

Syntax

[{BoldOFF}]


ItalicON command
helpMATIC HELP: Command ItalicON

Turns on Italic text..

Syntax

[{ItalicON}]


ItalicOFF command
helpMATIC HELP: Command ItalicOFF

Turns off italic text.

Syntax

[{ItalicOFF}]


Font command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Font

Used to change the text font.

Syntax

[{Font FONTNAME - SIZEpt}]

[{Font FONTNAME - SIZEpt:TEXT}]

FONTNAME is the name of the font.

SIZE is the font size.

TEXT is the text to apply the font to.

Notes

The first syntax of the command changes all text following the command to the specified font.

The second syntax applies the font to the text enclosed within the start and end brackets.


Colour command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Colour

Used to change the text colour.

Syntax

[{ColourNUM}]

[{ColourNUM:TEXT}]

NUM is the colour number, in the range 0 to 15.

TEXT is the text to apply the colour to.

Notes

The first syntax of the command changes all text following the command to the specified colour.

The second syntax applies the colour to the text enclosed within the : and end brackets.


Picture command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Picture

Insert a BMP graphic into the text.

Syntax

[{Picture PICTURE.BMP In Text}]

[{Picture PICTURE.BMP Left}]

[{Picture PICTURE.BMP Right}]

Notes

The first syntax of the command displays the picture PICTURE.BMP in the text

The second syntax of the command displays the picture PICTURE.BMP left aligned.

The third syntax of the command displays the picture PICTURE.BMP right aligned.


AlLeft command
helpMATIC HELP: Command AlLeft

Align text to left margin.

Syntax

[{AlLeft}]


AlRight command
helpMATIC HELP: Command AlRight

Align text to right margin..

Syntax

[{AlRight}]


AlCentre command
helpMATIC HELP: Command AlCentre

Align text to centre of page.

Syntax

[{AlCentre}]


Link command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Link

Insert link to a topic or defintion.

Syntax

[{Link to topic NAME:TEXT}]

[{Link to def. NAME:TEXT}]

NAME is the name of the topic or definition.

TEXT is the hot spot text.

Notes

The first syntax of the command creates a link to a topic.

The second syntax of the command creates a link to a definition.


First Line Indent Start command
helpMATIC HELP: Command First Line Indent Start

Start first line indent.

Syntax

[{First Line Indent Start VALUE}]

VALUE is a numerical value stating the amount of indentation in twips.


Indent command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Indent

Text indent.

Syntax

[{Indent VALUE}]

VALUE is a numerical value stating the amount of indentation in twips.


Help menu
helpMATIC HELP: Help Menu

Contents

Displays the on-line help contents page.

Help on Help

Display help on the windows help system.

Registration

Display help on helpMATIC registration info.

About

Displays information about helpMATIC.


This is an example of a definition.


Selecting topics and definitions
helpMATIC HELP: Selecting topics and definitions

In helpMATIC each topic and definition is displayed on a seperate editing area. Moving between topics and definitions is very easy.

To move to another topic or definition

1.	Select the name of the topic or defintion from the topic/def selection on the left side of the screen.

Hint. The topic/def selection has an alphabetical search facitlty, so for example pressing A will display the first topic or definition who's name begins with the letter A, pressing A again will display the next topic or definition who's name begins with the letter A, and so on.


Some topics contain Pop-Up window hot spots where the user can click on, to display small window containing text. Normally these hot spots are underlined words. What you are reading now is a example of a definition.


The main part of a help file is the Topic. This is similar to a page of a book, but unlike a book it can hold as much information as you require. The topic can consist of graphics, different styles of font, and multiple colours.


Debug window
helpMATIC HELP: Debug window

Normally when you compile your help file you will not get errors, but if you change one or more Commands you will get errors. Mostly these errors will be picked up by helpMATIC and the problems will be displayed on screen. Some times however errors go undetected by helpMATIC and are displayed by the help compiler. When this happens you will have to sort the errors out your self.

When the debug window is displayed, a list of errors generated by the help compiler will be shown. If any these will be RTF file problems caused by commands being changed in some way. After each error will be shown an number in hexadecimal format. Make a note of this number. Select View RTF from the File menu, enter in the number you just noted. The part of the RTF causing the problems will be shown. The value shown at the bottom of the window indecates the current insertion point position. Move the insertion point until the displayed value at the bottom of the debug window matches the value you noted down. Check the command at that position, select exit from the File menu, and erectify the problem.


Displaying details
helpMATIC HELP: Displaying topic and definition details

Select View All from the Debug menu. This will bring up a window displaying details about all the topics and defintions created in the project.


Special characters
helpMATIC HELP: Special characters

The help compiler will not directly accept characters that have an ANSI value of greater that 127. In respect to this when ever you type a character which has an ANSI value of greater than 127, helpMATIC encloses it in double brackets and then displays it. Then when compiling helpMATIC can converting it into HEX form to send to the compiler. Therefore if you copy in text from the clipboard or insert it from another file, make sure to re-type all characters that have an ANSI value of over 127.

Also if you want to use the characters {, [, }, ] in your project enclose them in the double brackets, otherwise helpMATIC will confuse them to be as part of a command and extract them from your text.

Syntax

CHARACTER

CHARACTER is a single character that has an ANSI value of greater than 127.


The window in which you type your text.


Project options
helpMATIC HELP: Project options

Browse Buttons

Display browse buttons in the help file. See creating a new Topic.

Compression

Compress the help file after compiling. This option reduces the size of the help file, but large projects can take a long time to compress.

Context Sensitive

Toggle context sensitivity. See creating a new Topic.

No scroll region fill colour

Sets the colour of the no scroll region.

Window fill colour

Sets the colour of the main help window.

Default Font

Set the default font. This font is used when ever the Default Font Command is used.

Title

The text displayed in the WinHelp title bar.

Copyright

Places custom text in the About dialog box of WinHelp.


Setting tabs and indentation
helpMATIC HELP: Setting tab stops and indentation

Margin Indents

Specify the width in centimeters of margin indentation. The new value will apply from this point onwards.

Tab Stops

The width in centimeters of each tab. The new tab stop value applies to the whole project.

First Line Indents

Specify the width in centimeters of first line indentation. The new value will apply from this point onwards.

Default Bullet Size

Set the default bullet size in points. This new size will be used in all subsequent bullet commands.


Unit of measure, one centimeter has 567 twips.


Debugging
helpMATIC HELP: Debugging your help file

Debug window

Display all details


Setup
helpMATIC HELP: Setup

Before you begin using helpMATIC change the PIF file setting. Use the Pif Editor (program called pifedit.exe installed in your windows directory) program to change the 'Program Filename' setting for the file HELP.PIF. (This file can be found in the directory helpMATIC was installed .)

In the Program Filename box type the full path and filename of the PIF file. For example if helpMATIC was installed in the directory c:\winapps\helpmtic, then type c:\winapps\helpmtic\help.pif.


Line Break command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Line Break

Insert a new line without ending the paragraph.

Syntax

[{Line Break}]

Notes

Line Break inserts a new line without ending the paragraph. If you insert a line by pressing Enter, helpMATIC starts a new paragrph from that point.


Box command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Box

Draws a box around the current paragraph.

Syntax

[{Box}]

Notes

A box is drawn around every new paragraph after the command. To turn off box drawing insert a Reset command.

Use the Line Break command to insert blank lines in between your text.


Border Top command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Border Top

Draws a horizontal line at the top of the paragraph.

Syntax

[{Border Top}]

Notes

A line is drawn at the top of every new paragraph after the command. To turn off the line drawing insert a Reset command.

Use the Line Break command to insert blank lines in between your text.


Border Bottom command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Border Bottom

Draws a horizontal line at the bottom of the paragraph.

Syntax

[{Border Bottom}]

Notes

A box is drawn at the bottom of every new paragraph after the command. To turn off box drawing insert a Reset command.

Use the Line Break command to insert blank lines in between your text.


Border Left command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Border Left

Draws a vertical line at the left side of the paragraph.

Syntax

[{Border Left}]

Notes

A box is drawn at the left side of every new paragraph after the command. To turn off box drawing insert a Reset command.

Use the Line Break command to insert blank lines in between your text.


Border Right command
helpMATIC HELP: Command Border Right

Draws a vertical line at the right side of the paragraph.

Syntax

[{Border Right}]

Notes

A box is drawn at the right side of every new paragraph after the command. To turn off box drawing insert a Reset command.

Use the Line Break command to insert blank lines in between your text.


Double brackets are [{ and }]


Tutorial
helpMATIC HELP: Tutorial

Using the tutorial file

In the directory where you installed helpMATIC you will find a file called TUTORIAL.HMP.

Open this file, by selecting Open Project from the File Menu. This file shows how to create a simple help file using helpMATIC.


License Agreement
helpMATIC HELP: License Agreement

helpMATIC for WINDOWS is a shareware program, so you can distriblute it to every one and any one, but if you use it for more than 30 days you must register it. Registration is £20.

To Register send :

• your name

• your address

• cheque or postal order for £20 payable to Harbinder Singh Ghag

• The version number of helpMATIC you are currently using

to the following address :-

Harbinder Singh Ghag

5 Langsett Road

The Willows

Off Springfield Road

Wolverhampton

West Midlands

WV10 OTE

England

UK

All programs will be sent through the post on a 3 1/2 inch disk.

I have tested this program to the best of my ability, but if you do find a bug I will be greatfull if you would send details of it to the above address, also ideas and suggestions on how I can improve the program will be much appreciated.

I can also be contacted by Internet E-MAIL, my email address is :-

H.S.GHAG-CSSE93@CS.BHAM.AC.UK


Disclaimer
helpMATIC HELP: Disclaimer

helpMATIC is supplied as it is, without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. In no event shall Harbinder Singh Ghag be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages from the use of helpMATIC.


Whats new
helpMATIC HELP:Whats new in version 2

helpMATIC version 2 has many new major improvements over version 1 :

• Bullets

• Autohead feature

• Picture links

• Current and Project Info

• An undo feature

• New advanced view all

• New user interface

• Minor bug fixes

• Speed improvemnt, does not use your hard drive for temporary storage.


Making picture links
helpMATIC HELP: Picture links

helpMATIC does not directly support picture links, but you can create them using RTF commands. By inserting the cammand \{bmc *.BMP \} into a Link command a picture jump can be created.

For example

[{Link to topic TOPICNAME:JUMPTEXT \{bmc *.BMP \}}]

[{Link to topic TOPICNAME:JUMP\{bmc *.BMP \}TEXT}]

[{Link to topic TOPICNAME:\{bmc *.BMP \}JUMPTEXT}]

*.BMP is the name of the bitmap file. The BMP file must be present in the BMP file list in the project.

Examples :

Contents Page

Contents [image] Page


Link to a topic through a picture (clicking on a picture to jump to a topic).


Rich Text Format


Bullet Command
helpMATIC HELP:Command Bullet

Insert a bullet, the size of which is determined by the default bullet size (which can be changed by selecting Indents from the Options menu)..

Syntax

[{Bullet SIZEpt}]

SIZE is the font size.


Autohead
helpMATIC HELP:Autohead

When enabled the Autohead feature inserts some pre-defined text at the start of each new topic created. This can be usefull for example, if you want to  have a title at the start of each topic.

To setup Autohead select Autohead from the Options menu. The Autohead dialog box will be displayed. Enter the text that you want inserted at the start of each new topic in Autohead text editor. To turn Autohead on click on the Enable Autohead button.

You cannot directly insert hepMATIC commands into the Autohead text editor, but you can insert them into your topic, copy them to the clipboard, then paste them into the Autohead text editor.