>Hi everyone.
>
>I would just like to hear from an experienced VFP programmer on how to create an on-line help for an applictaion. It is quite a big application by the way.
>
>Which tool should I use to create the help file? What is the best way to proceed on the creation? Any information anyone can provide will be welcome.
>
>Thanks In Advance.

Not knowing what, if any, changes in this area will occur with the release of VFP 6.0, makes it a bit difficult to say if all this will apply. In reality there are three different methods of create help file. One is the old DBF style, in which the information was stored in a table. You can find further information in chapter 24 of the developers guide.

The second, more traditional way, is to use a word processor to create an Rich Text File, which is then compiled with the Help Compiler. Chapter 24 covers this. I don't know if this still applies, but, at one time, the only word processor capable of creating an RTF file with the necessary footnotes, and other markings was MS Word. Further, the Hot Spot editor allows you to add context sensitive bitmaps to the help file.

Lastly, the latest method of creating help is to use HTML and a browser. While HTML may not seem easy to maintain, a word processor (such as Word 97) can easily create these without the author having to be totally aware of the various formatting codes.

Regardless of the method chosen, creating a help file takes careful planning, just like creating an application.

hth,