Important Notice

The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software, purely for historical purposes. If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.

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─────Preparing a Help Source File───────────────────────────────────────────
 
     To build a help database, create a source file that contains
 
        ■ The text of your topics
 
        ■ The codes controlling format, linking, and how information is
          displayed
 
     You can write your source file in any of three formats:
 
          ◄Rich Text Format (RTF)►
          ◄QuickHelp Format►
          ◄Minimally Formatted ASCII►
 
     In addition, you can link to unformatted ASCII files.
 
     Each of the three formats has advantages and disadvantages.
     See: ◄Choosing a Source-File Format►
 
     This general information applies to all formats:
 
        ■ The source file consists of a sequence of topics, each
          preceded by one or more context-string definitions.
          See: ◄Setting Up Context Strings and Topics►
 
        ■ Certain context strings are defined by convention across the
          help databases for Microsoft language products.
          See: ◄Microsoft Context-String Conventions►
 
        ■ Within the topic text, you can explicitly link to other
          topics. An implicit link is established whenever you use a
          keyword as a context string for a topic.
          See: ◄Setting Up Links►
 
        ■ You can embed control codes in the text. These codes have
          special meaning to Microsoft language products and control
          how topics are displayed.
          See: ◄Setting Up Control Codes►
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