Replacing Windows Help with InfoCourier

Replacing Windows Help With InfoCourier

You can call InfoCourier and pass to it, as a parameter on the command line, a number much like a context_id in a Windows Help File. InfoCourier will then load and attempt to switch to a page with a comment of the form

If a copy of InfoCourier with the same executable name is already running, then rather than a second copy starting the existing copy will attempt to switch to the required page.

As an example, assume you had created an InfoCourier file that you wished to use in place of a normal Windows Help file, and had called it myhelp.exe. One of the pages inside it has a HelpContext=100 definition. The usual WinHelp call in your program would probably be something like:-

WinHelp(hWnd,'myhelp.hlp',HELP_CONTEXT,100)

which you would replace with something like

WinExec('myhelp.exe 100',SW_SHOWNORMAL);

(you could also use the ShellExecute function if that had any advantages).

There are advantages and disadvantages to using an InfoCourier distributable in place of a Windows Help File.

Advantages include:-
- Richer content possible.
- User can print his own manual.
- Possibility of links to other Internet resources.
- Restriction of some pages to certain users.
Disadvantages include:-
- Usually bigger size.