The following sections contain information of interest to WinHelp developers that just didn't fit anywhere else.
The following sections list places you can go for additional information and support with WinHelp. With just a browser or email program, you can get excellent support from the World-wide WinHelp community.
Th comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.winhelp newsgroup has been active for several years, and still generates a fair number of message each day. To access it, you must have a newsreader program or web browser, and access to a server that provides the newsgroup. Contact your system administrator or ISP for more information on accessing newsgroups, or if you are not able to find this group on your news server.
If you can't get newsgroups, but have an internet email account, use the Listserv List instead.
Listservs are e-mail discussion lists, and with the growth of the internet, these discussion lists have become very popular. You can find a list for just about any subject. Listserv is actually the name of L-Soft's (expensive) application used to run many mailing lists. MajorDomo is another popular discussion list application (mostly because it's free and can be modified by the user). You'll see most lists using one of these two. Since commands are not the same on all systems, make sure you keep any instructions sent when you subscribe.
Discussion lists are very similar to Usenet newsgroups and can be subscribed to over the Internet. The main difference is that all messages are sent as e-mail. After subscribing, you will be sent a message confirming your subscription and instructions on how to unsubscribe. For other commands, send e-mail to the listserv (or majordomo) with the word Help as the contents of your message.
This is currently the most popular place to discuss WinHelp related questions, with about 1900 members. Discussions include WinHelp, HTML Help, tools, authoring issues, and so on. A friendly helpful place from which every Help Author can benefit. Cambridge Publications (www.documentation.com) has graciously created a searchable archive of this lists messages.
To subscribe to the WINHLP-L list, send e-mail to:
LISTSERV@ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
The contents of your e-mail should be simply:
SUB WINHLP-L first_name last_name
where first_name and last_name are replaced by your real name.
To unsubscribe, send e-mail to the same address with the contents:
SIGNOFF WINHLP-L
To post a message to the WINHLP-L list, send e-mail to:
WINHLP-L@ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
The subject and contents of the e-mail are sent to all subscribers.
While it is not strictly a WinHelp list, the Technical Writers discussion list can be a valuable resource. Discussions usually revolve around matters of written communication, but occasionally go into tools, distribution methods, and general philosophy. Cambridge Publications (www.documentation.com) has created a searchable archive of messages for this list.
To subscribe to the Technical Writers list, send a message to:
Leave the subject line blank, and include on the first line of the message:
SUB TECHWR-L first_name last_name
where first_name and last_name are replaced by your real name.
To post a message to the TECHWR-L list, send e-mail to:
TECHWR-L@LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU
The subject and contents of the e-mail are sent to all subscribers.
A discussion list for user's of Virtual Media's HDK authoring tool, maintained by an independent users group.
To subscribe to HDK-L, send a message to:
Include the following line in the body of the message :
SUBSCRIBE HDK-L
No subject is required. List instructions are sent when you subscribe.
This is a list maintained by Blue-Sky Software for their products (RoboHelp, RoboHTML, WinHelp Office). It is a closed list, meaning that your subscription must be approved by Blue Sky. You don't need to be a customer to subscribe, but you do need to fill out a form at their web site (www.blue-sky.com) to request a subscription.
A discussion list for users of WexTech's Doc-To-Help, Smooth Scaling, Quicture, or Documentation Studio. Open to anyone. Available in digest form. To subscribe, send a message to
with the following line in the body:
SUBSCRIBE WEXTECH-L
and leave the subject line blank. If you want the digest form (one message per day containing all discussions), use the following line in the body instead:
SUBSCRIBE WEXTECH-L-DIGEST
and leave the subject line blank.
The address for posting messages is wextech-l@wextech.com.
CompuServe members have for a long time benefited from the information exchanged in the WINSDK forum's WinHelp/Tools section. About a year ago that section became its own forum (GO HYPERTEXT), which now has sections for WinHelp, Tools, HTML Help, Graphics, etc. Dana Cline manages the forum. CompuServe is moving to a web based interface, and this forum is now available using just a browser (you still must have a CompuServe account). See http://forumsb.csi.com/gvforums/default.asp?srv=helpauth for information.
Many WinHelp developers have personal or company home pages. Many of these list valuable resources and show useful examples. Some of these pages promote the company's products and services. If you would your page listed here, please contact me with details.
Brett Merkey's Page (ourworld.compuserve.co m/homepages/BWMerkey/)
Includes an excellent WinHelp Macro reference as a help file (download as a zip file).
Bruce White's Page (ourworld.compuserve.com/ho mepages/whited/)
Contains some links and downloads of interest for Help Authors.
Cambridge Publications (www.documentation.com)
Has a searchable archive of the WinHelp Listserv discussion group; one of the best resources available to help authors. I used it many times to check information in this FAQ.
Cub Lea's WinHelp Repository (www.sinterphase.com/winhelp.htm)
Download many useful files and utilities for WinHelp directly from this page.
HDK User Group (www.nullarbor.com.au/hdkug/)
Resources for users of Virtual Media's HDK authoring tool.
Jim Mischel's Page (www.mischel.com)
Home page for WinHelp developer Jim Mischel. Includes copies of his many articles and utilities for developers working with WinHelp.
Josef Becker's HelpMaster Pages (www.helpmaster.com)
A large collection of WinHelp and HTMLHelp related programs and hints.
John Daigle's HyperTexas (www.hypertexas.com)
Tips and tricks from an innovative author. Includes examples and resource links.
KNOWware Home Page (www.kware.com)
Information about WinHelp and HTML Authoring. Mary Deaton's books can be ordered from this site. Also the current home of the WinHelp 4.0 bug list.
Paul Arnote's Page (www.sky.net/~parnote/)
Says Paul, "This site is a repository of Windows Help information and links to serve my fellow WinHelp authors."
Sageline Publishing (www.sageline.com)
William Meisheid's site has resources, links, and news for authors. It also features a WinHelp/HTML Help specific Bookstore.
STC Online Information SIG (stc.org/society/pics/online/www/)
Publishes a quarterly online newsletter, HyperViews Online, and provides contact information for chapter-level Online Information Special Interest Groups (SIGs).
TANSTAAFL Software (www.tanstaafl-software.com)
Dana Cline (Wizop of the CompuServe HyperText forum) maintains this site, which includes a dictionary of WinHelp jargon, style guidelines, and discussion forums. If nothing else, stop by to find out what TANSTAAFL stands for (if you don't already know).
Weisner Associates (www.weisner.com)
Ben Weisner's pages, which include information about the Help Author's Resource Kit, a CD that contains many valuable and hard to find tools for WinHelp authors.
WinHelp List Home Page (www.humberc.on.ca/~byrnes/wi nhelp.html)
Home page for the WinHelp Listserv discussion group.
I have not attempted to list specific files (as in the previous version of this FAQ) because there are simply too many to track down. Instead, I have listed the sites that contain excellent repositories, lists of links, and information for WinHelp Authors. Note that web sites for specific Help Authoring Tools are now listed in the Help Authoring Tool section.
Several web sites maintain lists of tools with links for downloading. Among the most useful are the collections at:
> Weisner & Associates (www.weisner.com)
> Josef Becker's HelpMaster pages (www.helpmaster.com)
> Cub Lea's WinHelp Repository (www.sinterphase.com/winhelp.htm)
> CompuServe's HyperText forum libraries (www.csi.com for information)
Microsoft's web site and FTP software library (ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib) also contains many valuable files.
There are several versions of the help compiler out there. HC and HC30 are the same program, the 3.00 version of the help compiler. These are basically out of date and shouldn't be used anymore.
HC31 is the 3.10 version of the help compiler (build 445 is the most common, I believe). This is the non-extended memory version of the Windows 3.1 help compiler and the minimum you need for supporting WinHelp 3.1.
HCP is an extended memory version HC31. It basically takes care of out of memory errors caused by lack of memory (as opposed to out of memory errors caused by pasting bitmaps. See Q&A). If you have extended memory, this is the compiler you should be using.
HC505.EXE is actually a self-extracting .ZIP file that contains build version 3.10.505 of HC31.EXE (called HC in this version) and HCP.EXE. The main reason for the release was to support new font table information generated by Word 6.0. You must use the 505 build to generate help files from Word 6.0 .RTF files. This version of the compiler also extends some of the previous limits in the help file. The limit for the number of items in the [MAP] section of the .HPJ is increased to about 8000. The number of bitmaps allowed in an RTF file is now 2,970 (the previous number is unknown). The internal compiler limit, whatever this is, is increased from 32k to 64k. I assume that this may be for things like paragraph size, but I don't know for sure. If anyone has some insights, I'd like to hear them.
HC35 is a Macintosh version of the WinHelp compiler that can be used to create WinHelp for the Mac. It is part of the cross-platform development kit that Microsoft offers. Check with Microsoft for availability and pricing.
HCWSETUP.EXE is the installation program for the Help Workshop, which includes HCRTF.EXE (the 32-bit compiler for WinHelp 4.0), HCW.EXE (the graphical interface and test facility), HWDLL.DLL (a DLL that adds Help Author functions), HCW.CNT and HCW.HLP (the Help Authoring Guide for WinHelp 4.0). You can download HCWSETUP.EXE from Microsoft at ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/hcwsetup.exe.
Although some early documentation suggested that it could be used for compiling 16- bit help (WinHelp 3.1), this is not true. You can only produce WinHelp 4.0 files using HCRTF.EXE. HCRTF.EXE versions before 4.02 are not compatible with the RTF generated by Word 8.0/97. You should get version 4.03 from the Microsoft Software Library. You can get the latest version with some authoring tools. For example, it's included with the trial version of WexTech's AnswerWorks, available from their web site (www.wextech.com).
Note that if you have more than one HAT installed on a machine, you may have conflicting versions of the WinHelp 4.0 compiler and it's DLL (HWDLL.DLL). This can cause errors when compiling. Search your system for HCRTF.EXE and HWDLL.DLL, and make sure the time stamps match. Keep the most recent version of the DLL in your system directory.
This section describes limits of WinHelp 3.1, not necessarily the compilers, however. The limits of the 32-bit compiler (HCRTF.EXE) are listed in the help file for Help Workshop (HCW.HLP), and so I am not including them here. Since the WinHelp 3.1 limits weren't widely published, I'm leaving them in the FAQ.
This information is adapted from Microsoft's knowledge base article Q85676 (by Pete Davis).
Paragraph: ~32,000 bytes - Includes any pasted bitmaps
Topic title string: 127 characters
Topics per RTF source: ~32,000
Topics per help file: ~42,000,000
Help file size: 2 gigabytes
By-reference bitmaps per help file: 32,767
Topic footnote (# chars): 1023 characters
Keywords per help file: Limited by file size
Keyword length: 255 characters
Topics per keyword: 32,767 ( Large #'s will effect performance )
Browse sequence length: Limited by # of topics
Bookmarks per help file: Limited by file size
Annotations per topic: 1
Annotations per help file: 32,767
History List Length: 40 topics
Macro Length: 512 characters
Main windows per topic: 1
Secondary Windows per topic: 5
Items in [MAP] section: 4096