QuickHelp formatYou can create sources for help text files in any of three formats:
QuickHelp format
Rich Text Format (RTF)
Minimally formatted ASCII
In addition, you can reference unformatted ASCII files, such as include files, from within a help database.
An entire help system (such as the ones supplied with Microsoft C, FORTRAN, MASM, or QuickBasic) can use any combination of files formatted with different format types. With C, for example, the README.DOC information file is encoded as minimally formatted ASCII; the help files for the PWB, C language, and run-time library are written in QuickHelp format before being compressed by HELPMAKE. The database also cross-references the header (include) files, which are unformatted ASCII files stored outside the database.
QuickHelp format is the default format into which HELPMAKE decodes help databases. Any text editor can create a QuickHelp-format help text file. QuickHelp format also lends itself to a relatively easy automated translation from other document formats.
QuickHelp files can contain any kind of cross-reference or formatting attribute. Typically, you use QuickHelp format when modifying a Microsoft-supplied database.
QuickHelp format makes use of dot commands (such as .context—see the description of QuickHelp dot commands in Section 11.6.1). To use dot commands other than .context and .comment, the /T option is required for encoding and decoding. For details, see Section 11.3, “Helpmake Options.”
Rich Text Format (RTF) is a Microsoft word-processing format that several word processors support, including Microsoft Word version 5.0 and later, and Microsoft Word for Windows. You can use RTF as an intermediate format to simplify transferring help files from one format to another. Like QuickHelp files, RTF files can contain formatting attributes and cross-references.
An RTF word processor provides the easiest way to create an RTF file, but you can manually insert RTF codes with an ordinary text editor. There are also utility programs that convert text files in other formats to RTF format.
See Section 11.6.2, “Rich Text Format,” for more information.
Minimally formatted ASCII files define contexts and their topic text; they cannot contain screen-formatting commands or explicit cross-references. (Implicit cross-references work the same way they do in the other formats.) Minimally formatted ASCII files are often used to display text in a README.DOC or small help files that do not require compression. See Section 11.6.3, “Minimally Formatted ASCII Format,” for more information.
Unformatted ASCII files are exactly what their name implies: regular ASCII files with no formatting commands, context definitions, or special information. HELPMAKE does not process unformatted ASCII files in any special way. An unformatted ASCII file does not become part of the help database; only its name is used as the object of a cross-reference. Unformatted ASCII files are useful for storing program examples. Any word that is an implicit cross-reference in other help files is also an implicit cross-reference in unformatted ASCII files.