There are two ways to create a Microsoft-compatible help database.
The first method is to decompress an existing help database, modify the resulting help text file, and recompress the help text file to form a new database.
The second method is to append a new help database to an existing help database. This method involves the following steps:
1.Create a help text file in QuickHelp format, RTF, or minimally formatted ASCII.
2.Use HELPMAKE to create a help database file. The example below invokes HELPMAKE, using yourhelp.txt as the input file and producing a help database file named yourhelp.hlp:
HELPMAKE /V /E /Oyourhelp.hlp yourhelp.txt > yourhelp.log
3.Back up the existing database.
4.Append the new help database file to the existing database. The example below appends the new database yourhelp.hlp to the alang.hlp database. (In the example, the /b modifier for the DOS COPY command combines the files as binary files.)
COPY alang.hlp /b + yourhelp.hlp /b
5.Test the database. Assume yourhelp.hlp contains the context sample. If you type sample in PWB and request help on it, the help window should display the text associated with the context sample.
WARNING:
The PWB editor truncates lines longer than about 250 characters. Some databases contain lines longer than this. To edit or create database files with extremely long lines, you must either use an editor (such as Microsoft Word) that does not restrict line length, or extend long lines using the backslash (\) line-continuation character.