The Microsoft help system is simply a data-retrieval tool. It imposes no restrictions on the content or organization of help data. However, the HELPMAKE utility and the data-display routines in the help system expect a help file to follow a standard format. This section explains how to create correctly formatted help text files.
In all three help text formats, the help text source file is a sequence of topics, each preceded by one or more context definitions. The following table lists the various formats and the corresponding context definition statements:
| Format | Context Definition | |
| QuickHelp | .context context | |
| RTF | \par >>context\par | |
| Minimally formatted ASCII | >>context | |
| Unformatted ASCII | None |
In QuickHelp format, each topic begins with one or more .context statements. These statements link the context string to its topic text. The topic text consists of all subsequent lines up to the next .context statement.
In RTF format, each context definition must be in a paragraph of its own (denoted by \par), beginning with the help delimiter (>>). As in QuickHelp, the topic text consists of all subsequent paragraphs up to the next context definition.
In minimally formatted ASCII, each context definition must be on a separate line, and each must begin with the help delimiter (>>). As in RTF and QuickHelp files, all subsequent lines up to the next context definition constitute the topic text.
See Section 11.6, “Using Help Database Formats,” for detailed information about these three formats.
WARNING:
HELPMAKE warns you if it encounters a duplicate context string definition within a given help source file. Each context string must be unique.