To create many features in the Help file, you modify topic files in the word processor. After you create the topic files, you build the file with the Help project file and compiler. But that’s only the simple case. In fact, you use the Help project file to do more than just pass technical information to the compiler. You also use the Help project file to create unique features within the Help file. Some of these features can be added only by using project-file sections and options. Each section and option in the Help project file has a different purpose, and each can be used to improve the effectiveness and usability of your finished Help file.
Before you go on to the “Help Project File Reference” section, you might want to review the following table to find out what kinds of features you can create with project-file sections and options.
| Project-file feature | [Section] or option |
| Customize the look and feel of the Help application, such as add menus and buttons and use DLLs to create new features. | [CONFIG] |
| Control the size and position of Help windows and add secondary windows that display information independently of the main window. | [WINDOWS] |
| Display a custom icon when the user minimizes the Help window. | ICON |
| Display the name of your Help file in the title bar of the Help window. | TITLE |
| Designate a certain topic as the Contents screen for the entire Help file. | CONTENTS |
| Create a custom copyright message for your Help file that users will see when viewing the Help file or copying information from it. | CITATION, COPYRIGHT |
| Customize the keyword search so that it uses more than one keyword table or a non-English language sorting order. | MULTIKEY, LANGUAGE |
| Tell the compiler which source files to include in the build and where to find them. | [FILES], [BITMAPS], BMROOT, ROOT |
| Compress the Help file so it uses less disk space. | COMPRESS, OLDKEYPHRASE |
| Control the amount of information the compiler displays during a build and where the information is displayed. | ERRORLOG, REPORT, WARNING |
| Create the topic files using one set of fonts and font sizes and have Help display the Help file using a different font and font size. | FORCEFONT, MAPFONTSIZE |
| Improve the performance of the Help file when it is delivered to users on a CD-ROM drive. | OPTCDROM |
| Perform a partial build of the Help file that excludes certain topics. | [BUILDTAGS], BUILD |
| Define a set of identifiers so that the application can display context-sensitive Help topics when the user requests Help. | [MAP], [ALIAS] |
| Include a group of non-standard files, such as multimedia files, in the Help file. | [BAGGAGE] |