Choosing the Correct Version for your Help File

Windows version 3.1 includes Windows Help version 3.1 as the system Help application. The Microsoft Windows Version 3.1 Software Development Kit and the Microsoft Developer Network CD-ROM include a batch file (HC.BAT) that gives applications the choice of creating Help files either in version 3.0 or 3.1 format (3.0 being the default). Applications can also choose to ship Windows Help version 3.1 and replace a user’s system-wide Help application when installing their product on the user’s computer. All Help files created using the 3.0 Help compiler will display properly in Windows Help version 3.1. However, Help files created using the 3.1 Help compiler cannot be displayed with Windows Help version 3.0. Therefore, when deciding which version of the Help compiler to use to build your Help files, follow these guidelines:

nYour application requires Microsoft Windows version 3.1.

If your application requires Windows version 3.1 and will not run in Windows version 3.0, you should use the 3.1 Help compiler to build your Help files. Your application does not need to include the version 3.1 Windows Help application on the product disk(s) nor should it install the Help application on the user’s computer. In this scenario, you can use any 3.1 feature in your Help file.

nYour application is designed to work with Microsoft Windows version 3.0 and 3.1 and does not ship the version 3.1 Windows Help application on the product disk(s).

In this case, you must use the 3.0 Help compiler to build your Help files to ensure that they will display properly on both versions of Windows Help. This also means that you cannot use any feature specific to Windows Help version 3.1 in your Help file.

nYour application is designed to work with Microsoft Windows versions 3.0 and 3.1, and does ship the version 3.1 Windows Help application on the product disk (s).

In this case, you should use the 3.1 Help compiler to build your Help files. When installing your product, the setup program should detect the version number of the user’s Help application and replace it if it is version 3.0. In this scenario, you can use any 3.1 feature in your Help file.